Photo credit: Sophie Holden

Post by @nataliagresty

Seen by Natalia at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 9th of August 2026

5 stars – A satirical 19th century masterpiece

Bebe Cave, an established tour-de-force of a comical character actress, returns to the Fringe with another whirlwind of an original, meticulously detailed, incredibly funny, feminist piece called Swoon. She’s already played a 1930s Hollywood actress in Screen Test in 2024 and Christbride in 2025; now we’ve found ourselves in the mid-19th century, spending time around prominent members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and, if they’ll allow it, their pale, sickly muses. The entire piece is inspired by Elizabeth Siddal, the art model posing for the Millais’ painting Ophelia featuring a fully clothed woman floating in a bathtub, who died tragically. Bebe wonderfully portrays and parodies not only said sickly muses steps away from their deathbeds, but about 10 different characters in total, all with different accents and twangs, including a Scouse one “because she’s depressed, not because she’s from Liverpool”. 

There’s truly never a time-filling, dull moment in the show; in fact Cave has to cut it short, breaking the fourth wall like the pro standup comedian she too is, joking about all the other quirky characters she’d crafted we’ll have to miss. This setting provides a rich backdrop for comedic elements where every opportunity is used to her benefit: the leader of the Brotherhood is a Carhartt-beanie wearing, overly laid-back, casually cruel, modern-day fuckboy who could easily hail from today’s east London, with two less-cool but equally annoying buddies (though one has a Daunt bookshop tote bag), desperate to redefine the art scene. Our female protagonist, Bertrude, works behind the bar in a local pub and dreams of only one thing: to be noticed and, well, objectified. Various men come and go as she swoons and promises to do everything it takes to become their model (i.e. mostly shrink herself and remain quiet).

Cave is having as much fun as the packed audience is; there are jokes after jokes which all land, props after props including wigs, elaborate hats, picture frames, there are are plenty of witty real-world references (including Margot Robbie or a more famous sister who lands a role in Harry Potter, which is Cave’s case). Swoon is a brilliant satire of a very real and dark time in history for women, and it only feels right to mock the hell out of it now by a young and confident comedic actress on top of her game.

Aug 5th-30th at 17:40
Running time: 60 minutes
Venue: Jack Dome at Pleasance Dome
Tickets and info: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/bebe-cave-swoon 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bebecave