one4review | On 18, Aug 2026

Fiona Allen, possibly best known for Smack The Pony, returns to Edinburgh with this offering, an Insite to her neighbours, and wanting to have the perfect white lie to enable her to escape a particular party.
With precision of the performer she is, Fiona tells the story of one particular day, from waking needing coffee, when in search of her excuse, mixes in the issues of her community, WhatsApp groups, kitchen islands, in fact she is like someone using the audience as a sounding board, similar to Shirley talking to her wall in Shirley Valentine.
The piece is well written, and Fiona delivers it ‘exactly right’, not generally laugh-out-loud funny, but enough laughs to keep us all content. The linear progression works well, the introduction of her Spanish mother comparing Fiona’s issues with lifer life Franco brought something different to proceedings.
So as the ‘day’ progresses and further characters intertwined, issues happen, one really get’s drawn into the story, and almost life a soap, anticipating the next event.
So will she find her perfect white lie? Or will something else go wrong? The answer is to go see for yourselves and spent a very enjoyable hour doing so.
****
Reviewed by Geoff
18.00 to 19.00
Gilded Ballon Teviot Dining Room
Until 30th August