EDINBURGH 2026: BY A THREAD Q&A

BWW catches up with Jonathan Morgan co-director and artistic director of One Fell Swoop to chat about bringing By A Thread to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about By A Thread.

By a Thread is seven acrobats and 30 metres of rope rigged through two giant pulleys, kind of like an upside down see-saw. When a performer climbs one side of the rope eight metres in the air the rest of the ensemble must hold onto the other side to stop them from falling. The rope becomes a really simple but powerful metaphor for the trust and risk in all relationships, acrobatic or otherwise. It's intimate, joyous and often very silly - our favourite audience feedback we get is "that looked like so much fun I wanted to get up on stage and join in!"

Why bring it back to the Fringe?

We had such a great time last year and felt so lucky to share our show with truly some of the nicest audiences we've ever had. (I promise we don't say that about every audience - this lovely bearded older gentleman who came to see us three times sticks in the mind). The Fringe is also an incredible place to get your work seen by theatres and festivals all over the world. From last year we were able to take the show to South Korea, Sweden and Canada. Personally we also love being at the festival, Edinburgh is such a magical city and the number of amazing shows is absolutely staggering. We're also staying right on the Royal Mile again and can watch the Tattoo parade past each night - never get sick of 100 bagpipes!

What sets it apart from other shows at the festival?

The reason we love making circus is how much the extremes of what we do onstage reflect everyday life. Even if you've never climbed a rope you know what it feels like to struggle and feel like you aren't getting anywhere, or how the trust you need to literally throw yourself into someone else's arms is no different to the trust you need in a friendship, a relationship, or a family. Oftentimes circus asks the audience to view acrobats as somehow superhuman, but By a Thread is all about human connection. We want the audience to feel the same joy and risk we experience performing the show (but we promise we won't actually make you climb a rope!). I think what makes By a Thread unique is how people can connect emotionally with the acrobatics beyond the spectacle of it - one of my favourite lines from a review called By a Thread a "human poem".

Who would you like to come and see it?

Everyone! We find that kids 8+ really get into the show as do teenagers. Even if you've seen a lot of circus I'm pretty sure we've found at least one thing you can do with a really long rope you've not seen before, and if you haven't seen any circus the show is very accessible. We also want people to come who might be willing to challenge their ideas on gender - we get a lot of comments from people after seeing the show where they didn't expect the men (or AMAB) performers to be so elegant or how empowering it was for them to see the female members of cast do an equal amount of the heavy lifting. 

What would you like audiences to take away from it?

I hope people leave with a physical sense of how much we depend on each other, and the joy that can come from being brave and trusting others with your whole self.

By A Thread runs at Edfringe from 6-30 August

Photo credit: David Monteith-Hodge

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