Next to Normal
★★★★★ Note-perfect
Paradise in Augustines (Venue 152): Fri 7 – Sat 15 Aug 2026
Review by Sarah Barnard
Bare Productions stage the Scottish premiere of the musical Next to Normal at Paradise in Augustines in a production that’s next to perfect.
Established in 2017, the amateur company has produced a string of rapturously received musicals, and Next to Normal is no exception. Each of the six cast members truly shines in this intimately staged chamber piece. By the cathartic closer Light, there’s hardly a dry eye in the house, off-stage or on.
The cast of Next to Normal: Kelsey McKenzie, Brikaih Flore, Ollie Hall, Will Jackson, Greg McCafferty-Thomson and Zac McGuire. Pic” Ejay Freeman
The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical (music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey) debuted Off-Broadway in 2008, but wasn’t staged in the UK until 2023, and hasn’t graced Scottish stages until now.
Described by The New York Times as a “feel-everything musical”, it centres on Diana Goodman: suburban mother, wife, and patient struggling with bipolar disorder. There are various depictions of illness and treatment throughout the show, but this is a story about family, grief, and how absence can be loud enough to drown out the rest of the world.
These are heavy themes, and with little musical theatre razzle-dazzle to lighten them. In less capable hands, they could be overwrought. But from opener Just Another Day, the tight harmonies, assured acting and fluid choreography make it clear this company knows exactly what it is doing.
sensitive direction
Touches of humour sprinkled throughout Act One. Diana’s husband Dan appealing directly to audience members that he has “no clue” what Diana is talking about and daughter Natalie’s riffing on Mozart add levity, but Next to Normal’s characters go to some dark places. It’s a testament to the performances, and to Dominic Whitefield-Holbrook’s sensitive direction, that the lows are as compelling as the highs.
Brikaih Floré is a revelation as Diana: magnetic and utterly convincing in a technically challenging role. Diana is by turns manic, catatonic, flirtatious, infuriated, and a thousand other states besides; Floré is exceptional throughout, from the vocal pyrotechnics of I Miss the Mountains to her paroxysms of grief going through Gabe’s baby things.
Will Jackson and Brikaih Flore. Pic: Ejay Freeman.
As Dan, Greg McCafferty-Thomson exudes steadiness. His warm tenor sounds younger than some other performers who have played the role, which underscores the pathos of his weariness and bewilderment at where life has taken him. Kesley Mackenzie’s Natalie is brittle and sardonic. She often looks about to burst into furious tears, instead unleashing powerful vocals. Her blossoming romance with Henry is genuinely affecting, and Mackenzie plays wonderfully the push-pull of her struggle to open up.
Will Jackson brings subtlety and a fine voice to his dual role as Dr Madden/Dr Fine, stealing the scene with some of the broader comedy moments. Ollie Hall, playing Natalie’s love interest Henry (also Associate Lighting Designer), gives a beautifully understated performance. He is every bit the ballast Natalie refuses to let herself need, but also a specific and real teenager himself.
blurring the line
Zac McGuire is part Puck, part angel as Gabe Goodman, successfully blurring the line between sweet and sulky teenage boy, and the real danger of Diana’s delusions. He is given extra ghostly effect by Luca Davies’s creative lighting design, which is also deployed effectively in the electroconvulsive therapy scenes.
Clever staging and lighting creates intimate tête-à-têtes, even when the whole company is on stage, enhancing the close scale of the show without it feeling claustrophobic.
Along with MD Finlay Turnbull’s band, which gives a propulsive account of the score, this is a tour de force production of a powerful musical – musically, technically and dramatically.
Next to Normal provides no easy answers, but ends with hope, in loving and caring and going on.
Running time: Two hours and 20 minutes (Including one interval).
Paradise in Augustines (Sanctuary), 43 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL (Venue 152).
Friday 7 – Saturday 15 August 2026.
Daily: 6.40pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Bare Productions website: www.bareproductionsedinburgh.com/
Facebook: @BareEdinburgh
Instagram: @bareproductions
Linktree: @BareProductions.
Zac McGuire. Pic Ejay Freeman.
ENDS
