Edinburgh Fringe 2026
ADEY
Bethlehem Wolday-Myers / RED SEA POETRY
Genre: New Writing, Solo Performance, Spoken Word, Storytelling, Theatre
Venue: The Space @ Surgeons' Hall — Theatre 1
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A warm and personal show exploring family, culture, belonging and finding your own voice. ADEY takes us between Tottenham and Eritrean heritage through spoken word, storytelling and movement. There is plenty to connect with here, alongside a feeling that the show still has more to give.
Review
ADEY starts by making us feel welcome. As we come into the theatre, the performer offers us popcorn, looking each person in the eye and inviting us in. Then she introduces a ritual from her culture, asking us to waft imagined smoke around ourselves. It is a lovely way to start. We are not just watching her story; she is bringing us into her world.Then comes one of my favourite parts of the show: a raw spoken-word piece about women, silence and breaking the cycle of not having a voice. It really lands. For me, this is one of the most memorable moments, and the idea of women finding and using their voices stays with me.
At the heart of ADEY is a young artist growing up in Tottenham and her relationship with her traditional Eritrean mother. Her daughter wants to act, while her mother wants her to have security. There is something very real in that clash. Acting takes time, rejection and persistence, and becoming successful doesn’t just happen because you decide this is what you want to do. Some conversations between mother and daughter move between English and her mother’s language. At first, I wondered if I was supposed to understand more. But perhaps that isn’t really the point. We still understand a lot about these two women through their tone, rhythm and the way they communicate with each other. I was left wondering whether just a little more context might help these moments.
London is never far away either. I particularly enjoyed the section using different postcodes and the mix of cultures that makes up the city. This makes the later “go back to where you came from” hit even harder. If London is your home, where exactly are you supposed to go back to?
There are moments when I wanted ADEY to push further. Give us more movement, more fire and perhaps even more anger. The flashes of dance are great fun, but they’re over too quickly. I wanted more. The same goes for the audience interaction. We are already with her, so why not use us more?
ADEY feels like a show with plenty more to give. It is warm, personal and full of ideas around family, culture, belonging and finding your own voice. When those elements come together, it really connects.
