Riley Fitzgerald, whose background includes performances with the Sydney Dance Company and Ballet National de Marseille, brings his exceptionally powerful vision to the Edinburgh Fringe with Everybody’s Got a Bomb.
Featured as one of The Guardian’s 12 hottest dance and circus shows at the Edinburgh Fringe ’26, the piece was originally inspired by a documentary on Woodstock ’99 – the ill-fated attempt to recreate the legendary 1969 festival that ultimately collapsed into rage, violence, and chaos. So writes Alena Shmakova for theQR.co.uk…
While the show’s earlier Adelaide staging featured a larger, mixed-gender ensemble, the production team clearly took early critical feedback to heart when adapting the piece for Edinburgh. The result is a tighter, remarkably focused performance driven by an intense cast of eight female dancers. Swapping the original mixed cast for an all-women ensemble subtly detaches the narrative from a simple retelling of the Woodstock ’99 story, elevating it into a far more profound, universal reflection on the fragility of human ties, societal collapse, and the remarkable ways humanity manages to pull itself back together.
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Technical Brilliance and Striking Soundscapes
Artistically and technically, the Edinburgh production is brilliant. The lighting design is supportive and smooth, utilizing a light-coloured dance floor that catches subtle reflections and strikingly highlights the lines and contours of the dancers’ bodies. This visually frames a soundscape that envelops the entire space by ingeniously incorporating the dancers’ own live breathing, vocalizations, and cries into the score. Fitzgerald’s choreography uses every part of the performers’ bodies – right down to their hair! – so that every gesture, scream, and whisper carries a clear artistic purpose.
“he result is a tighter, remarkably focused performance driven by an intense cast of eight female dancers.“
Despite a minimalist setting, each scene feels emotionally rich and urgent. The choreography covers an incredible emotional range: from movements so fluidly linked that the dancers appear fused into a single, pulsing organism, to moments of raw, unfiltered rage that feel genuinely unsettling when performed by the eight women on stage yet remaining utterly captivating throughout.
The hour slips by almost unnoticed, leaving the audience breathless and fully consumed by what is happening. If you are curating your Fringe itinerary, do not miss this show, though be mindful that its newly raised 16+ age rating is well-earned. It is an intense, visceral experience that fully deserves its standing ovation.
Show details
Venue: Venue 82: ZOO Southside, 117 Nicolson Street, EH8 9ER (Google Maps)
Date(s): Fri 07 Aug to Sun 16 Aug (10 shows)
Time(s): 12:30pm (60 mins)
Age recommendation: 16+
Price: From £19 (concessions available)
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