This year, I have seen some very good Edinburgh Fringe productions. However, I hadn’t seen that “one” that sticks out, and you remember long after the Fringe has disappeared into history. Yet tonight, my last night at the Fringe, I went to Summerhall Arts on the recommendation of a complete stranger and reviewed Turn Your F*cking Phones Off by the exceptionally intelligent and engaging Fringe Theatre maker Hannah Maxwell.

From the very start, Maxwell has the audience gripped. I expected the production to be about the annoyances of phones used in theatres (I had not read the press release beforehand) due to being recommended a few hours before.

Well, I was completely wrong. The production is a clever, fast-moving, and well researched production. Based upon the time that Maxwell worked for a secret organisation dealing with ‘strategic communications.’

Have you ever been having a conversation about something mundane, and all of a sudden, your social media is full of this item or subject? Coincidence, no, it’s not that you’re not imagining it that your phone is harvesting your information to target you with the right advertising.

The production isn’t about you literally turning your phone off. It’s about reducing your phone time, doom scrolling, and questioning the adverts and news that your phone is churning out at you all the time.

There are two screens facing either side of the audience. This is an intentional device as both are playing different things,so while one side is watching something funny and laughing it confuses the other side as their screen isn’t in the slightest funny. Very intentional way of potentially causing tension in the auditorium if they spotted it.

Maxwell, throughout the performance, never tells you what you should think or believe. She presents the facts as she knows them and from what her job taught her and let’s the audience decide for themselves. It did confirm a few things I had thought for a while.

I would not be at all surprised to see it have various runs across the country and in London. When it comes to somewhere near you, I strongly recommend going to see it. It was one of the most captivating and thought-provoking shows I have seen in quite a while.

For more information about Turn Your F*cking Phones Off and other productions across Edinburgh Fringe, please use the link below.

Five Stars.

https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/turn-your-f-cking-phones-off