Elizabeth I: Regina Vagina
★★★★★ Energetic
PBH’s Free Fringe @ CC Blooms (Venue 171): Sun 9 – Sat 29 Aug 2026
Review by Neil McPherson
Elizabeth I: Regina Vagina from Old’n’Dead Productions packs in humour, music and more facts about the Tudors and Elizabeth I than you will ever need, in a peak-Fringe adults-only production.
Writer Beth Eltringham – who plays the sassy monarch with panache and gusto – says this is taking “history back for the adults from the children” – acknowledging the Horrible Histories franchise for inspiration, but reflecting the warts and all, unsanitised and often eye popping content the show’s child-friendly precursor left out.
Nowhere is this more evident than during the song which runs through real Tudor contraception methods, including the application of severed weasel testicles.
Kyle Paton, Beth Eltringham and Pedro Branco. Pic: Edinburgh Rep.
A great deal of research has gone into crafting the show. And it shows, particularly in the somewhat darker final act which explores Elizabeth’s alleged multiple lovers, her alleged lesbianism, allegations that she was a man and, most starkly of all, the prospect of her abuse and grooming as a teenager by Thomas Seymour.
This does not reflect the overall tenor, though, which is light, humorous and rollicking, with full audience participation in the reworked pop hits along the way. These include numbers from Grease, Rick Astley and the show’s centrepiece: The Proclaimers’ I would walk 500 Miles – to explain the Spanish Armada.
appropriate
It’s an appropriate tune to belt out at the top of Leith Walk, but how do you convey the Spanish Armada in a tiny basement venue? Why, with three cardboard boxes and string of course!
Eltringham’s Elizabeth is supported by Kyle Paton as William Shakey Spears (think Hit Me Baby…), the show’s narrator, threading together the various elements of Elizabeth’s story. These are mostly played out by Charlotte Purdie (as Walter Raleigh, Mary Queen of Scots, Francois and Kat Ashley, Elizabeth’s Governess) and Pedro Branco as Philip II of Spain and Robert Dudley.
Charlotte Purdie. Pic: Edinburgh Rep.
The male characters all generally wear exultant cod pieces. Raleigh’s version resembles a vertical golden croissant, while Philip II’s seems to have a life of its own, moving with the menace of the chest burster emerging from John Hurt in Alien.
Invention and knowing humour run through it. The late Queen Mary I is a skeleton, tethered to Philip II’s ankle and the appropriately French-accented Mary Queen of Scots is properly rebuked when, upon being told she needs to be more Scottish, she runs through the dialects to end up with broad Weegie.
positively and triumphantly
The show ends positively and triumphantly with a call to remember Elizabeth not for her fertility, her love life or the misogyny that permeated her reign (and after): but rather for her incredible achievements, her resilience and her fortitude against the odds. A 44 year reign in 60 minutes. Quite an achievement in itself.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
PBH’s Free Fringe @ CC Blooms (Lab), 23-24 Greenside Place EH1 3AA (Venue 171).
Sunday 9 – Saturday 29 August 2026.
Odd dates only: 5.30pm.
Details (non ticketed): Book here at EdFringe.com.
Venue: Details here.
Facebook: @Old’n’Dead-Productions
Instagram: @oldndeadproductions
Instagram: @edinburghrepco
Linktree: @edinburghrepco.
The cast of Elizabeth I: Regina Vagina. Pic: Edinburgh Rep.
ENDS
