Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Flights for future generations
Lindsey Barlag Thornton
Genre: Contemporary, Performance Art, Physical Theatre
Venue: ZOO Playground
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Analogue technology and precise physical theatre come together in this solo performance inspired by women aviators and spiritualists. Through movement, text, sound and imagery accounts of flights, mysterious encounters, and the human longing for physical and spiritual ascension are explored.
Review
Flights for Future Generations is inspired by the contents of a suitcase, found after the death of deviser and performer Lindsey Barlag Thornton’s great aunt. Conceived and performed by Barlag Thornton, with Lauren Sharp as co-collaborator, there is no plot here to follow. It sits closer to a solo art installation than a conventional play, made from movement, recorded sound and image rather than dialogue. The performer narrates, but on a pre-recorded tape, which is a neat fit with this exploration of voices from the past. The audience is asked to sit with memory rather than follow a story, and the results are genuinely absorbing.
The suitcase itself is the emotional heart of the show, unlocking it stands in for the line between what an ancestor chose to keep and what we are allowed to see. Around it, fragments of the past are pieced together: the crackle of an old vinyl record, even a clip of Big Bird from Sesame Street, snatches of static that recall Amelia Earhart’s final radio transmissions, and traces of a family fascination with extrasensory perception and messages from the dead. The idea holding all of these concepts together is taken from theosophy, in which (apparently) people, objects and generations are all connected as part of one larger whole. Daisy Long’s lighting design, moving between torch, slide projector and candlelight, does much of the storytelling, and turns the small stage into something closer to a private séance than a piece of theatre.
One thing that holds Flights for Future Generations back is length. The piece would benefit from a tighter edit to give its strongest moments room to land. In terms of content, a few vignettes arrive without quite earning their place; they feel more bolted on than developed.
There is no story here, the event is a series of vitrines in a museum dedicated to flight, brought carefully to life. That makes it well suited to its morning slot, a gentle, meditative hour before the bustle of the Fringe starts. Flights for Future Generations is a quiet, personal show, built with real care, and it rewards anyone willing to slow down for it.
