Edinburgh Fringe 2026
MNÁ (women)
Suaimhneas Theatre Company
Genre: Spoken Word, Theatre
Venue: Greenside at George Street
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Irish artists Francesca Garry and Jodie Sweeney take us on the journey of two women who have come back from an attempt to make it in New York. Their journey back has not been the triumphant return they wanted it to be, however as they meander through their disappointments and meet in a urine infested Post Office, the contrast with what their dreams are is never more obvious.
Review
Through spoken word and poetry what we get is an interesting flight of introspection that it is nice to be a part of. This is a new venture for both Garry and Sweeney and clearly this is one of those performances that you should seek and take a risk on at the fringe.
This is a good piece of work. At 40 minutes it fits just neatly into a moment in time where people are exploring ideas and thoughts and views. The writing works best when it is poetic, once past the initial self- indulgent nature of the monologues, it really starts to come alive. Though helpful to enter the world, the self-indulgence does get us somewhere but never gets us wholly to the vulnerable. When open and a risk – meeting old friends for example – there are clear observations and the performances feel more heartfelt.
It is well directed with a good set up at the beginning leading to those monologues. Swifter to the experiences would help but the entire stage is used effectively. Never in doubt who these characters were, never in doubt what was happening, I would have welcomed more shade and doubt in development. Perhaps a stronger connection between the two, not just their similarities but also their striking differences would have deepened the performance.
The technical nature of it was simplistic with the number of shoe changes fascinating. I thought that there was potentially more that could have been made out of that, perhaps a rack at the back with how shoes often are defining an actor. Tom Hanks talks about how the first thing he does for a character is he goes and buys them a pair of shoes because that defines a lot of how the character behaves. Here I thought there were things, particularly society’s expectation as to how women should dress that could have been explored more fully.
MNÁ (women) is an interesting piece of writing, well directed with the right pace and suitable tone which hints at more to come.
