Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Lifelong
Pepperdine Scotland in association with Scissor Kick
Genre: New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Assembly at George Square
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
At a facility in the future, people are paying to stay alive for as long as they can. Now well past their centuries, outsider Kit arrives, harbouring his own secret, to sort one of the problems that has arisen from pods housing these centurions. What they don’t know is that he is there to not only evict them but to condemn them to their end. Reasons are slowly revealed by Kit as he attempts to move people from one sense of reality to another.
Review
The Department of Theatre at California’s Pepperdine University are back with playwright Lynda Radley for this short run at the Fringe. Previously they earned a Fringe First, Pepperdine’s second with The Interference. Lifelong is a stretched dystopian future in a collaboration which is skilful and prescient. It’s like a pandemic on steroids, except the steroids are being used because any chemical enhancement that keeps you alive is preferable to living in a polluted outside world.
Their young company are fantastic. They are helped by Radley’s ability to present an authentic and understandable narrative set within the context of a vision that would appear to be not far away from our current reality. It makes it a very prescient piece of theatre. Directed with nuance this presents a company of entitled people who have paid for their privilege suddenly discovering that their road has run out of tarmac. This is a taut piece of work enhanced by a cast that is numbersome rather than cumbersome. It may be unusual to have such a large cast at the Fringe, but this is one of the reasons why you should have one. And a set!
Moving from one place to another which by subterfuge rather than honesty, Kit, struggling with his own issues, whilst seeking his pay check for him and his family whilst condemning people to a terrible end, is delivered with depth and understanding. Kit represents those without the funds for the idyllic lifestyle, the Pioneers are those who can afford the “Healthcare.” His performance sits at the centre of the piece but his colleagues and fellow cast members match his ability to tell the tale – this is an ensemble piece of work where all the heavy lifting appears to have been done in the rehearsal room and we benefit from it. There is not a misstep. It is compelling.
I do love a set and here we had quite a complex one which gave a sense of the future without overburdening the stage. People were able to move neatly, including the screens that were turned to the side to give robots who looked after the facility.
Technical this was a great piece of work with lighting and sound giving that feel of being out of this world and sterile. Technology was hinted at rather than an overburdensome attempt to reproduce it. Costume was really effective though with the number of 80s references I was disappointed not to see any leg warmers.
This is a prescient piece of theatre which reminds us that the future might not all be all that we want it to be and we might crack ourselves up trying to achieve it. The collaboration between Scotland and America has a very healthy addition to the canon of work that they’ve already provided us with.
