Nocturnal Is The New Sexy - Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026

Nocturnal Is The New Sexy is a dark, movement-led exploration of love, exhaustion and what it means to become invisible in plain sight. When NHS call-handler Alice (Alix Lander) is moved onto night shifts, her relationship with nine-to-five Ben (Toby Lyons) begins to unravel. What starts as a clash of schedules quickly exposes a much deeper imbalance in their relationship.

Ben is deliberately presented is a one-dimensional bore, always finding time to ask his wife for sex but rarely finding time to support her. Alice is left carrying the emotional and domestic weight while working through the night, with little opportunity to escape either at work or at home. It is ultimately a bleak examination of what happens when work consumes the space where intimacy should exist and how long a relationship can survive when one person is carrying far more than the other.

Its NHS setting adds another layer of urgency. Only a few years after NHS workers were hailed as heroes during the pandemic, Alice’s workplace is instead one of exhaustion and systemic failure. The statistics are sobering: around one doctor dies by suicide every three weeks in the UK, while one nurse dies by suicide every week. The play gives us a glimpse of how an overstretched system can push someone towards breaking point, showing that the consequences extend far beyond the workplace.

A strong ensemble supports Lander and Lyons, with the cast all given opportunities to shine. Their physical work in transforming the set also becomes an important part of the production, adding to its distinctive movement-led style.

Lee Hutchison

4/5

Runs until August 22nd at TheSpaceUK