Edinburgh Fringe preview: Edie Campbell on Apples in Winter

LynchPin’s Edie Campbell, who plays the mother in Apples in Winter, tells us about this upcoming Edinburgh Fringe show.

“Miriam’s son has been on death row for 22 years. At midnight, the state will execute him. His last request: his mother’s apple pie. As Miriam bakes the perfect pie, this extraordinarily powerful and deeply compassionate one-woman play by Jennifer Fawcett invites us to reflect on the impact of violent crime on its hidden victims. “

Where: Paradise in the Vault (The Annexe) V#29

When: 8-30 Aug (not 16 or 23)  

Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/apples-in-winter

What can you tell us about your show? 

When we first read the script, we knew we had to produce Apples in Winter. It challenges us to face the impact of violent crime on its hidden victims; to journey deep into the heart of barely resolvable questions about justice, forgiveness and what it is to try to love unconditionally. It is to hear the voices of the silent victims of violence.

Since producing the European premiere in London in October 2022 (for which I was a finalist for the Off West End Award: Solo Performance), we’ve seen that the play’s power to affect audiences is extraordinary. When we’ve held post-show discussions, most of the audience has stayed to tell their own stories, such are the emotions raised and the questions generated.

In giving audiences the rare opportunity to hear an often silenced and ostracised voice, that of the mother of a perpetrator, Apples in Winter embodies the power of theatre to captivate, create a cathartic experience and question preconceptions. We believe passionately that in today’s culture of division, this play needs to be seen.

What is it about and where did the idea come from?

Jennifer Fawcett, an award-winning Canadian playwright, wanted to write a story combining motherhood, food and ritual. Miriam is the mother of someone who is seen as a monster and is on death row. Jennifer wanted to explore what would happen if this mother were asked to make her son’s last meal.

Making food for your child, especially a beloved food from childhood, is the most natural expression of care, comfort and love. And yet, by making this apple pie, Miriam is complicit in another ritual, a horrible one – the ritual of her son’s execution.

How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph? 

Apples in Winter is a powerful, devastating, deeply compassionate solo play, set in a prison kitchen, where Miriam is making an apple pie for her son’s last meal. He’s been on death row for 22 years; in seven hours, the state will execute him. As Miriam makes the ‘perfect pie’, she tries to understand how her beautiful little boy grew up into someone who could commit murder, while also trying to tell us the truth of what happened that fateful night 22 years ago.

Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe? And do you have any moments you particularly remember?

LynchPin took two one-person shows to the Fringe in 2000 and 2003. It was both hard work and a lot of fun! In 2000, we rented a flat whose owner had recently married for the first time at the age of 82. She didn’t want us to vacuum because it would wear out the carpets. Her flat was rammed, and the beds were accessed by a narrow path between heaps of furniture, boxes and bags full of stuff.

We saw some brilliant shows such as Spymonkey’s Stiff (a hilarious comedy about death – they had a hearse that promoted the show, which you’d come across parked in different places in Edinburgh); Australian bluegrass band Blue Grassy Knoll performing a live score to Buster Keaton’s film Our Hospitality; and a fantastic poetry jam, to name but three.

What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh? 

The buzz, the creativity, the fantastic array of performances on offer, meeting audiences and other creatives, and getting out into the surrounding countryside for walks to decompress.

And we’re particularly looking forward to seeing as many shows as we can, including Moon Rabbit Theatre’s The Poetical Life of Philomena McGuinness, Nth Degree Productions’ Mr Bergman of Deadman’s Point, and Suitcase Dance Theatre’s Allura.