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Michelle Pearson's SKINNY to be Presented at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Performances will run from 30th July - 10th August.

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Michelle Pearson's SKINNY to be Presented at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Skinny by Michelle Pearson will be presented from 30th July - 10th August (not 6th), at Underbelly Bristo Square.

With powerhouse vocals and eye-opening interviews, Australian multi-award-winning cabaret performer Michelle Pearson returns to Edinburgh with Skinny-a bold, inspiring new work that unpacks society's toxic obsession with diet culture and challenges us to rethink what beauty truly means.

Backed by a live band, Pearson delivers a fusion of reimagined pop anthems, soaring ballads and raw, honest storytelling. Heartfelt, relatable and uplifting, Skinny is a celebration of every shape, every size, and every person who's ever looked in the mirror and wondered: Is this slimming?

"Skinny is ultimately my personal story-but I know many people will relate," says Michelle Pearson. "I began writing it from a hospital bed in 2021, recovering from a third traumatic surgery caused by a procedure I had in my early twenties-done purely to be skinnier. That was the moment I started asking myself what might've been different if I hadn't spent years trying to conform to an impossible ideal."

That reckoning became a turning point.

"We live in a world obsessed with weight and appearance. We praise people for losing kilos instead of their accomplishments and reduce identities to dress sizes. It's absurd-and dangerous."

Equal parts confronting and empowering, Skinny uses music and humour to challenge the beauty myth and start a much-needed conversation about self-worth, image, and acceptance.

"Skinny! More than a word-it's a societal chokehold. A bold, vocal stand on the world's obsession with being skinny."

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1. Adam Fisher - The Lost Boys
36.2% of votes
2. Tony Gayle - Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
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