DramaFestivalsReviewScotland

16 Postcodes – Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, Pleasance Courtyard

Reviewer: Tom Ralphs

Writer: Jessica Regan

Shortly after the Millenium, Jessica Regan moved from Ireland, a country where for many years only Dublin had postcodes, to London, the city that invented postcodes. Her current home in E17, the postcode that gave its name to a boyband, is the 16th postcode in a journey that is plotted out in cards across the back of the stage, and recounted in part in her show.

Of the 16 destinations, E17 is the only location whose story is destined to be told each day, as Regan invites members of the audience to choose other locations that will shape the narrative for the performance. Almost all of them have a story associated with them. They may bring back good memories, bad memories or both. In classic quiz style there is only one postcode which reveals nothing, and, if selected, gives Regan a free hand to choose any of the other locations.

The stories capture the people and places that make up London while also acting as a reminder that London is not really a city with a shared identity spread across the many towns, districts and suburbs that it swallowed up as it expanded out. From repeating collections of coffee houses, chain stores and charity shops in Acton, to the cosmopolitan mix of Brixton, the part time bohemia of Camden, and the just passing through nature of Clapham Junction, Regan tries to find a place that will define London for her. She only really discovers it when she moves to the postcode that makes her want to stay another day and another day and never leave, if that option remains open to her.

There is a warmth in all of the stories and a sense of nostalgia in most of them, with the feeling that many of the places she talks about are no longer the same and the people living in them now will never experience the sort of characters and situations that make the show what it is.

Regan herself acknowledges that London is changing and leaving people behind, but she doesn’t dwell too much on this. Instead the show ends with a misty-eyed rose tinted spectacles take on the city that washes away what it’s becoming and pretends it’s still everything it was. But this is perhaps to be expected. This not a socio-political piece. It’s a personal odyssey, a love song to London and an actors take on the UKs city of actors.

Runs until Monday 26 August 2024 (not 12th) | Image: Contributed

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