Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Forgotten
Notional Theatre
Genre: Theatre
Venue: Sprout Studio at Greenside @ George Street
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Stories. Everything we are, everything that exists, is made up of stories. But what happens when a story can no longer be told? What happens when we forget? Forgotten is a new one act play from first-time writer and director Richard Wright. This moving piece explores a world where creativity meets bureaucracy and asks the question – what happens to stories when they die?
Review
Richard Wright’s debut writing asks: what happens to stories when they die? What unfolds is an exploration of loss, memory, and what we carry of the people and stories we’ve loved. It’s a piece that trusts you to bring your own meaning to it, which is increasingly rare.
The framework is clear: this is about the loss of a story. But Wright’s writing is clever enough to leave certain moments open. You can read the emotional weight as grief for narrative, or grief for a person. You can see family stories erased by time, or how death rewrites what we remember. That openness isn’t accidental; it’s where the piece’s real depth lives.
You feel the weight of multiple interpretations at once, and the audience gets trusted to sit with that rather than being led by the hand. That’s a rare instinct in debut work.
The cast moves through the piece without rushing, which takes discipline when you’re dealing with loss. The direction is particularly smart in how it builds the emotional connection between characters within the story, which becomes the heart of what we’re watching. There’s real affection between the performers and that shows in the characters, and it grounds everything that happens.
What’s genuinely surprising is how the funny moments land from the beginning of the peace. These comic beats don’t undercut the emotional weight; they give audiences the breathing room they need. Grief and laughter live next door to each other, and Wright understands this instinctively.
To strengthen what’s already working: The occasional verbal prompt from the seating was audible, but trusting the actors to find their own way through hesitations would serve the piece even better in this small space and add to the story. The lighting design currently plays it safe with a warm wash throughout. This space could handle bolder choices; sharper use of light could deepen what Wright is exploring and shift the emotional texture of these moments. It would transform what’s already working into something genuinely powerful.
Forgotten sticks with you after you leave. It has faith in its audience to find meaning in what’s left unsaid. That matters and is worth your time.
