Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Low Down
Frat is a theatre production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, presented by Namesake Theatre. The play is set inside an American fraternity house and follows a group of young men as they go through initiation rituals, navigate friendships, and confront shifting loyalties. Frat examines topics such as power, peer pressure, and the rules that shape male social groups. The script addresses the boundaries between camaraderie and coercion, exploring how belonging and tradition can become sources of conflict.
Review
Frat is one of the rarest of beasts. A satirical black drama with comic elements, it doesn’t judge but offers the audience a window into its closely guarded world.
The dialect is superb ( and the program includes a glossary on the back page for those who are unsure) and so richly observed in its nuances, it is as if the four performers are having real conversations. The lines are delivered very snappily, in quick succession and the pace was maintained at all times. Their world is quickly revealed to us from the start and we remain absorbed in it throughout. A picture is painted of a university fraternity with all its history and absurdities.
The cast – Max Allen, Luke Stiles, Elliot Diner and Will Hammond all excel as Alex, Brent, Charles and Dexter. Their different takes on a situation were really clear, well rounded and created with razor like precision. Luke Stiles as Brent in particular evokes a wide range of emotions – at times he ” swaggers”, like a “cocky young adult”, seemingly believing he is invincible. We almost want to ” wipe that smirk off his face”. However, later on during a conversation with his mother we see such a different side to the character we almost feel sorry for him when he becomes emotional and his tone of voice becomes softer and full of emotion. Equally, when he shares some of his recollections of the event, it evokes questions in all of us about consent.
Elliott Diner’s performance as the loyal friend injected humour but at the same time we understood part of his loyalty to his friend, and his thought processes and characterisation were so well defined.
Max Allen’s portrayal explored the bravery of standing up for what you believe in, even when it fractures a friendship was highly believable.
Will Hammond’s well thought out, clearly defined character was equally as believable and skilled as the other performers. He produced a likeable character who we empathised with all the way through, who was totally believable and authentic.
Olivia Woods direction keeps the dialogue and scenes revolving with great skill. The way in which the characters had been directed to enter and exit at times during the audience was effective – it added a sense of inclusion and added more impact. The use of the red light equally immediately gave us a sense of foreboding and changed the mood when it was used creating tension.
The set supported the performance well – it was a sofa with a drinks cabinet. This gave the actors the chance to explore a wide range of levels – balancing on the side, lying on the sofa etc.
This is a great expose into the nature of fraternity in America ( although Allen who is also the writer) is Canadian. The comic elements surrounding the juvenile initiation ceremonies as well as dark insights highlighted this as a dominating, closed world with strong undertones of bullying as well as camaraderie.
What Allen suggests is that no person, no matter how popular, is greater than the fraternity itself with even the faculty being protective of the institution when it is threatened.
This performance was highly effective and a must see. It was innovative, riveting, asked many questions and doesn’t insult the audiences intelligence by answering all of them. Equally, the audience are left wanting more at the end.
