A COSTUME DRAMA to Make Edinburgh Fringe Debut
Claudia Fielding's show, directed by Anna Rastelli, will play ZOO Playground 3 in Edinburgh.
A Costume Drama will come to Edinburgh Fringe. Performances will run at ZOO (Playground 3), High School Yard, Edinburgh, EH1 1LZ Friday 7th - Sunday 30th August 2025 (not 18th).
With World Cup fever sweeping the nation this summer, writer and performer Claudia Fielding returns to the Edinburgh Fringe (Never Get to Heaven in an Empty Shell, Pleasance; Tea Leaves, Ambassador Playwriting Challenge) with A Costume Drama, a heart-warming, hilarious new comedy where football, family and legacy collide in a riotous celebration of the beautiful game, told from the terraces, touchlines and kitchens where it really lives.
With the 2026 Mascot Grand National fast approaching, reluctant Ella is suddenly thrown into the oversized boots of Eddie the mascot when her shell-suit sporting dad is indisposed. What begins as a chaotic scramble to keep a family tradition alive soon becomes something bigger, as Ella is pulled into a world where mascots, fans and the forgotten figures on the sidelines matter just as much as those on the pitch.
Inspired by a desire to centre the fan, the everyday punter, and most importantly the women at the heart of a male-dominated world, this play is for girls, mums, sisters, cousins, lovers and haters of the game, and the men who orbit them. With direction and music from long-time collaborator Anna Rastelli, A Costume Drama is a story of filling some egg-xcellent, incredibly big boots in this heartwarming, hilarious tale of one extraordinary race for glory, where family tradition, football fever and the pressure to perform collide in the most unexpected ways.
Claudia Fielding comments, "We chose this show to make our return to Edinburgh Fringe for its entertaining and extraordinary story. We want to inspire audiences and provide them with a lighthearted exploration of family ties and tradition in football mascots. Our return to the festival has been well thought out and purposeful, choosing to create instead of perform in 2025, honing our practice and developing A Costume Drama specifically for the diverse and intergenerational audiences of the Fringe."
Drawing on the cultural impact of Bend It Like Beckham and the global rise of women's football and the Lionesses, this is a warm, funny and sharply observed story about identity, purpose and belonging, cracking the tough shell exterior and revealing the soft-boiled middle that's inside all of us.
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