Almost Everything - Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026

​Almost EverythingAlmost Everything returns to the 2026 Fringe in a new and expanded version, keeping many of the elements that made it such a popular hit last year while adding an extra 30 minutes that give its characters and relationships considerably more room to breathe. The result is a more mature, assured piece of drama that still delivers the emotional rollercoaster of its original incarnation, but now feels much more interested in the people underneath the melodrama.

We meet Charlie (Ben McGuinness), a housebound architecture student still reeling from the recent death of his brother and now looking for a new flatmate. Enter Becca (Lauren Barrie), sunny student, and it is immediately clear, at least to us, that Charlie is smitten. What follows is a series of sharply observed moments capturing Charlie's quiet yearning as he falls deeper for Becca. A wine-fuelled night leads to an impulsive sexual encounter. For Becca, it is a one-off. For Charlie, it becomes something more. A missed love confession, obscured by Becca's headphones as she paints, leaves the two stuck in an unresolved rhythm.

That dynamic is disrupted by Emily, Becca's free-spirited, wanderlust-driven sister, now played by Verity Woods. Her arrival brings an unexpected chemistry with Charlie and turns the relationship between the three of them on its head. The additional 30 minutes make a significant difference here. Where some of the dramatic developments in last year's shorter version could feel as though they were arriving at breakneck speed, this expanded version allows Charlie and Emily's relationship to develop more naturally. It can still be dramatic, occasionally spectacularly so, but there is now more space to understand why these people make the decisions they do.

That breathing space is particularly valuable for Becca and Emily. The 2026 version places greater emphasis on them as sisters and on the shared trauma that has shaped their relationship. Their history feels less like background information and more like an essential part of understanding both women. The love triangle therefore becomes something more complicated than simply a romantic battle for Charlie. These are siblings carrying the same family history in very different ways, and the fractures between them have emotional consequences that extend far beyond their relationships with him.

The play has previously drawn comparisons to Normal People and One Day, and this new version feels closer than ever to the latter. There is a greater sense of time, intimacy and emotional consequence, allowing relationships to develop rather than simply hurtle towards the next dramatic revelation. It still embraces melodrama and isn't afraid of big emotions, but the additional material means those emotions feel more earned.

Charlie remains haunted by his brother's suicide, while Becca's relationship with alcohol and her stalled ambitions are rooted in a childhood marked by her father's absence and her mother's alcoholism. Emily carries her own version of that shared damage. These aren't simply people behaving irrationally for the sake of a twist. They are people shaped by grief, abandonment and trauma, making messy decisions because they don't always know how else to cope.

And Almost Everything remains very comfortable with mess. It doesn't shy away from awkwardness or the uncomfortable corners of human relationships. Instead, it leans into them, allowing its characters to unravel in ways that are heightened, dramatic and deeply human with the young cast throw themselves into that material with real commitment.

The biggest achievement of this new version is that the extra half hour doesn't simply make Almost Everything longer. It makes it feel richer. The dramatic moments land with greater weight because we've been given more time to understand the relationships that lead us there. Last year's production had plenty of ambition and plenty of shocks; this version has found the confidence to slow down and let those ambitions breathe.

Lee Hutchison

4/5

Runs until August 30th at Braw Venues @ Grand Lodge