EDINBURGH 2026: Justin Elizabeth Sayre Guest Blog
Justin Elizabeth Sayre Is a 40-Year-Old Woman is at Edfringe from 5-30 August
Justin Elizabeth Sayre blogs for BroadwayWorld about bringing Justin Elizabeth Sayre Is a 40-Year-Old Woman to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In Praise of the 40-Year-Old Woman
Many years ago, I was in Ripley Grier Studios, and I passed an older actress wearing what I then called “the uniform;” comfortable but dressy blacks, sensible shoes and a scarf for just a pop of color. Though I didn’t speak to her, I felt as though I knew her. She was an actress, not the flashy self-centered monster we’ve all seen portrayed in everything from Chekhov to The Comeback, she was a craftswoman, she was an artist. She took her job seriously, and she’d shown up to do the work.
I think of this woman often, because she represented a sort of self-possession that at the time I could only recognise from afar. I’ve loved women like that, these actresses, these workhorses, these craftspeople. The ones who show up fabulous, and do the most fabulous work. I’ve loved them, and in my way, I’ve tried to emulate them. Since then, this nameless hallmark of an actress has become a shorthand for what I always thought about a life in the theatre; there’s glamour but there’s also the hard work. To do that work, and to do it well, you need to bring all that you are. You need to show up, just as completely and fully as that unknown actress in Ripley Grier. Ready to go.
Now I don’t know why it took this actress to make this point for me, nor do I pretend to fully understand what creates the bond between strong women and gay men. The best I can come up with is that I think we see in one another a celebration of the other. We care about some of the same things, things that the world at large tells us are silly or superfluous. We treasure these arts, these events, these moments, and treat them with all the seriousness and the gravitas that we know they demand. We share these loves, and in this commonality, we find in each other a deep understanding and a mutual respect and love.
In writing my show, Justin Elizabeth Sayre is 40-Year-Old Woman, I went back and examined all the amazing women in my life, both the women that I’ve known personally and the women that I’ve admired from afar. And through all these examples, there’s a singular commonality, that has always drawn me to these ladies. With all of them, from my grandmother Nan Youron to Ethel Barrymore to Nora Mae Lyng and Elaine Stritch to Justin Vivian Bond and Penny Arcade, there is a face of confidence. A personal reliance, a use of self in their completeness that appeals to me. These women show up and show up as themselves, because they know that no one can do what they do, the way they do it. I’ve always wanted that for myself, and now, entering in my own “40-Year-Old Womanhood,” I finally feel like I’m finally getting there.
I know so much of what I am now, and I know how much the theatre means to me. I think it’s the most vital form of communication we have as human beings. It’s an exercise in empathy and a practice of belief. I love that we still make these chances to play pretend together for an hour or two. And I love its history, because its history lives in me and in everything I do. As I write this, I have three photos on my desk, one of Eleonora Duse, one of Ellen Terry, and one of Sarah Bernhardt. My “three great muses of the theatre,” whom I’ve loved and learned about, who all remind me of principles that I believe whole-heartedly in what we’re doing. A path toward truth, theatricality, and joy. I treasure them, and carry them with me always.
I also know that this reliance on history comes from the sense of loss that I felt growing up in the wake of the AIDS crisis. So many brilliant gay men were lost to that terrible disease, whole theatrical legacies were gone in the blink of an eye. So many gay people of my generation have gone back searching for the mentors and friends that we were robbed of by the scourge of AIDS. We carry them with us now, adding their visions to our own, rebuilding the bridge between what was lost and what now can be.
It’s honor to be a 40-year-old anything because so many gifted people didn’t get the chance. I take the honor of carrying them with me very much to heart.
We’re all built of so many people, so many different hues fractured through the prism of self, shining out in our own particular light. As I step into this world of the forty-year-old women, I still come back to that nameless actress at Ripley Grier, living in her truth, knowing who she is, and getting on with it. It’s not the loud fabulous crushing sort of confidence, it’s something slighter and quieter, some understated elegance, some sturdy brilliance that can stand on its own and shine. I’m still working on it. But I know so clearly what it looks like, so absolutely what it feels like, that day by day, try by try, I know that I’m finally becoming the forty-year-old woman that I’ve always wanted to be.
Justin Elizabeth Sayre is a 40-Year-Old Woman will be performed at 6:10pm at Underbelly Bristo Square from 5th -30th August.
Booking link: https://www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/events/event/justin-elizabeth-sayre-is-a-40-year-old-woman
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