Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Abrasion
End of the Pier Productions
Genre: Feminist Theatre, One Person Show, Storytelling, Theatre
Venue: Gilded Balloon
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
This one-woman show about an Endometriosis diagnosis follows Meg’s journey as she navigates the condition and how it affects her life. The play straddles the line between theatre, comedy, and a high school health class, leaving the audience with a newfound knowledge of a life-altering disease, and hope that you can find joy despite any circumstance.
Review
When you think of the Edinburgh Fringe, this is exactly the show you imagine. Abrasion, written and performed by Meg-Rose Dixon, feels perfectly at home in the buzzing halls of Gilded Balloon. Audiences are greeted by a bubbly performer in a bright pink gown standing beneath a sparkly curtain celebrating her Endoversary, or one year since her surgery to address her Endometriosis. Once the house lights go down, Meg (the name of both the actor and character) takes the audience on a journey through her life. We see her highs, her lows, and her various adventures with the medical system. Dixon encourages us to laugh with her, giving the audience permission to enjoy the comedy that lies with a condescending GP and a profusely bleeding vagina. Where the script could have looked for audience tears and weeping, it instead sought (and found) empathy through laughter.
Meg speaks for nearly the full hour, never allowing the audience to get complacent with the status quo of the piece. Just when you think you’ve settled in, the scene shifts and you’re right back with it. This pace can sometimes hinder a production, but in the case of Abrasion, it underwrites the comedic timing perfectly, never letting any joke linger for too long.
Despite Abrasion being a comedy, which I can assure you it is, it isn’t without its tender moments. Multiple times throughout Meg’s story, we hear audio clips from those who were around her as she navigated her Endometriosis. Dixon made a very thoughtful and intentional decision to let these people speak for themselves without any of her own comedic overtones. This lent just the right amount of weight to the story, and reinforced the autobiographical and truthfulness of the piece.
We can all relate to Meg’s story on some level, a point she drives home early by asking the audience to reveal their recent experiences with pain (again, it’s a comedy, so don’t worry it doesn’t get too dark). Despite universal appeal, it’s hard to sum up what you might feel when you see Abrasion, so I’ll say this; if my high school health class had been this entertaining, I would have paid far more attention.
