Michelle Collins Will Star In MOTORHOME MARILYN at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Michelle Collins makes her Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut in Motorhome Marilyn, a dark comedy by Ben Weatherill, playing Doonstairs, Gilded Balloon Patter House, from 30 July to 25 August 2025 (except 13 August) at 5.30pm (60 mins).

Motorhome Marilyn follows Denise, an aspiring actress with an obsessive relationship with Marilyn Monroe, hoping to live up to the icon’s fame and beauty. In the 1980s, she heads to Hollywood, but as her dreams falter, she is forced to confront the painful truth of unfulfilled aspirations. 

Inspired by Michelle's real-life encounter with a woman known as Motorhome Marilyn, the play reveals the toll of living in the shadow of an icon, exploring failure, aging and the heartbreaking cost of unattained dreams.

Michelle has enjoyed a career spanning over four decades as an accomplished actress, producer, and creator. She has appeared in numerous TV shows, including EastEnders, Coronation Street, Doctor Who, Miss Marple, Two Thousand Acres of Sky, Sunburn, Real Women, Death in Paradise, and The Last Detective. Michelle won an international Emmy for her portrayal of Marigold in The Illustrated Mum.

Her extensive theatre work includes Daddy Cool, Rattle of a Simple Man, Calendar Girls, The Play What I Wrote, Never Forget (West End), and A Dark Night in Dalston (Park Theatre, also producer). She has also appeared in Cluedo, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and more. In film, she’s featured in Personal Services, Stephen, The Long Walk, and Blackpool, which she also produced.

Michelle Collins said: “I am thrilled to be making my Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut with Motorhome Marilyn, a wonderful new play which is dark, funny and so close to my heart. When I encountered the show’s real-life namesake out in LA, I couldn’t have imagined that journey would lead me to this point. However, thanks to Ben's, and my late friend Stuart's, wonderful writing, I can’t wait to share this story with Edinburgh audiences this summer.”

Motorhome Marilyn is Directed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones with Sound Design by Sam Baxter. The Company Stage Manager is Anna-Lisa Maree.
 

Ben is a writer from the East Midlands. His most recent play, Frank and Percy, starred Ian McKellen and Roger Allam and played to sold out audiences across the UK and in London. He is under commission to the Bolton Octagon, HighTide and The Royal and Derngate. Other works include: Jellyfish (National Theatre and Bush Theatre), As Waters Rise (Almeida Theatre) and Chicken Dust (Finborough Theatre). For television, he is currently writing an episode of Series 15 of Death in Paradise, as well as working on an original sitcom.

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