In a series of interviews, we'll reflect on this year's Edinburgh Fringe with artists and creatives who performed at the festival, learning how it went and hearing more about their work.
In this interview, we speak with Ally O about the run of The Ally O Show: Married To Myself!
What was the biggest surprise—positive or negative—once you actually got in front of Fringe audiences?
2026 was my first Edinburgh Fringe as a performer, but I’ve been an actor for decades. On top of that, my day job involves standing in front of some very rowdy teenagers (some who would rather be almost anywhere else) and holding their attention all day long. So I really thought doing a daily one hour show for a bunch of adults (some of whom paid for the privilege) would be a piece of wedding cake.
2026 was my first Edinburgh Fringe as a performer, but I’ve been an actor for decades. On top of that, my day job involves standing in front of some very rowdy teenagers (some who would rather be almost anywhere else) and holding their attention all day long. So I really thought doing a daily one hour show for a bunch of adults (some of whom paid for the privilege) would be a piece of wedding cake.
The joke is on me because I was completely surprised by the physical and mental stamina it took to perform daily… wearing approximately 900 meters of white polyester tulle in what turned out to be Edinburgh’s hottest summer on record. Oh, and did I mention my venue was the back room of a pizzeria? With arcade games pinging in the background, drunk people staggering in and out and the occasional fire truck tearing by with sirens on full blast? Classic Fringe!
It was so, so tough to stay present in that environment. I handled it by staying focused on my audience, taking it not just one show at a time, but one moment at a time, one line at a time, one breath at a time.
Oh, and by just accepting that my costume was basically a portable sauna.
Was there a specific moment on or off stage that defined the Edinburgh experience for you this year?
Writing, producing and performing your own solo show at Edinburgh can be incredibly lonely. There were times in the process when I felt completely isolated, but that all changed once I started connecting with audiences. I lost count of the times I had women come up to me after the show and say, ‘I had the exact same experience. I had to leave my ex and start over,’ or they’d simply say my show made them feel seen. I even had a woman overhear my story in the bathroom and cancel her plans to go back to Paisley that evening to stay and see my show. Those moments made all of the loneliness completely worth it.
How did you handle reviews and word-of-mouth chatter while still having to go out and perform every night?
Staying on the outskirts of the city far away from the buzz definitely helped. Spending time with friends who were not Fringe performers definitely helped. But the thing that helped me stay positive the most was to remember my why for Fringe. Before I arrived in Edinburgh this summer I had one simple goal, not to win awards, score an agent or sell out my shows (that being said, if you’re an agent, call me!), but to simply learn how to do Fringe. Every time I started comparing my run to someone elses’, I repeated this mantra to myself. It really kept me grounded.
Was there a specific moment on or off stage that defined the Edinburgh experience for you this year?
Writing, producing and performing your own solo show at Edinburgh can be incredibly lonely. There were times in the process when I felt completely isolated, but that all changed once I started connecting with audiences. I lost count of the times I had women come up to me after the show and say, ‘I had the exact same experience. I had to leave my ex and start over,’ or they’d simply say my show made them feel seen. I even had a woman overhear my story in the bathroom and cancel her plans to go back to Paisley that evening to stay and see my show. Those moments made all of the loneliness completely worth it.
How did you handle reviews and word-of-mouth chatter while still having to go out and perform every night?
Staying on the outskirts of the city far away from the buzz definitely helped. Spending time with friends who were not Fringe performers definitely helped. But the thing that helped me stay positive the most was to remember my why for Fringe. Before I arrived in Edinburgh this summer I had one simple goal, not to win awards, score an agent or sell out my shows (that being said, if you’re an agent, call me!), but to simply learn how to do Fringe. Every time I started comparing my run to someone elses’, I repeated this mantra to myself. It really kept me grounded.
Did any audience reactions or feedback lead to real-time tweaks in the script or performance?
Yes, audience reaction really helped me figure out which parts of the show to lean into and which ones to let go of. There were a few lines I improvised that got such a strong response that I kept them in.
Audiences at Fringe are incredible. Most of them are there to see a lot of weird little shows they couldn’t see anywhere else. They want what you’re selling. And they want to chat with you after the show! In the runup to Fringe I felt a little inadequate because I didn’t have the time and resources to do preview season. But it turns out that the audiences’ reaction was the best R&D I could have possibly asked for. Make yourself accessible and hang out after your shows and you’ll get feedback that’s much more genuine than what you could pay a fancy script editor for!
Yes, audience reaction really helped me figure out which parts of the show to lean into and which ones to let go of. There were a few lines I improvised that got such a strong response that I kept them in.
