Following their mother’s death, this heartfelt play focuses on the tense dynamic between two dysfunctional sisters, and the unlikely relationship with a red squirrel called Gerald. Blending absurdity with emotional truth, this show explores loss, family tension and the strange ways that we cope with heartbreak. Underbelly Cowgate (Big Belly) from 31st July – 24th August at 14:00.
- Thank you for chatting with A Young(ish) Perspective! Introduce us to who you are and what your doing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year?
Hey! I’m Florence Lace-Evans, the writer and creator of the smash-hit dark comedy Yes, We’re Related, coming to Underbelly, Cowgate this Fringe! I trained at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama as an actor, and later went on to start writing for comedy during the pandemic when, like everyone else in the industry, I wasn’t working. Yes, We’re Related was a part of the SOHO Theatre Edinburgh Labs in 2024, and I am taking my show back to Edinburgh Fringe this year following our sell-out London run at The Other Palace Theatre last year!
- A Youngish Perspective platforms accessible arts and champions the huge scope of different perspectives – can you tell us about the show you’re taking to Edinburgh Festival Fringe as if you’re flyering to both a young first-time-Fringe goer and a festival veteran returning every year?
Yes, We’re Related is the ultimate dark comedy following two dysfunctional sisters and a squirrel desperately trying to navigate grief. It’s the one year anniversary of Sara and Saskia’s mother’s death, and Sara is living in denial. Meanwhile older sister Saskia shows up unannounced, armed with a phallic balloon and her quirky partner Mark, ready to throw a party to die for. But something rather furry with a love for nuts has other plans, and decides to throw the whole party into chaos.
Think dodgy party games, disgusting desserts and lots of diabolical secrets. It is a very unpredictable and messy take on how people grieve, and the show has a lot of heart. It should hopefully change the way we look at squirrels forever!
We’re up for the full festival at Underbelly, Cowgate (Big Belly) from 31st July-24th August at 2pm.
- What do you hope the audience leaves the theatre thinking about, are there any specific moments, lines or characters that you feel are particularly important to the heart of the show?
I hope audiences leave Yes, We’re Related with a new appreciation for squirrels, but also a new perspective on how people grieve. The show is at its core is a comedy, but there are lots of unconventional twists and turns which I hope audiences will be surprised by. Without spoiling too much, there are some really fun sibling spats between the two sisters Sara and Saskia – and a lot of the sisters spiralling relationship centres around one dessert in particular. I also think audience members will fall in love with Mark, the quirky partner of older sister Saskia. He has been compared to as being a hybrid between Chandler and Joey from Friends, and his love for his various hobbies and doing the right thing is really endearing. The show is really quirky and has some hilarious one-liners – and I think audiences will never look at a Sainsburys ‘bag for life’ ever the same again… There is also a huge twist halfway through the show, which I don’t think a lot of people will be expecting. Saying this, the show centres around how people grieve, and all three characters are paramount in embodying this. We see three characters deal with their grief in very different ways, and I think this is ultimately the heart of the show.
- With Sara’s physical manifestation of her denial being a squirrel, how do you balance the ridiculous nature of the concept with the heartbreaking reality of her grief?
When I decided to write a show centring around how someone can grieve, a recurring theme that came up a lot with various bereavement charities, including our charity partner Sue Ryder, was that sometimes people associate a loved one after they are gone with an animal. Most commonly this tends to be birds like robins, but can also be for some people squirrels. On paper watching Sara manifest her denial into a red squirrel can be seen as a ridiculous concept, but I hope instead audiences see that Sara is channelling her grief and pain into her love for squirrels. How someone processes death and grief can be irrational, and using the comedy of something as a nutty as a squirrel has really helped lift and balance the heartbreaking reality Sara finds herself in. I also think by the end of the show the audience almost understands her logic as to why she lives the way she does and why squirrels are so important to her.
- Who would your surprise dream audience member be?
My dream audience member would be Greg Davies. His dry comedy and writing is exactly my kind of humour, and I really love the way he writes for comedy TV. When I first started writing I found it really helpful reading comedy plays/TV scripts as a way to understand the story structure of how a comedy story is told and laid out. I spent hours reading through the BBC script archives, and one of funniest scripts I read through was Cuckoo by Greg Davies. His writing is always so witty and unpredictable – and I love the way his characters and plots unfold.