Edinburgh Fringe 2025: How to Become a Movie Star? – theSpace@Surgeons’ Hall

Writer: Sarah Maria Lafferty

Plenty of solo performers on the Fringe do this. They present a potted history of their life story in an hour or less, often through the lens of a particular challenge they’ve had to face. In Sarah Maria Lafferty’s case, she’s not claiming to come from a deprived background. She’s not saying she’s neurodivergent or queer (or both). She’s not alleging that a particular foodstuff tried to kill her.

No, her particular affliction is that she’s an actor who also teaches, or a teacher who also acts. As she makes very clear, she belongs to the Gabriel Byrne school of how to enter the acting profession: namely by becoming a teacher first. The only thing is, she’s still a teacher – and one who longs to be a movie star.

Oh gosh, her act is intimate. The life of the actor-teacher is laid bare. It has a rarified aura of honesty and authenticity about it, but is that enough? She’s skating on some quite thin material at times, but doesn’t seem to realise it and happily adds hops and jumps without falling through the ice. To mix our metaphors, she also bounces along the solo show tightrope that’s slung between the tower of pride (in how far you’ve come) and the tower of self-deprecating humour (at how far you remain from your dream). This is high-risk stuff, but she’s equal to it. This is her third successful show working with Felix Culpa Theatre Company.

In one of her best stories, during a wayward attempt to make it in New York, Lafferty finds herself in a hell-hole of a hostel basement and is unable to afford even a slight upgrade. Her predicament is highly relatable and it’s described with charm and finesse.

Billed as a comedy, this is a long way from stand-up. While there’s plenty of winsome humour in every sequence, it’s the storytelling that’s the grabber, along with the sheer energy and commitment of Lafferty’s performance.

Quite how one of Ireland’s most accomplished performers is still earning a living by explaining fractions and organising the nature table is quite a mystery (evidently, even to herself). Any producers on the lookout for a brilliant and utterly fearless actor should give this woman a TV series. Seriously.

Runs until 23 August 2025