Bare
★★★☆☆ Ambitious
Braw Venues @ Hill Street (Venue 41): Fri 1 – Sun 24 Aug 2025
Review by Rebecca Mahar
Edinburgh Little Theatre brings Bare: A Pop Opera to the Alba stage at Hill Street Theatre for a full run of the Fringe, an ambitious musical of teenage angst and queer identity in a Catholic boarding school.
Schoolboy Peter (Callan Paterson), a senior at St. Cecilia’s Boarding School, is in a closeted relationship with his roommate, Jason (Josh McPherson), the school heartthrob. Peter longs to come out, while Jason wants to keep their love a secret, afraid of the consequences. The conflict worsens when they are both cast in the school play: Peter as Mercutio, Jason as Romeo, with the popular and promiscuous Ivy (Charlotte Howgego), who has a thing for Jason, as Juliet.
A scene from Bare A Pop Opera. Pic: ELT
High emotions, misunderstandings, break-ups and make-ups ensue. Bare doesn’t hold back from the high stakes of teenage life: identity, love, sex and its consequences; bullying, partying, and drug use.
Having debuted in 2000, the same year as The Laramie Project, Bare is in many ways an anthem of the time in which it was created; a younger sibling of Rent. Dangers involved with living openly queer still exist today, especially in the context of Catholicism, but Bare reflects a time when the expectation of safety was a distant dream, and Peter’s desire to come out is likely to result in ostracization at the very least.
This is one of the area’s where ELT’s production, directed by Derek Douglas, lets itself down. Far from making an effort to place the show in its time, it integrates smartphones and allows items of clothing with temporal indicators such as ‘White Fox est. 2013’ to appear onstage. Placing Bare in what seems to be the present day causes it to lose something in translation, not respecting the social, cultural, and political context in which it was created.
stakes
Similarly, other than the blanket idea that it is taking place in a Catholic school, the production is lacking a sense that the stakes of this relationship being made public are high enough to justify its tragic end. This Bare does not carry the weight necessary to be fully convincing in its sincerity.
Dramaturgical problems aside, ELT has put forward a very strong effort in Bare, with a talented cast of young people filling out the world of St. Cecilia’s. The ensemble’s vocals are strong and sharp, each individual who steps out into a featured role giving detail and nuance to their part regardless of how many or few lines they have to show it.
A scene from Bare A Pop Opera. Pic: ELT
A particular standout is Jason’s sister Nadia (Ashley Garrett), a larger girl whose size becomes the subject of her song Plain Jane Fat Ass, where she reflects on her typecasting as Juliet’s Nurse and the societal standards that reject her despite her personal qualities. Later on, Garrett shows superb vulnerability in A Quiet Night At Home. Sister Chantelle (Kathleen McClenaghan), meanwhile, is a powerhouse, whether as herself reassuring Peter, or in his dream as the Virgin Mary-cum-Dolly Parton.
The quartet of leads (Peter, Jason, Ivy, and Matt (AJ Douglas), who is in love with Ivy and discovers Peter and Jason’s secret) are the only ones in the show who are mic’d up, but are still the quietest of all the company. When audible, they all give excellent vocals, and the visual aspects of their acting are compelling, with Peter’s eyes reflecting aching sadness and hope throughout.
difficult to hear
Unfortunately, they are consistently difficult to hear, with Matt being inaudible for almost all of his lines. This seems to be the result both of naturally quiet individuals and over-reliance on microphones, without the projection that is present throughout the rest of the ensemble.
Peter in particular suffers from technical problems in addition to his softness, with an ill-fitting mic leading to a strangely muffled sound. Jason and Ivy burst through occasionally with volume that indicates with further training or better musical direction (also done by Howgego in this production) they might be heard as easily as the rest of the ensemble, but it has not happened in Bare.
A scene from Bare A Pop Opera. Pic: ELT
The choreography (by CJ Miller) and technical aspects of the show are generally very good, with the ensemble executing energetic dance numbers and slick scene changes under simple, evocative lighting. The intimate aspects of the show, however, cry out for help, bringing attention to the production’s lack of an intimacy director rather than the stories these moments are trying to tell.
Peter and Jason’s physicality repeatedly settles into static inches-apart singing into each other’s faces; kissing goes on and on in nonspecific fashion; a strange choice has been made to feature an explicit straight sex scene front and centre while a gay sex scene is poorly implied in stillness behind a set piece.
While there are areas where Bare needs improvement, overall it is well-performed by a young company showing their chops, and ability to tackle a difficult story.
Running time: Two hours and 35 minutes (including one interval).
Braw Venues @ Hill Street (Alba), 19 Hill Street EH2 3JP (Venue 41).
Friday 1 – Sunday 24 August 2025.
Daily: 9.15pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Braw Venues website: brawvenues.com
Facebook: @brawvenues
Instagram: @braw.venues
A scene from Bare A Pop Opera. Pic: ELT
ENDS