Audiences at Fringe are incredible. Most of them are there to see a lot of weird little shows they couldn’t see anywhere else. They want what you’re selling. And they want to chat with you after the show! In the runup to Fringe I felt a little inadequate because I didn’t have the time and resources to do preview season. But it turns out that the audiences’ reaction was the best R&D I could have possibly asked for. Make yourself accessible and hang out after your shows and you’ll get feedback that’s much more genuine than what you could pay a fancy script editor for!
What is one piece of advice you would give to anyone who would want to take a show to the 2027 Ed Fringe?
The secret to surviving my first Fringe was deciding what I wanted to get out of it, not what I thought would impress other people or determine my worth as an artist.
The secret to surviving my first Fringe was deciding what I wanted to get out of it, not what I thought would impress other people or determine my worth as an artist.
Simply, what do I need to get out of this as who I am as a performer right now? Not me five years from now, not who I’d like to be, me today.
With that in mind, I set myself some modest goals and crushed every single one of them. There’s always going to be someone at Fringe who is flying way higher than you. Set yourself some crushable goals so you can feel like you’re killing it. You can always set the bar higher next year.
You described the "Fringe was a beginning, not an ending". What projects are you working on now?
The absolute best thing about performing at Edinburgh Fringe (besides the audiences!) is the momentum you build. I came back from Edinburgh not just with a fire lit under me, but with collaborators and connections that are just as keen as I am to do cool stuff!
The absolute best thing about performing at Edinburgh Fringe (besides the audiences!) is the momentum you build. I came back from Edinburgh not just with a fire lit under me, but with collaborators and connections that are just as keen as I am to do cool stuff!
This October I have not one, but two shows coming to London that are at least in part a result of the experience I had at Fringe.
First off, I'm really jazzed to be collaborating with fellow feminist comedy creator Mariana Feijó on a double bill show!: Two immigrant women, zero filters, one incredible night of comedy.
UNMARRIGABLE: a solo rom com about culture clash, generational trauma (but make it fun!) Waking the dead (but make that fun too!), Tik Tok Witches, putting yer gran on Hinge, surviving wedding receptions when you're single, living abroad and the love of a good pair of Spanx. Also, I marry myself live onstage.
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PEACE BE WITH YOU: Queer. Feminist. Hedonistic.
Mariana Feijó is wresting between going down enjoying all the guilty pleasure of a fling with a douchey fin tech bro, or a last ditch attempt to save the world from being engulfed by fascism. Can they do both?
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EXCOMMUNICATED: An Evening of Confessions by Ungovernable Women.
📅 22nd October
⏰️7:30PM
📍Rosemary Branch Theatre, London
🎟️Available at: https://www.rosemarybranchtheatre.co.uk/show/excommunicated-an-evening-of-confessions-from-ungovernable-women
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PEACE BE WITH YOU: Queer. Feminist. Hedonistic.
Mariana Feijó is wresting between going down enjoying all the guilty pleasure of a fling with a douchey fin tech bro, or a last ditch attempt to save the world from being engulfed by fascism. Can they do both?
=
EXCOMMUNICATED: An Evening of Confessions by Ungovernable Women.
📅 22nd October
⏰️7:30PM
📍Rosemary Branch Theatre, London
🎟️Available at: https://www.rosemarybranchtheatre.co.uk/show/excommunicated-an-evening-of-confessions-from-ungovernable-women
My other show baby started with a crazy idea between myself and Mariana, and ended up with us creating a riot grrl sketch comedy show with a Grrl Gang of international baddies. We've got an incredible lineup of writer-performers with some pretty serious chops, some of us have performed with Second City, trained with The Groundlings and appeared on Netflix (yes, that Netflix!) And we're launching our first show in London, babes!
When the world feels like a horror movie, who survives? The Final Girls.
This Halloween, Bitches in Stitches London and The Sketchanistas! bring two international femme/them comedy collectives together in Camden for a one-off afternoon of original sketch comedy, serving unhinged main-character energy that’ll make you scream with laughter.
THE FINAL GIRLS
📅 18th October
⏰️3PM
📍Etcetera Theatre London
🎟️Tickets available at: https://www.etceteratheatrecamden.com/events/final-girls-halloween-femme/them-sketch-comedy
📅 18th October
⏰️3PM
📍Etcetera Theatre London
🎟️Tickets available at: https://www.etceteratheatrecamden.com/events/final-girls-halloween-femme/them-sketch-comedy
Where can people follow your future work?
I'm @alyssoawrites, Mariana's on instagram @marianasbits and you can follow @the_sketchanistas on Instagram too!
I'm @alyssoawrites, Mariana's on instagram @marianasbits and you can follow @the_sketchanistas on Instagram too!
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