Fringe theatre reviews: Slugs | Padlocked! | A Man Proposes to a Balloon, or Possibly Something Worse + more

Slugs ★ ★ ★ ★

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 30 August

Padlocked! ★ ★

theSpaceTriplex (Venue 38) until 29 August

A Man Proposes to a Balloon, or Possibly Something Worse ★ ★ ★

Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Venue 24) until 31 August

Isle of No’Man ★ ★ ★

Just the Tonic at The Caves (Venue 88) until 30 August

Things seem to have moved on for gay-themed drama at the Fringe. Really not that long ago, we would have been trawling through shows about tousled-hair teens daring to admit their illicit yearnings to their friends and family – and, most terrifyingly, to themselves. Thankfully (though we can never be complacent) sexual diversity is more a starting point than a revelation in 2026, and four Fringe shows take contrasting approaches to the logical next step – meeting someone of a similar persuasion, or put more simply, arranging a hook-up.

Writer and actor Tobias Graham’s Slugs throws us deep into twenty-something Tobi’s sexual needs and desires, only to zoom out from his generally unfulfilling encounters to a broader sense of shame and debasement, cleverly and distastefully symbolised by the mucus-covered gastropods of the play’s title. If slime and ooze turn your stomach – well, there’s quite a bit of both here, used to often intentionally repellent effect. And after all, both have had years to build up, since the fumbles and ill-judged seductions of Tobi’s teenage years.

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When Tobi’s most recent hook-up seems to be heading somewhere more serious, however, things might be looking up. And it’s at that point that Graham’s drama shifts into another gear entirely, and spoiler description needs to stop. Let’s just say that everything we’ve seen so far gets thrown up in the air, and an entirely new light is cast (perhaps) on Tobi’s apparent honesty and revelations.

It’s a bold and admirable move from Graham to examine a traumatic issue with such unflinching seriousness, but also with such slippery elusiveness.

But in doing so, and effectively casting the audience as judge and jury, he not only stresses the importance of his subject matter, but also demonstrates just how subjective it can appear. He’s a louche, sometimes preening performer, clearly relishing every line in his often darkly poetic script, and he’s bold in his physicality too.

Slugs is a brutally honest, unfiltered examination of young gay life, and rug-pull after rug-pull keeps its sense of right and wrong precariously in the balance. It’s an impressive and assured piece of work, and one that refuses to dodge its big questions.

Middle-aged Guy is also expecting an exciting Grindr hook-up in Zinc Simian’s Padlocked! but this encounter – as the show’s title might indicate – is of a more specific nature. Fabio is on his way for an hour of bondage fun, and Guy has strapped his ankles and padlocked his wrists to the bed in preparation, leaving the door unlocked so that his tormentor can let himself in.

Whether the promised intimate interactions ever take place forms Padlocked!’s underlying plotline, which ends up as a solo Waiting for Godot with leather restraints. And like Beckett’s classic, it’s the very mundaneness of Guy’s observations and phone interactions that point towards the grey tedium of his life, a blunt contrast to the kaleidoscopic sexual excitement he’s hoping for.

The danger with a show about tedium, though, is – well, you can probably complete that sentence yourself. Though amusingly barbed, Guy’s monologue just isn’t witty or waspish enough to carry an hour on its own, and Joseph N Alberts – while demonstrating enormous endurance in performing for almost the entire show strapped to a bed – is a bit low on the charm or self-awareness that would bring Padlocked! truly alive.

Looking for something a bit more serious than a hook-up is thirty-something Mikey in A Man Proposes to a Balloon, or Possibly Something Worse, a solo play by stand-up comedian Mark Daniels. Mikey’s been with his new partner for a while now, and the time has come to pop the big question. But he’s understandably nervous, so he does what any sane person would do in a similar situation: he ties a red balloon to a park bench, felt-tips eyes and a mouth on it, and proceeds to practise his proposing skills. Until he gets side-tracked and bogged down in memories and unresolved issues from his past. And until the balloon starts answering him back.

You can tell writer Daniels has a firm grasp of comedy from his play’s cycling repetitions, and from the balloon’s sometimes savagely deadpan put-downs of its human interrogator’s foibles. He’s not afraid, either, of delving into Mikey’s idiosyncrasies and obsessions, his withering appraisals of his work colleagues, and his apparent obsession with brunch.

Eoin McKenna pitches his performance nicely between over-sharing and unhinged neediness, pushing credibility appropriately as the play grows ever darker, and what’s really going on becomes ever more evident. A Man Proposes could maybe do with some tightening of its (intentionally) verbose observations, and Daniels could dare to delve deeper into darkness towards its climax. But it’s a quiet and effective study in desperation, conveyed through increasingly bleak humour.

READ MORE: Fringe theatre reviews: Buggers | Forget About Me | Giro Baby + more

But after all this self-loathing and delusion, let’s end with something happier. Writer/actor Martin J Dixon’s Isle of No’Man might be a wish-fulfillment fantasy from start to finish, but it’s warm, tender, funny and full of charm all the same. Dixon plays George, recently dumped by his boyfriend, who escapes to the little-known island of the show’s title for a summer job running its beachside cafe, safe in the knowledge that he’ll have the time and space to nurse his wounded heart. That’s until not one but two men he encounters begin fighting for his affections.

In many ways, Isle of No’Man is pretty slight, and doesn’t even set out to offer the unflinching insights into gay life that other shows attempt. But – in a manner not unlike comedian Daniel Kitson’s storytelling shows of a few years back – it’s captivating and deeply human in its quiet reflections on love and desire, and Dixon (also a stand-up in another life) is an effortlessly fluent performer, bringing a kind of self-aware coyness to his story’s saucier episodes, and leading the show towards a quietly profound conclusion about pride in vulnerability and self-acceptance.

The familiar traumas and disappointments explored in other shows are still lurking under the surface of Dixon’s poignant tale, but it also looks upwards to hope and joy.

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