Edinburgh Fringe 2025
A Gambler’s Guide to Dying.
Gary McNair.
Genre: Theatre
Venue: Traverse Theatre
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A ten-year celebratory production of a classic tale. A Gambler’s Guide to Dying is a solo theatre show by Gary McNair, performed at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The story follows a boy and his grandfather, who won a large sum betting on the 1966 World Cup. Later, after a cancer diagnosis, the grandfather bets he will live until the year 2000. The play explores themes of chance, family, and legacy through storytelling and drama. It reflects on how people create meaning from extraordinary experiences. This piece returns to the Traverse Theatre, marking ten years since its first debut there.
Review
A tall tale or two, or is it? Gary McNair’s Scottish story is powerfully told, genuinely funny, and ultimately celebrates family, memory and living in the here and now. His grandfather, so we are told, was the only Scotsman to place a bet on England winning the 1966 World Cup. Or did he? Where is the luxury it would have brought him? Why did he stay in the Goebbels, that notoriously rough area of Glasgow, especially after being beaten up after betraying his country? His grandson, his accomplice in Saturday afternoon bets on the football results, realises his grandfather is a gambler. A happy one, however, content in those hours before the results became official, when winning is a possibility and dreams make it all worthwhile. And then the tale soars as Grandad is given two months to live, and bets against his dying. Declaring that Goebbels years are like dog years, he intends to live until his 100th, (Goebbels), birthday on New Year’s Eve 1999.
It’s a tale superbly told by McNair from the outset, his performance and dialogue painting us the characters and the environment they live in. Above all, he convincingly conveys a young grandson enraptured by his grandfather’s stories, defending him when his school friends question the truth. His faith makes the stories believable, Grandad DID fall into the Clyde and emerge with a salmon in his mouth ! It feels like a lived experience! Sensitive direction by Gareth Nicholls allows the play to breathe and reflect, to gather pace when the clock ticks towards midnight and even the local press cover whether this man can beat his own death. He has gambled everything on beating cancer, and we flow along with the story like salmon in the Clyde.
But what makes this an outstanding show is the ten years that have passed since its premiere. Ten more years of lived experience of the performer and the audience member. There are new nuances we pick up, new poignancy, perhaps losses that we now identify with more strongly. It’s seductive and powerful, and I won’t tell you what happens, the joy is in the time of not knowing! Theatre like this needs no loud score or bombastic lighting, just gentle music, a simple yet effective set and the intimacy of Studio Two to create theatrical magic.
