Review: I Made You A Mixtape (Edinburgh Fringe)

This was my first visit to Edinburgh Festival Fringe and while I was planning my trip, I was determined to keep a slot for a “wildcard” show. I’m usually quite focussed and pick shows to review that I am fairly sure I will enjoy to a certain extent, to get off to a good start. But I was determined to see one thing that was right outside of my usual parameters.

So it was that if found myself going to see I Made A Mixtape. Pitched to me as “a 90s dorm party meets Meisner-based movement theatre experiment where the audience helps determine the course of the show every night”, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for (or who Meisner was). Let me share what I learned below:

The Meisner technique: focussed around emotional preparation, repetition, and improvisation. These components work hand-in-hand to help actors remain present and engaged with their scene partner instead of relying solely on rehearsal or memory.

And from my own experience:

Mixtape: A compilation of favourite music, created by one person, usually on a cassette tape. These were much easier to make if you had a 2-deck cassette player or (if you were really lucky) a combination of CD and tape deck in one unit.

The first nine audience members who entered the room were asked to pick a number, and thus selected a card for each solo scenario that would be performed. This set the scene as each of the nine actors has a moment in the spotlight but their scenario changes every day depending on what each selected card said.  This could be anything from discovering they are pregnant, getting their dream job, dumping someone or someone finding their diary.

Nine performers enter the room. They are college friends having a dorm party.  The 1990s were a time where mobile phones didn’t exist, computers were terminals run by a server the size of a room and everyone had big hair.  The amount of hair in this show was magnificent, not only from the nine students but also the two musicians who were on stage jamming along to music by bands such as Nirvana, Blink 182 and Alanis Morrisette. The musicians gave the feel of it being a party situation even more authenticity, and an extra element on stage to have a look at if there was ever a moment of down time (hint: there wasn't).

The music is loud, the colours are bright and the energy in the room is effervescent. As each person is shown their card and learns of the scenario they face, they respond to it with physical movement and emotional storytelling through dance and also through stillness.  At times there may be a solo that suddenly morphs into a group performance, and a couple of times all 9 people on the stage launched into choreographed ensemble routines and my goodness these were spectacular.

This show, for obvious reasons would be different at every performance, and yet with the ingredients it has on the table, is guaranteed to stick in your head. While each dance routine is being performed, the other actors are interacting with each other in the party way – playing beer pong, chatting, reacting to what is going on around them.  You feel like you are at this party with them and it’s such an uplifting feeling.

I arrived feeling quite tired and hid myself in the back row, the ever-present fear of audience participation in my head.  But when the show started, I found myself wishing I was a little bit further forward, in the middle of the whole thing. At one point there were many audience members up dancing, at other moments people were invited to play beer pong, and whilst I wouldn’t go as far as getting up on any stage, the people who did looked like they were having the time of their lives.

As I left, the energy in the room stayed with me, and the music stayed in my head for the rest of the evening.

This is the sort of show you could easily see again and again. If you like loud music, high energy and absolute abandon, you will love this. Having spent my time at university in the early 1990s I can only wish the parties I went to had that many skilled dancers in attendance… and musicians jamming in the corner would always have been be a bonus.

The relationships between the cast resonate at a level only deep friendships can achieve. The physicality is wonderous and the show, whilst giving an air of chaos at times, has been crafted so beautifully it feels like it’s an honour to watch it.

I will definitely watch I Made You a Mixtape again if I get the chance.

Nostalgic, energetic, perfectly formed beautiful chaos. I absolutely loved it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I Made You A Mixtape is showing at Edinburgh Festival Fringe until 29 August 2026. You can buy a ticket here.

The show photos in this review were taken with permission. Please credit if you reshare them.

If you would like to see my curtain call photographs from this and other shows, please visit my Instagram.

I was gifted a ticket for this show in exchange for an honest review.