EDINBURGH 2026 Review: LETTERS TO JOAN – A LOVELY NEW PLAY, Pleasance Courtyard
Runs until 31 August.
This is indeed a lovely play. Samantha Streit digs into the hundreds of love letters exchanged by her grandparents to make sense of their lives before they passed away. In doing so, she discovers a young couple with big dreams. Then, why didn’t they become the playwright and the lawyer they swore they’d be? “Sometimes life just happens to you”.
Streit seamlessly jumps between timelines alongside Kevin Cahill, who portrays her grandfather, reciting from the missives and digging through memories. Jessica Whiley directs this beautifully poetic piece with a dreamy vision. Melancholic and almost regretful, Streit weaves this old-timey love story with a delicate touch.
The correspondence delves into the feelings of an enterprising young woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go get it, and a pragmatic man who was raised in poverty. They bare their desires fearlessly, exposing their souls to the risk of heartbreak. Concurrently, another picture appears. One that Samantha would like to explore further, much to her grandfather’s slight annoyance. What the project doesn’t touch upon, however, becomes increasingly evident.
Samantha seeks answers that are too obvious. The 50s and 60s weren’t exactly a glorious time period for women. As she questions the role of our emotional legacies and the lasting marks we leave on our loved ones, this lack of perspective weighs heavily on our reception. Stait and Cahill’s performances emphasise the importance of language and writing, with Whiley opting to keep a static visual to lean on that.
Lights dim when they get lost in the past, and both stand when we’re transported back in time. They hold gazes in midair and exchange elongated glances, making it all slightly histrionic in nature. It has a theatrical feel to it that could be turned down in favour of more genuine sentiment, and Streit might need to have a stronger message, but it has all the right motivations to become a great play.
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