Review: This Is Not About Me, Edfringe

It’s bracing theatre that can take a simple concept and make it sing, that finds new life in old tropes and dilemmas, that reinvents the wheel. In her debut, writer Hannah Caplan achieves this with ease, guiding us through the familiar (and not so familiar) highs and lows of two people falling in and out of love.

The narrative focuses on friends/lovers/don’t ask, Eli (Francis Nunnery) and Grace (Amaia Naima Aguinaga), who’ve known each other since they were kids. Both unlucky in love, and both unsure of how they feel about the other, we follow along as they drift closer together like moths to a flame over a 70-minute runtime that does feel a tad longer than the material justifies; thankfully, this is mostly due to an over-abundance of theatrical creativity on display rather than anything lacking.

Rarely for Fringe Theatre, this is a show with an accomplished aesthetic. Every aspect of the design, from the red string artwork decking the walls to the bright white of the costumes, is a considered choice that makes the show a visual delight. Complementing this is the highly mobile staging that often shifts dimensions, physically as well as visually, incorporating video and projection in a way that supports the performances without distracting from them.

Video, and particularly film, is a constant influence throughout, especially Annie Hall and the works of Charlie Kaufman. Everything from jokes to narrative devices is referenced and reused, but also repurposed in a way that makes the play feel like a modern evolution of these classics, like it’s continuing the conversations started in these films into our contemporary era.

Ultimately, it’s quite a large array of disparate elements to be juggling, and there’s a real risk that everything could get out of hand and lose the run of itself, but it’s a credit to director Douglas Clarke-Wood that the show not only remains coherent but hums along with an endearing energy. The performances deserve equal praise; Nunnery has a strong natural charm, while opposite him, Aguinaga gets to be the vibrant force of chaos that pushes so much of the plot into motion. 

Both are at their most intriguing when saying nothing, with complex emotions flitting across their faces. Most of all, they work to ensure that the show wins you over, that you’re as invested in their characters’ lives as they are themselves. It’s simply brilliant theatre all round, that rare kind of debut that will blow your mind as easily as it’ll warm your heart.

Written by Hannah Caplan
Directed by Douglas Clarke-Wood
Produced by Hannah Caplan, Douglas Clarke-Wood, Inigo Woodham-Smith & Gerline Ndombasi (WoodForge)

This Is Not About Me has completed its run at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.