Edinburgh Fringe 2026: Mayflies – Rear Warehouse at Brown’s of Leith, Edinburgh

Mayflies has had plenty of time to enter the common imagination, considering the wide success of the book and TV show that followed. It’s a tale of Tully and James’s friendship that defies the struggles of living in working-class Glasgow in the 80s, all the way to Tully’s tragic death. Andrew O’Hagan has created a story that will stand the test of time and become a classic of Scottish Literature.

When tackling a text so familiar and beloved by many, there is always a worry about doing it justice. And Grid Iron managed to embody some of the novel’s most haunting and precious details seamlessly. Mayflies is a story that works on two axes: the past and the present. They never quite meet directly in the novel, but this production makes them walk side by side. Older Jimmy is the narrating voice throughout the play; the characters often dance together, highlighting the tragedy of Tully’s death: to Jimmy, he is not only saying goodbye to his friend now but also to the young boy he spent that magical weekend in Manchester with.

The production makes amazing use of the environment, using the raw structural elements of the Brown’s of Leith Warehouse and projectors to catapult the audience back to Manchester in 1986. It’s a hauntingly beautiful production: Kieran Devine and Matthew Pidgeon deliver James’s overarching role as narrator and provide the perfect match for Jude Bain and Graham Mackay-Bruce’s brash, loud and magnetic Tully. John McGeachie also deserves his due, taking on the roles of the rest of the Manchester gang, using different props and quick changes of clothing to deliver each character, and providing the perfect comic relief.

Mayflies delivers the heart-breaking nature of O’Hagan’s work just perfectly. It focuses on the existential tension Tully and James feel in the 80s as young men, trying desperately not to be swept up by the desperation around them and looking for role models in the music they listen to when society just keeps failing them.