Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Don’t Stop Believing
Genre: Solo Performance
Venue: PBH’s Free Fringe @ Canons’ Gait
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Don’t Stop Believing is a fun, 80s reference-loaded show with great physicality. The script, centered on the relationship of Eileen and Rickie, is successfully told through song lyrics and lines from movies everyone is sure to remember. While the references sometimes overwhelm the story, it is buoyed by its central performance in Torrey Shine.
Review
‘Don’t Stop Believing’, a solo show by Torrey Shine, feels sometimes like storytelling, sometimes like poetry. The script, focusing on Eileen’s religious upbringing in Paradise City and her eventual marriage to Rickie, is sewn together from hundreds of lyrics from classic 80s songs. This is impressive on its own; Shine’s script is cohesive and clear, and people without any knowledge of 80s music would have an easy time following it. Of course, they might not have as much fun. At the top of the show, Shine encourages the audience to sing along if they feel moved, and many of them did. It added to the communal experience of the show, and gives it a built-in nostalgia even beyond its references.
Because of the conceit of the show, its hard for the characters to be too fleshed out or the story to be too complex. 80s rock songs, the great majority of them about love, don’t give too much wiggle room with subject material. That being said, moments that are meant to feel heavy do, even when the person behind you is singing along. This is a testament to Shine’s anchored performance, blending a cappella singing with a specific physicality.
At times, the references became slightly overwhelming. Like watching something in any meter, you sometimes get lulled into the beats and start missing things. Staying longer with one song, or having a moment of silence, would go along way as far as audience mental stamina goes, especially for an evening show.
Shine’s show is no doubt a crowd pleaser, and she’s taken what could easily be perceived as a gimmick and created something enjoyable and fun. Lovers of 80s music in particular will have a great time picking out their favorite songs in Shine’s story, and you’re sure to catch some new ones as well.
Don’t Stop Believing is at PBH’s Free Fringe @ Canons’ Gait at 21:30 through 25 August.
