EDINBURGH 2025: Catriona Faint on LOST GIRLS / AT BUS STOPS

BroadwayWorld caught up with actor Catriona Faint to chat about bringing Lost Girls / At Bus Stops to the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
 

Tell us a bit about your background and where we might have seen you.

I trained down south at Mountview but I never wanted to stay there long, I always knew that I wanted to come back to Scotland. I was a Covid graduate so it was a mental time and tricky at the start because everyone was struggling.

Andy Arnold has a callout for new grads for The Tempest and I did that at the Tron as my first show. After that, I started working with NTS and I did James V: Katherine and then A Play, A Pie and A Pint which was always like a bucket list thing. I was super excited to do that and especially with it being a queer show as well.

What is Lost Girls / At Bus Stops about?

It's a queer love story set during the Fringe and it's like a love letter to Edinburgh as well. It's me and my cast mate Leyla Aycan and it's written by Róisín Sheridan-Bryson and directed by Laila Noble. 

How did that go down during the Glasgow run?

It was ok but when we went to the Traverse with it there were quite a lot of Edinburgh-based jokes and street names and things that maybe didn't land as well in Glasgow. It was a sellout at Trav and everyone just got all of the jokes. But to be fair to Glasgow, the Glasgow audience loved it because obviously, the Fringe is something that anyone in Scotland can relate to. 

Have you done the Fringe before?

No, I've never done it before and again it's been a bucket life sort of thing. I'm so excited and I've never been able to do the Fringe before and be able to afford it. I go every year but I think it's going to be very different being in amongst it instead of just going for a couple of days and seeing shows. I'm really excited to fully immerse myself in the chaos. 

How important is representation for Scottish actors and creatives at the Fringe?

Massively important. I feel like it's born and bred in Scotland. It's so important to show how incredibly talented so many of us are. Sometimes our work can be overseen and I just feel like this is our festival and a time to showcase our talent.

Do you think there is enough Scottish stuff going on at the Fringe?

Probably not. There could always be more. I guess on the other hand, what is also great is that so many people from around the world come to the Fringe as well. But I will always say yes to more Scottish theatre and more Scottish work. 

What would you like audiences to take away from this show?

I feel like there's not been a lot of lesbian representation on stage kind of ever?

Doing it as part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint, people maybe aren't sure what exactly they're going to get. Sometimes they're pleasantly surprised and sometimes they're not. Whereas with this at the Fringe, I feel like its going to be quite a targeted audience. You choose what you go and see from a flyer or from online. 

We had quite a few queer people coming to see Lost Girls at PPP and there was a really lovely moment at the Trav where we were doing our bows and there was this lesbian couple just holding hands and smiling at each other. I'm just like, this is for them. There's not enough of that so I hope we bring in a really big queer audience and that they feel represented.

Do you think its unusual to have something that is queer and also, happy?

Yeah totally! I think there is a lack of those things just now and what's great about the show is that it shows how complicated feelings can be but they just love being in each other's company. It shows the Fringe very well for how crazy and chaotic it can be. But I would agree that having something that's queer and happy is very hard to come by!

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