Kitty Falcon brings their powerful and deeply personal new play Sitting (In Silence) to the Edinburgh Fringe 2026. Performing at Summerhall, this dark comedy explores complex family relationships and the unspoken truths that shape them.
Blending humour with emotional depth, Sitting (In Silence) tackles urgent themes including grief, mental health and healing. Set during a silent meditation retreat, the play offers a unique and thought-provoking theatrical experience.
Sitting (In Silence) runs at Summerhall (Anatomy Lecture Theatre) from 6–31 August (excluding 17 and 24 August) at 14:45. Tickets can be booked here
You’re the writer and performer in Sitting (In Silence) at Summerhall, what can you tell us about the show?
Of course! Sitting (In Silence) is my debut play, exploring a complex father-daughter relationship set during a ten-day silent meditation retreat.
The tragicomedy received five-star reviews, sold-out performances, and won both the Emerging Artist Award and the Mid Street Lab Community Award at Brighton Fringe 2025.
I’m incredibly excited to bring the show to Summerhall’s Anatomy Lecture Theatre this August. It really is a dream come true.
The play draws on a deeply personal story. How did you approach transforming such an intimate experience into a piece of theatre?
After losing someone to suicide, you’re left with so many questions and things you wish you could talk to them about as your life continues.
After losing my dad to suicide in 2015, when I was on the cusp of womanhood, there were countless things I wanted to say to him. I wrote the play as a single conversation in a single location, where I could ask those questions and explore them with him.
At first, I was scared to share something so intimate. The response to the play at a rehearsed reading on the Kiln Theatre’s main stage in 2023 gave me confidence that sharing your story can be powerful and create ripple effects far beyond yourself.
Sitting (In Silence) blends dark comedy with themes of grief, mental health and healing. How did you find humour within such heavy subject matter?
It was important to me to find humour in this story. Not only was my dad hilarious, but he was also endlessly curious and excited about life.
When I found myself at a ten-day silent Vipassana retreat after his death, I could almost hear him in my head, taking the piss out of the whole thing and my attempts at “healing”. He would have thought it was complete bollocks.
I wanted to explore the contrast between our modern obsession with wellness and the hedonistic belief that we should simply enjoy ourselves while we’re briefly on this planet. I think there’s a lot of humour to be found in that tension.
The setting of a silent meditation retreat is striking. What made you choose this environment to explore the relationship between the characters?
I’ve attended many silent meditation retreats, and after days without speaking, it becomes entirely plausible that you start having conversations and flashbacks with loved ones in your head.
Without a phone, book, music, or any distractions, your mind is left to itself, which can be both frightening and enlightening. I also love plays and films that focus intensely on human relationships in a single setting.
I wanted to anchor the story in that meditation garden in Wales where I felt most connected to my dad.
The show has already connected strongly with audiences and won awards at Brighton Fringe. What has that response meant to you as a creator and performer?
The response was overwhelming and, honestly, life-changing.
The connections I built with audience members have motivated me to become a full-time writer and continue pursuing truthful storytelling. I know how vital this subject matter is, especially as suicide rates continue to rise. This play is my way of fighting back against that silence.
People simply don’t talk about these experiences enough. Our continued partnerships with suicide prevention and support charities, including Dad La Soul, which tackles social isolation among fathers, PAPYRUS UK, which works to prevent young suicide, and Start the Conversation, have been hugely important to me.
One evening during the Brighton run, we offered free tickets to dads, and seeing a room full of socially isolated fathers openly crying and talking was one of the most profound and healing experiences of my life.
I’m excited to share this story with new audiences who need to see this play in Edinburgh.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Sitting (In Silence)?
Bring tissues and an open heart.
While the play explores grief, it’s also full of laughter and joy. At its heart, it’s a celebration of connection, resilience and the conversations we carry with the people we love most.
We hope audiences leave feeling moved, but also hopeful. If you’ve ever lost someone, missed someone, or wondered how to keep living after heartbreak, this story is for you.
