Edinburgh fringe review: 'Goodbye Dandelion' celebrates a 50-year age-gap friendship
At this year's Edinburgh fringe, siblings Maddie and Marcus Rice present 'Goodbye Dandelion', a storytelling show about a young woman's friendship with 87-year-old artist Darcy O'Shea. The show is one of several at this year's fringe touching on assisted dying.
This year's Edinburgh fringe has unexpectedly featured assisted dying as a recurring theme across several productions, and it surfaces again in 'Goodbye Dandelion', a storytelling show by sibling duo Maddie and Marcus Rice.
The semi-fictional show follows Maddie's friendship with Darcy O'Shea, an 87-year-old artist and piano teacher who is 50 years her senior. Darcy is portrayed as full of energy and zest, living a life of happy self-reliance with little patience for other people. A long-gone partner nicknamed her 'Dandelion' because of her sticky-up hair, a name that fits her personality well.
Darcy speaks her mind freely and isn't afraid to call out the younger woman for failing to change the things that weigh her down, holding that life is too short not to dive in headfirst.
A light touch with piano accompaniment
As narrator, Maddie tells the story with warmth and wit, while Marcus plays piano throughout the show, performing waltz-like tunes and songs that draw on official, bureaucratic language for comic effect. The show also includes some audience participation.
The review notes that shows built around an anticipated death can sometimes feel like one long delaying tactic, particularly when the story lacks tension. Directed by Katie Pesskin, the production is at its strongest — though briefest — when depicting how the friendship changed Maddie and pushed her to make changes in her own life.
'Goodbye Dandelion' runs at Underbelly, Edinburgh, until 30 August.
