Portsmouth’s Eleanor Shaw brings bold new solo show medium dead to Edinburgh Fringe 2025
This August, Portsmouth-born playwright and performer Eleanor Shaw will take centre stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with medium dead, a daring new solo dark comedy that confronts some of the most difficult and rarely discussed topics of our time.
Written and performed by Shaw, an alumna of the prestigious Royal Court Writers’ Group, medium dead explores the quiet horrors of bureaucratic routine, suicide, and the search for meaning beyond life’s final curtain. Set in the bleakest office of the afterlife, the play follows Bennie, a ghostwriter who composes suicide notes as part of her monotonous eternal admin duties. When she is assigned her toughest client yet—universally beloved chef and TV presenter Anthony Bourdain—Bennie faces an impossible task and a reckoning with her own place in the afterlife.
Described as a sharply observed, darkly comic fable, medium dead goes beyond traditional portrayals of suicide. Rather than offering a life-affirming message, it invites audiences into a nuanced conversation about death, grief, celebrity, and the complex emotions that surround them. Directed by Ellie BW, known for her work on Goblin at Soho Theatre, the show promises to be both provocative and deeply heartfelt.
Eleanor Shaw, who has been developing medium dead through workshops and previews including at Camden People’s Theatre and upcoming at Riverside Studios, explains: “I’m obsessed with Anthony Bourdain and tired of life-affirming plays. I wanted to write something death-affirming. This show feels like a brave step into thorny territory, and I trust audiences are grown-up enough now to interrogate our relationship with suicide, celebrity, and what the best meal deal really is.”
The show runs from Friday 1st to Sunday 24th August 2025 (excluding the 6th, 11th, and 18th) at 16:50 each day in ZOO Playground 2, High School Yards, Edinburgh EH1 1LZ. Tickets are available via the official Fringe box office, priced at £12–£13 depending on day and concession status. Running 60 minutes, medium dead is recommended for audiences aged 16 and over, with warnings for potentially distressing themes including suicide, self-harm, drug abuse, and violence.
medium dead encapsulates the true spirit of the Edinburgh Fringe — bold, inventive, and unafraid to tackle controversial subjects. For Portsmouth, Eleanor Shaw’s arrival at the Fringe is a moment of immense pride, showcasing the city’s talent on one of the world’s most prestigious arts stages.
medium dead is on at 16:50 at ZOO Playground 2, from Thursday 1st to Sunday 24th August 2025 (not 6th, 11th, 18th). Book tickets at:
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