By Grace Hatchell
Some shows arrive at the Edinburgh Fringe hoping to be discovered. Others come back with a little glint in their eye, a suitcase full of five-star praise, and the quiet confidence of someone who knows they left a mark last time.
Lizzy Sunshine appears to be very much in the second camp.
Liz Coin is returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August with her internationally acclaimed solo show Lizzy Sunshine, following a run that has included sell-out performances, a two-week stint at New York’s SoHo Playhouse, and a week in London. Not too shabby for a woman armed with toxic positivity, audience participation, and the sort of determination that suggests reality is merely an inconvenience.
And Theatre Village already knows this one.
Last year, the guvnor reviewed Lizzy Sunshine at the Fringe and gave it five stars, so this isn’t a case of us peering over the garden fence wondering what all the noise is about. We’ve seen the sunshine. We’ve been dazzled by it. We may still be blinking slightly.
The show has now been personally invited back by the Gilded Balloon team for a second year, which feels rather fitting. Lizzy Sunshine is billed as a one-hour comedy play that should feature sibling sensation Jamie Storm alongside Lizzy herself. The problem? Jamie is running late, which means Lizzy has to present The Power of Positivity alone.
Naturally, chaos follows.
With her show partner missing, Lizzy turns to the audience to help keep the whole thing upright, dragging them into a fast-paced, farcical show-within-a-clown-show where gags go wrong, characters get big, and everything teeters somewhere between motivational seminar and emotional emergency.
The show promises an unhinged hour of toxic positivity from a woman who refuses to let reality get in the way of a good attitude. Which, frankly, sounds like half the Fringe and most of my inbox by mid-August.
Liz Coin herself brings a serious comedy pedigree to the piece. A New York-based comedian, actor and writer, her work spans television, live performance and international festivals, with credits including NBC, Prime Video, Tubi, The Second City, UCB, Broadway’s Next Hit Musical, Chimp Cocktail Off-Broadway, New York Theatre Festival, NY Queer Comedy Fest and DC Sketchfest.
In 2025, Lizzy Sunshine debuted as a work-in-progress at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and picked up four five-star reviews, including Theatre Village. Since then, Coin has continued developing the show as a touring solo work, with ambitions to film it as a special and adapt it into a series.
So yes, this one is very much back on the radar.
Lizzy Sunshine will perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 5th to 31st August at 14:20 at Gilded Balloon Patter House, The Coorie. Expect audience participation, chaos, comedy, rose-coloured glasses, and possibly the most determined display of optimism you’ll see all summer.
Grace’s note from the satchel? If the guvnor gave it five stars last year, I’d say this one is worth keeping an eye on. Though I may wear sunglasses. Just in case the sunshine gets a bit much.
Lizzy Sunshine | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
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