BLOODY MARY(S) to Bring 30 History-Making Marys to Edinburgh Fringe

Some Marys have ruled nations, entranced the world with song, or transformed science and healthcare. Others have been pimps, pirates and pickpockets. One of the most famous, Mary Shelley (1797-1851), gave the world much to think about.

Mother of Sci Fi (with her novels Frankenstein and The Last Man), she was also reputed to have lost her virginity atop her mother's grave and wrapped her dead husband, Percy Byshe Shelley's, heart in some of his poetry and kept it a drawer.

This summer Lottie Walker (and the rest of the team behind Fringe hit Chopped Liver & Unions) are back in Edinburgh with Bloody Mary(s).

It's a show which introduces you to an abundance of Marys, Marias, Mariams, and others of the name, who have made their mark on the world. Then you decide which of them you'd invite to a dinner party.

How about the largely self-taught palaeontologist Mary Anning who spent her time finding fossils on the Jurassic Coast? Or there's the fashion designer Mary Quant who popularised the miniskirt. Then there are singers, from Maria Callas to Marie Osmond.

Mary, Queen of Scots or the original Bloody Mary - Queen Mary, the Protestant-burning Tudor monarch of England who ended up with her own cocktail - might well be worth considering.

The deadly disease spreader Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)? Maybe not! The to-good-to-be-true (indeed she's fictional) Mary Poppins?

Lottie said: "Famous, infamous, celebrated and forgotten - an amazing amount of history has been made by Marys and it's time we honoured their contributions with a dinner party.

"But which ones to invite? I'm just going to tell the audience about them and they can decide. I'd just ask people to be careful and maybe not seat Mary Frith next to Mary Poppins as she'll nick her handbag."

Mary Frith (aka Moll Cutpurse) was a 17th-century thief, fence and pimp who dressed in men's clothes, smoked a pipe, kept parrots and bred mastiffs - hand-cooking the dogs' meals and providing each with its own bed complete with sheets and blankets.

She and Mary Read, an original Pirate of the Caribbean, would make quite a combination.

Lottie will give the low-down on around 30 Marys, even chucking in a sing-along sea shanty for good measure. And she will invite audience members to suggest Marys of their own.

Performance Dates

7-22 August - Greenside Riddles Court: 322 Lawnmarket, EH1 2PG (Venue 16)

Willow Studio, 10.30am: 7-8 (previews) full price £12.00 concessions £10, 9-15 full Price £16.00 concessions and family ticket £12.50

Thistle Theatre 10.20am: 17-22, full Price £16.00 concessions and family ticket £12.50

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