Edinburgh Fringe 2025
The Lodger
Dora Colquhoun
Genre: Neurodiverse, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Greenside
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
The Lodger is the promising new show written and performed by Dora Colquhoun, creator of ADHD The Musical. With music by George Jenkins, The Lodger intriguingly explores self-discovery, acceptance and the power of home.
Review
“The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of its home.”
-Confucius
At the start of The Lodger, Dora Colquhoun declares that home is where “the humdrum of existence is witnessed by those you hold dear” and that her show is “an investigation of what home means to you.” Because the show also tackles Britain’s ongoing housing crisis, Colquhoun suggests that maintaining a home — once a mundane expectation for most — has become a scarce privilege for too many.
Fortunately, The Lodger isn’t a pedantic, fact-filled tutorial. Colquhoun is first and foremost a storyteller, and a vivid one at that. She draws on a treasure chest of skills portraying the people whose stories have been shared with her, or, since one of those ongoing stories is about a pigeon, have been inferred. We meet a beloved Sunday School teacher, a holiday resort worker who struggles to remain gainfully employed, and a landlady who can’t seem to maintain good relations with her tenants. Colquhoun also shares one of her own haunting autobiographical memories: a turning point in her life where her family is scammed by two home builders who promised far more than they delivered.
The fearless Colquhoun inhabits all these characters with a wide range of voices, striking physicality, and an impressively rubbery face that morphs seamlessly from one person to another. These lively stories are punctuated with a smattering of songs (the pigeon gets a great one), all accompanied by the energetic George Jenkins on keyboard.
Colquhoun is an undeniable talent. A strong singer and actor, she’s quirky in all the best ways, able to shift between silly and earnest with ease. That said, and entertaining as The Lodger currently is, this ambitious show could hit even harder with some judicious editing and development. Greater clarity and specificity between characters and their storylines is needed, and certain stage moments — like a gorgeous but overlong song about a deer — could be trimmed or reimagined to keep the show propelling forward.
Quibbles aside, The Lodger has meaningful stories to tell, and with Colquhoun, the right person to deliver them. With a little ruthless editing, her stories could soar from charming to unforgettable.
