Edinburgh Fringe 2026
1 Night at Ford’s Theatre
Genre: American Theater, Biographical Drama, Musical Theatre, New Writing
Venue: The Rotunda, George Herriot School
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
US President Lincoln’s assassination in 1865 made a young actor infamous. 1 Night at Ford’s Theatre explores the turmoil of his older brother, constantly revisiting events that led to that fateful night. A bold attempt using musical theatre set in a fictional circus ring to answer the question ‘how are monsters made’.
Review
John Wilkes Booth came from the well known 19th-century American theatrical family, both he and his older brother Edwin followed their father onto the stage. During the Civil War, John enlisted with the Confederates and denounced Lincoln’s anti-slavery politics. His extreme views have chilling echoes through time to modern day America and create a backdrop for this production.
John and a group of conspirators resolved to kill Lincoln and other prominent politicians and in April 1865 Booth shot the President during a theatre performance. It is John Americans remember for his dreadful crime, Edwin’s fame did not outlast his own lifetime but in 1 Night at Ford’s Theatre it is Edwin who is given equal billing. The writer/director Kaely Michels-Gualtieri uses a ‘circus of memory’ device to show how Edwin’s mind distorts and re-performs the past in an attempt to understand John’s actions and whether he, Edwin, could have stopped John’s radicalisation and Lincoln’s death. The play imagines Edwin’s struggles to carry on with his celebrated acting career once his lifelong role as older brother is taken away. Unfortunately John is presented as the more interesting and engaging character and Edwin’s role needs more heft to draw our attention. Michels-Gualtieri is perhaps conflicted about which is the stronger story to focus on – Edwin’s psychological torment or his brother’s radicalisation.
The showman Barnum is an apt choice as ringmaster; before he started his circus he was a legislator for Connecticut and his career overlapped with both Lincoln’s and the Booth brothers.’ Conjuring up memories for Edwin he orchestrates acts to enter the ring – now Booth Senior a tyrant controlling his sons, now John’s mentor who encourage his pro-slavery beliefs. Circus stage hands add to the picture moving the action from scene to scene. The circus is an attractive metaphor and the production would benefit from leaning more heavily into it.
The operatic plot is well suited to musical theatre and the strength of this production is its musical score and lyrics [music by Chi Wai Hu, lyrics by Hu and Sabrina Steuer]. It was great to see the band on stage but a missed opportunity not to include them more in the action. Key performers have a very powerful delivery and others would benefit from developing bigger performances to match the style of the piece. There are some clever moments of staging – a step ladder serves as a metaphor for struggle and triumph, a thick red cord becomes a bloody weapon. Doubling Booth Snr and Lincoln was effective at positioning them both as tyrants to be thwarted by our deluded assassin. This does feel like a production which is finding its feet; it is a fascinating framing device around a story with contemporary relevance and hopefully it will be given more development time.
