Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Sophie’s Surprise 29th
Underbelly and Three Legged Race Productions

Venue: The Beauty at Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
An hour of inventive, high-energy circus with a cast you quickly care about and a nice little story!
Review
The Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows is one of my favourite Edinburgh spaces. Strangely enough, it’s always the right-hand tent — currently called The Beauty. I’ve seen plenty of cabaret and circus there (possibly too much, some would say), but last night I saw something genuinely different: a show set at a birthday party.
“Sophie”, not her real name, I’m fairly sure , is plucked from the audience as we file in. My Mam would have asked if she was a plant. Mam loved the Indiana Jones ride in Universal, but the look on “Sophie’s” face later in the show convinced me she wasn’t faking it.
Pre-show, we’re helping get ready for the party. The younger, high-energy audience is up for it, even if the cast of characters greeting us isn’t always reassuring:
A nervy, downtrodden nerd, glasses, teeth, mousy curls hiding her eyes, frantically prepping.
“F. Boy” (yes, that’s his name in the show) — white tracksuit, loud, obnoxious, and oddly magnetic.
A pale, morose goth who’s bad at keeping his girlfriend.
Said girlfriend, who only has eyes for F. Boy.
A “party pusher” who discreetly-but-not-really hands out little packets from his pockets.
And the “Fireman”, who would never forgive me if I forgot him — essential to several moments later.
The staging is appropriate: two giant lit candle numbers (“2” and “9”) in the centre of the small round stage, six massive balloons spelling SOPHIE (not very well), a table with crisps (orange ones — yuk), party hats, poppers, and those curly whistle things (do they even have a name?).
The pre-show is energetic, immersive, beautifully delivered, and genuinely unexpected. When “Sophie” is finally ushered through the golden curtain, we all yell “Surprise!” and belt out Happy Birthday.
No spoilers here, just know that while the structure loosely follows the familiar circus format of vignettes showing off different skills, the party framing keeps it fresh and surprising. This is a young, newly-formed crew, brimming with skill and, I suspect, pushing riskier tricks than most. My inner retired medic kept thinking: “I really hope that doesn’t go wrong.”
Between acts, birthday-party antics cleverly cover the technical changeovers. There’s also nudity – why almost always male? “Sophie” is roped in often, clearly having a brilliant time (as were we all).
The soundtrack skews young, matching the cast and crowd, poor Bublé barely got a look-in before being swiftly dispatched.
In short: an hour of inventive, high-energy circus with a cast you quickly care about, even F. Boy, who at one point mounted a heartfelt defence of the InCel. I wonder why! A refreshing twist on the genre.
If this is your bag, go and see it. You won’t regret it.