Lost Girls / At Bus Stops
★★★★★ Stunning
Assembly George Square (venue 8): Fri 15 – Mon 25 Aug 2025
Review by Erin Frances Speirs.
Filled with humour, lust and longing, Lost Girls / At Bus Stops in the Box at Assembly George Square, is not only a lesbian love story but also a love letter to Edinburgh and the Fringe.
Róisín Sheridan-Bryson’s play follows Iona and Jess, two young lesbians who are friends, but we are told right from the start “want to fuck”, just so the audience doesn’t get that wrong. Having originally met at the Edinburgh Fringe they always commit to gallivanting through the city with each other when it comes alive once more each August.
Catriona Faint and Leyla Aycan in Lost Girls/At Bus Stops’ previous tour. Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
This electric play produced by Genesis Theatre Productions in association with A Play, A Pie and A Pint (at which this first appeared), follows the two pals through the last evening they’ll spend with one another. The two young women play and replay the events hoping for a different outcome.
They control the play, changing light cues at the snap of their fingers, and by the conclusion realise that they can decide how they want it to end. This direction from Laila Noble is exquisite, filling the small space with magical energy.
Although the play occasionally meanders, just as the women meander around the streets of Edinburgh, the writing of Lost Girls / At Bus Stops is rapid and hilarious. After Jess gets a concussion, the play begins to purposefully fragment, turning further into a fever dream—which includes a ‘real angel’, or just a drag queen depending on if you ask Jess or Iona. This use of magical realism, paired with beautiful lighting and set design, pulls both romance and chaos into focus.
chemistry
Jess (Catriona Faint) brings humour as the loud-mouth Scottish masc. They are fiery and ferocious, tearing up the stage with intense, palpable energy. Their in-your-face persona contrasts against Leyla Aycan’s more conserved nature as Iona. Aycan portrays longing beautiful, with lingering looks and rapid breaths. The chemistry between the actors is remarkable, and the characters are so perfect for each other that it is impossible to not be rooting for them by the end.
Catriona Faint and Leyla Aycan in Lost Girls/At Bus Stops’ previous tour . Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
The set is specific and stunning, used to its fullest potential throughout. A faux bus stop – complete with timetables covered in lipstick kisses and a plastic glass panel – transforms into a tarot reading booth, a display board for polaroids of the girls, as well as a regular old bus stop. Both the set and the story are simple, but used by writer Róisín Sheridan-Bryson and director Laila Noble to their fullest capabilities, creating a beautiful journey.
Lost Girls/At Bus Stops is a hysterical romp through the streets of Edinburgh filled with emotional weight, longing and lesbian love that might not end in perfection, but which refuses to end in tragedy. An inherently Queer and Edinburgh based story, any Edinburgh Queer would be amiss to skip it
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Assembly George Square (The Box), 50 George Square, EH8 9LH (Venue 8).
Friday 15 – Monday 25 August 2025.
Daily: 2.20pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Book here on EdFest.com.*
Genesis Theatre website: https://www.genesistheatreproductions.co.uk
Facebook: @GenesisTheatreProductions
Instagram: @genesistheatreproductions
*affiliate link.
ENDS
