Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Dreaming of Max
Jackie Kleefield Cohn
Genre: Storytelling, Theatre
Venue: Sprout Studio at Greenside @ George Street
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A woman travels across Europe pursuing a man she barely knows. Captivated by the memory of his eyes, she follows clues always just missing him. A solo show about following your heart and taking leaps of faith into the unknown. What begins as a search for Max becomes something deeper: the discovery of a new, unexpected life. Jackie is a playwright and performer whose work has been staged in New York City, Los Angeles, Paris, and Stockholm. She returns to the Edinburgh Fringe to debut Dreaming of Max.
Review
Within moments of entering Sprout studio, Jackie Kleefield Cohn puts you at ease; what could have been claustrophobic instead feels like being invited into a friend’s kitchen for a coffee and a story.
The show, although based on a true story, is deceptively simple. It’s the kind of storytelling that could easily tip into melodrama or whimsy, but Jackie’s writing and performance style keeps it grounded. The dialogue feels natural rather than theatrical because it captures how people actually speak when they’re uncertain and hopeful at the same time.
Jackie tells this deeply personal story with warmth. You believe you’re hearing from someone who’s living their story again for the first time live in front of you. She finds humour in exactly the right moments, particularly when describing the small disasters of travel or the mundane reality of chasing a romantic notion across a map. These comedic beats land because of her timing and a wry tone that suggests she’s aware of the foolishness of what she’s doing. But she doesn’t let the humour undercut the vulnerability running through the piece. Instead, it sits alongside the sadness and uncertainty, creating something that feels honest rather than performed.
The writing itself is cleanly constructed, which is harder than it might appear. Personal, heartfelt stories in solo shows often collapse under the weight of their own emotion or become self-indulgent. This doesn’t. Jackie knows what she’s doing with this material. She has clearly written this piece with deliberate pacing: moments of rapid discovery followed by quiet reflection, small victories punctuated by genuine setbacks. This means you’re not just listening to someone process their feelings; you’re experiencing an actual arc, and in turn the writing allows you to watch someone transform through the act of pursuit and discovery.
This isn’t a show that needs a large stage to breathe; the intimacy of the space becomes an asset rather than a limitation. Jackie uses the closeness to her advantage. She makes eye contact, she pauses and lets silence breathe, she shares vulnerability without performing it. Every audience member feels present in this strange, wonderful search because she’s speaking to each of you individually, not projecting to the back row. There’s something generous about her performance here: she pulls you along from moment to moment, and you follow willingly because she’s trusted you with something real.
The current staging choices don’t detract from the story, though the addition of subtle background music or sounds and more considered lighting cues could further enhance the emotional weight of key moments. What’s here works, but these elements could deepen the atmosphere she’s already so carefully built.
Solo shows live or die on whether the performer can hold your attention, and Jackie does this not through technical flourishes or constant movement, but through genuine connection and a story worth telling. If you’re looking for theatre that finds humour and heartbreak in equal measure, then Dreaming of Max is absolutely worth your time.
