By Grace Hatchell
The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical comes to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026 as a featured production at Underbelly’s Cowbarn, bringing pop musical comedy, literary chaos and one very pressured young William Shakespeare to Bristo Square from 7 to 31 August. Created by students at Interlochen Arts Academy, and fresh from a sold-out industry presentation at Lincoln Center, Muse asks a gloriously silly but rather brilliant question: what if Shakespeare had writer’s block and Macbeth simply was not having it?
Now then ( I say this is a lot, because I am from Yorkshire and Yorkshire folk say now then), there are many things I expect from Edinburgh Fringe. A man in a cupboard. A musical about grief with a kazoo. At least one show where somebody says “immersive” and you immediately fear for your personal space.
But Shakespeare’s characters staging what sounds like a full-blown literary rebellion inside his imagination? Aye, go on then.
Muse takes us back before William Shakespeare became the Bard. Before the statues, the school essays, the serious people stroking their chins and saying “ah yes, the human condition.” Here, he is just Will: a young writer with a problem. His publisher will only print one of his plays.
That is bad enough. Then Puck gets involved.
And if there is one thing theatre has taught us, it is that once Puck starts meddling, nobody is getting a quiet afternoon.
In Muse, Shakespeare’s own characters erupt into rebellion, all battling for the chance to become his first great play. Lear, Cleopatra, the Macbeths and more of his famous creations are thrown into a chaotic race for the spotlight. It is ambition, ego and storytelling all shoved into one pop-infused musical showdown.
Or, to put it another way, it sounds like Shakespeare’s brain has become the green room from hell.
You can imagine Macbeth, can’t you? Absolutely no patience for Will sitting there nibbling the end of his quill and sighing about inspiration. Macbeth is not waiting politely in the corner for his turn. Macbeth wants blood, thunder, top billing and probably a better dressing room.
Cleopatra will not be playing second fiddle either. Lear will be making everything about himself. Puck will be grinning like he has just set fire to the rehearsal schedule. Somewhere in the middle of it all, poor young Shakespeare is simply trying to decide what to write.
Bless him. We have all had days like that, though mine usually involve staring at a blank scroll and wondering whether “Yorkshire woman loses patience with theatre admin” counts as an article.
What makes Muse interesting is that it takes Shakespeare off the dusty pedestal and throws him into the mess of creativity. Before the legend, before the reputation, before the phrase “the Bard” started making everyone stand a bit straighter, he was an artist trying to make something work.
That is a much more human place to begin.
The show was originally inspired by students who found themselves without roles in a school production. Rather than sit quietly at the back and accept their fate, they created something of their own. That student-driven project grew into a fully realised new musical, went on to a successful New York presentation at Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theater, and is now heading for its international debut at the world’s largest arts festival.
There is something properly Fringe about that.
Not waiting to be picked. Not standing meekly outside the door. Making the door, painting it purple, putting a spotlight above it and charging through singing.
Muse has music and lyrics by Norwegian-American pop artist Hanna Andréa, who also co-wrote the book with a team of students led by educator and playwright Lisa Sanderson. The production now comes with a Broadway-experienced creative team, including director Mindy Cooper, music director Seth Farber and orchestrator James Conner.
So while the idea may have started in a school, this is not being sent to Edinburgh with a packed lunch and a hopeful wave. It has grown into a full musical comedy with a serious professional team behind it.
The cast includes performers with credits spanning national tours, Off-Broadway, regional theatre and previous Edinburgh Fringe work. Nate Janis appears as Shakespeare, while Luis Rivera takes on Macbeth, which feels like an excellent casting note purely because every good theatrical disaster needs someone willing to storm in and make unreasonable demands.
And that, really, is the joy of the premise. Shakespeare’s characters are not treated like museum pieces. They are alive, loud, competitive and apparently deeply unwilling to behave. Muse turns them into performers fighting for their own existence, which is both very funny and quietly clever.
After all, every character wants to matter. Every story wants to be told. Every writer knows the feeling of too many ideas shouting at once.
Muse just gives those ideas names like Macbeth, Lear and Cleopatra, then lets them fight it out.
The show blends pop musical comedy with absurdist theatrical flair, which sounds like exactly the right approach. Shakespeare does not need to be handled with white gloves all the time. Sometimes he needs a beat, a wink, a ridiculous argument and possibly Macbeth acting like a diva in a rehearsal room.
And let us be honest, if Shakespeare himself could write ghosts, mistaken identities, witches, murder, fairies and people making terrible romantic choices, I do not think he would be remotely offended by a bit of musical mayhem.
He might even enjoy it.
Muse also has a concept album already available on major streaming platforms, giving audiences an early taste of its pop score and irreverent humour before the show arrives in Edinburgh. That is handy, because Fringe planning is half logistics and half convincing yourself that you can absolutely fit in one more musical if you walk briskly and eat lunch from your handbag.
So, what if Shakespeare had writer’s block and Macbeth wasn’t having it?
My guess is you get Muse: The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical — a fast, funny, pop-powered scramble through ambition, ego and artistic panic, with young Will caught between genius and a crowd of characters who all think they deserve the main stage.
And honestly, Macbeth demanding attention at the Fringe feels about right.
Edinburgh was never built for quiet people.
Muse: The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical plays Underbelly’s Cowbarn at Bristo Square from 7 to 31 August 2026.
MUSE: The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
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