Baby in the Mirror is one of those rare Fringe shows that lands with total emotional clarity. Presented by the new company Second Adolescence, from Stella Marie Sophie (also acting the part of Lena) and Sammy J Glover (writer/director), this is a visceral, intelligent, and deeply personal piece of theatre that explores queer parenthood, gender, sexuality, and the complexity of forming a family outside the traditional mould.
Set in an intimate black-box space at Summerhall, the production follows three characters—Lena, Joey, and Ollie—each caught in the messy, beautiful and often contradictory realities of trying to build a life and family together. It opens amid a mess of boxes, Len and Jo have moved in together, their identities carefully packaged and labelled like the boxes that surround them. But sometimes the boxes get dropped, the contents smashed.
It’s not long before tensions arise, Lena dressed in a sharp suit moving furniture around and choosing colours, as Joey enters soaked through and tired and wishing all the chaos could just calm down a bit. By the time the third enters the space it already feels emotionally loaded. From the outset, we are immersed in their world—unfiltered, intimate, and richly human.
What is also clear is that the three thirty-somethings exist in their own isolated bubble. The irony here is that they are so unaware of their own prejudices and discriminations, when they talk about a fat, 54-years-old man they do so with joking disgust and ‘gut-shaming’ derision. It is a clever turn of the script which shows that discrimination can exist for everyone and everywhere.
The acting is extraordinary. Sophie is joined on stage by Zoe Westicle as Joey and Derek Scott Mitchell as Ollie. Each performer fully inhabits their character with such authenticity that nothing feels staged. Their vulnerability, strength, humour, and doubt are laid bare. In particular, the dialogue around pregnancy and what it means—physically, emotionally, politically—to bring a child into the world as a queer person feels raw and essential. There’s nothing indulgent or self-conscious about it. It simply feels true.
Director/Writer Glover shifts tone effortlessly—from sharp, awkward comedy to deeply charged stillness—all managed with remarkable control. Scenes flow naturally, never rushing but never dragging. Physical intimacy is handled with care and honesty, and nudity, when it appears, feels necessary rather than provocative. It’s not there to shock, but to ground the story in the physical experience of the body.
What lingers most is the way the show handles big questions with humanity. What does it mean to be ready to parent? Who decides? And how do love, fear, and identity shift when you’re on the cusp of something life-altering? Baby in the Mirror doesn’t pretend to offer answers—but it gives voice to the uncertainty, the longing, and the bravery it takes to ask. Unmissable!
15:15 Daily (except 11th and 18th) Till 25th August
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/baby-in-the-mirror
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 5th August 2025
North West End UK Rating:
Running time – 1hr
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