Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Ada and Bron: The Origin of Love
Ada Player and Bron Waugh
Genre: character comedy, Comedy, Sketch Comedy
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard Attic
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A gloriously chaotic whirl of a show that whips you through every freaky and wonderful iteration of the trials of love.
Review
Ada and Bron are in love… and out of love… and then in love again… then they love other people… then they love themselves… except they aren’t their namesakes, Ada and Bron. They are a multitude of star-crossed – and occasionally star-doomed – lovers, connecting through time and space like a pair of serendipitous magnets: sometimes pulling together and sometimes finding themselves very much the wrong way around, fated to be pushed apart.
The epic, faux-documentary opening suggests that we are about to be taken through a timeline of the origin of love, from the separation of single-cell organisms through to the current hot mess of dating apps and the trials of searching for love in 2025. However, the show quickly swerves away from anything so logical and instead riffs on the various themes of love, employing outrageously over-the-top characters to explore its many forms. We have gooey love, in the shape of a pair of lovers obsessed with each other. Insane, melodramatic love, with characters willing to go beyond all sense of safety and dignity to prove their devotion. Poly amorous love and its many pitfalls. Young love, delightfully unfolded in all its embarrassed and inarticulate glory. Forbidden love, played out in a handful of disturbing scenes. Unrequited love – which was the most touching (well, emotionally anyway… there was plenty of touching…) section, in the form of a young woman trying anything to please her new boyfriend, constantly changing herself to fit his ideal. This last one drew many a pantomime ‘aww’ from the crowd, which is a credit to the pacing and atmosphere that was created, giving the actors the freedom to be playful not only with each other but also with the audience.
Add to this the delightful musical accompaniment from Ed Lyness, whose skill at the ivories and sharp eye on proceedings is perfectly under (and sometimes appropriately over) scoring the action, and you have a show that feels risky, naughty, and keeps you right on the edge of your seat. The chaotic vibe means you truly have no idea what could happen next.
The show is reminiscent of the unrelenting, frenetic energy of Bottom Live! The dark undertones of The League of Gentlemen and a sprinkle of the anarchic nonsense of The Mighty Boosh. It only tugs at the heartstrings once or twice – otherwise it charges at full ramming speed through a wild and, at times, utterly absurd range of love-based scenarios. Hats off to the actors, who by the end were utterly drenched in sweat from their exertions. Bron Waugh is superbly confident and vigorous in his roles, while Ada Player is equally explosive, showing a lovely range of characterisation across the hour. Together they are a powerhouse pairing that ooze trust and a keen willingness to be spontaneous. A show like this could easily be quite wearing and has a huge technical difficulty rating, meaning when its done badly it could sink like a stone. Thankfully Ada and Bron: The Origin of Love is beautifully buoyant and will cap off your evening with guaranteed belly laughs and brilliantly grotesque skits.
