My White Boyfriend is Forcing Me to Perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

It’s giving hostage situation, right?

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

This title is in jest but also, not. In 2 days we’ll be flying to Scotland to the largest performing arts festival in the world and a huge part of me does not want to go.

I learned about the Edinburgh Festival about a decade ago. It sounded impressive and prestigious. After the success of people like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Alex Edelman and Baby Reindeer, its allure only grew in my eyes. I’m a performer, I love telling stories and jokes on stage. Last year I wrote a solo show that I really love called “3 White Guys Named John.” It’s about how John Hughes, John Mayer and Jon Bon Jovi changed my life. It’s inspiring, nostalgic and funny. I’ve toured it in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania where it won Best in Show at the Unicycle Festival.

I finished writing it in the Spring of 2024 which seemed too late in the year to try to apply to the Edinburgh Festival venues for an August 2024 run. I told my man, who’s white, about my dream of taking my show to Edinburgh. We decided it would be a good idea to at least go to Scotland to check it out and get a lay of the land even if I wasn’t going to perform. If I liked it, then I could apply to Fringe next year. So we went and I have to tell you, it was, for me…