Scotland

Two Little Pigs – Pleasance Courtyard

There is a problem before Two Little Pigs has even begun. Sitting in the front row of The Green at Pleasance Courtyard, the glare from the lighting is sufficiently fierce that I resort to sunglasses. That shouldn’t happen.

The Green itself is a wafer-thin temporary structure seating around 60, full tonight, but with external noise penetrating the space. Nevertheless, director Merle Wheldon and her two performers have an intriguing hour ahead of them.

Written by Caitlin McEwan, produced by Patrick Bone Productions, and performed by McEwan as Pig alongside Caleb Hughes as Mark, Two Little Pigs takes us into the increasingly troubling world of the manosphere.

Mark’s relationship with Martha has collapsed and she has walked out. Into the void comes a pig. The slight complication is that Pig can talk.

Whether she really is a talking pig, whether Mark is somehow reimagining Martha through her, or whether we simply accept the absurdist conceit is left tantalisingly open. Pig is certainly no ordinary farmyard companion. She has opinions, questions her status as pet or potential food and takes an unusual interest in Simone de Beauvoir.

Mark, meanwhile, is being drawn deeper into an online world promising his “optimal self”. Warrior status is tantalisingly close, while another brick seems to be added to the wall of his defences against the world.

Some of McEwan’s best writing emerges through role-play. Pig becomes Mark’s boss and encourages him to say what he really thinks of her. It is beautifully played by both actors and momentarily cuts through the absurdity to reveal something considerably more human. In return, Mark reads The Second Sex while Pig rolls contentedly around his lap.

There is plenty to chew on here. Pig asks whether her purpose is ultimately to become food and even offers to help Mark meet his protein target. Later, intoxication strips away some of Mark’s carefully constructed persona and allows something less comfortable to emerge.

My difficulty is that McEwan puts so many balls into the air: masculinity, misogyny, loneliness, control, relationships, gender expectations and online radicalisation. I waited for them to come together into a more rounded allegorical whole, but they never quite did.

McEwan and Hughes are engaging performers, and Wheldon allows the stranger moments room to breathe. Two Little Pigs is unquestionably thought-provoking, even when I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

It sends plenty of interesting ideas out of the manosphere and into the theatrical stratosphere. My problem was that rather too many of them were still circling overhead when the lights came up.

Playing until August 30^th 2026, https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/2026TWOLITT

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 21st August 2026

North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating: