Mother, Maiden and Crone
★★★★★ Queer excellence
Bedlam Theatre (Venue 49): Fri 7 – Sun 30 Aug 2026
Review by Bri Boehm
An homage to the Edinburgh queer scene, Mother, Maiden and Crone, playing at Bedlam Theatre all Fringe, turns Macbeth into an uproarious farcical comedy about a hen do gone wrong at a struggling gay bar.
Set in the imaginary Limbo Bar & Kitchen, this original play brings Macbeth’s witches to the centre – reimagined as a drag queen (Mother: Lewis Gemmell), a bimbo shot boy (Maiden: Ewan Burns), and a klepto DJ (Crone: Fin Watt).
A scene from Mother, Maiden and Crone. Pic: Emma Morgan.
When monstrous McBride and her horrible hen do attempt to conquer the club for the night, high jinks ensue. As the stakes are raised the witches must find a way to take back the night and teach their invaders some lessons about how to behave in queer spaces.
Created by local gays and for local gays, Mother, Maiden and Crone is a glittering, heartfelt tribute to Edinburgh’s queer community and club scene, written by Burns and directed by Gemmel. Their love for their community and art form shines through in a show that is, in equal measures, sidesplittingly hilarious and startlingly profound.
The characters are brilliantly written and perfectly performed, characterised by recognisable archetypes but balanced, through both the script and in performance, with plentiful nuance and depth.
a ternary star system
The balanced ensemble play off of each other with ease. The witches’ dynamic is utter dynamite: quippy, familiar, loving and teasing; a ternary star system around which the rest of the show orbits.
The hen do party features vividly recognisable stock characters, of the type to strike fear in the heart of any queer audience member. McBride (Erin McGivern) is a terrorising bridezilla, uncomfortably comfortable making the gay club her bride-dom to reign; Brandi/Banquo (Zara Kennedy) is a self-absorbed, performative ‘ally’; Layton/Lady Macbeth (Kennedy Thomson) is a self-tokenising GBF; and Duffy/Macduff (Evie Mortimer) is the quiet conniver, stirring up drama behind the scenes.
A scene from Mother, Maiden and Crone. Pic: Emma Morgan.
The cherry on top of this celebration of Edinburgh’s local queer scene is that every night a different local drag queen gets to play Hector/Hecate, the owner of the Limbo Bar & Kitchen.
Burns’ textual magnificence soars in Gemmell’s capable directorial hands. While the script offers a lavish playground of comedy and character, there is massive potential for unruly chaos in a show, filled with so many big personalities and so many moving parts.
But the performances are confident and assured; the stage is well-utilized; the blocking well-choreographed; and the bountiful content of the script is knit together with precision. Each character and each plot point is a well-oiled cog in the machine, each pivotal and shiny but stable and synchronized.
a triumphantly tickling display
Macbeth always serves as a great vehicle for comedy, and Mother, Maiden, and Crone transforms it into a triumphantly tickling display. Featuring queer in-jokes, sharp-witted banter, and even one deeply satisfying dig at Harry Potter, it’s impossible not to leave this show with cramped jaws from nonstop smiles and laughter.
This show is undoubtedly the cream of the crop of what local Edinburgh theatre has to offer this Fringe.
Running time: One hour and 5 minutes (no interval).
Bedlam Theatre (Auditorium ), 11b Bristo Place EH1 1EZ (Venue 49).
Friday 7 – Sunday 30 August 2026.
Daily (Not mons): 9.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Instagram: @mothermaidenandcrone
Instagram: @bedlamfringe
The bows. Mother, Maiden and Crone. Pic: Emma Morgan.
ENDS
