Fan/Girl, at the Demonstration Room in Summerhall, is the quintessence of Fringe in every way. A poignant message, hilariously communicated, through audience participation at its weirdest. It puts the “play” back in theatre.
A footie muggle myself, I went with my partner (a women’s football specialist) having chosen to review this show as a bit of light relief for him. Little did I know the show would speak so loudly to me: here was my story — and that of every girl growing up in Britain in the 90s and 00s — being told! Through incarnations of her younger self, Bryony Byrne tells us of her brusque transition from “football-crazy girl” playing for the Hertfordshire Under-11s football team to the insecurities of pre-pubescent Catholic girls’ school.
Football icon-turned-omniscient-deity Eric Cantona acts as Bryony’s spiritual guide as she tries to make sense of leaving girlhood behind. She rages against the social pressures imposed on her. She struggles to keep up with the increasing tempo of external forces: makeup, boys, puberty, sexuality, smiling more, standing tall, looking pretty — but not too pretty — and all the awful pressures afflicted on the modern teen. Any girl who grew up in the 90s and 00s will relate profoundly.
The props are very silly, and the audience is involved constantly. We participate in assembly, play football in the tiny nineteenth-century anatomical theatre we’re squashed into, learn intricate formations that look suspiciously like the dances from school discos… I’ve seldom seen a Fringe audience more immersed in the experience. This felt like the most fun school breaktime between lessons, where you don’t really want the bell to ring. Some slightly low-quality video, a disjointed start, and a few too many props may have diluted the message before picking up speed.
The writing and Bryony Byrne’s performance underline the important, yet seldom explored issues of the relationship girls are encouraged to have with sports and their own bodies. Just be prepared to be exposed to the naked truth (literally) of what it is to be forced to conform and leave childhood dreams behind. In the wake of the Olympics, Fan/Girl is an electric piece of theatre at a turning point in women’s sports history.
