“Full of powerful songs and intricate lyrics that stay faithful to history whilst also pushing a strong, feminist message”
This is part of a series of shorter reviews from Edinburgh Fringe, August 2026.
Telling the story of Cleopatra’s rise from teenage Queen to prolific ruler, “Cleo”, from composer Alexandra Hope Watson, is full of powerful songs and intricate lyrics that stay faithful to history whilst also pushing a strong, feminist message. Lucie Cooper’s Cleopatra ascends to the throne whilst still a child and is forced to rule alongside her brother, despite being named heir by her late father. Later, when Cleopatra is forced into exile, she must use her political and romantic wiles to gain power, maintaining an affair with Julius Caesar, before falling in love with Mark Antony.
There are a range of musical techniques here – some lyrics fly at you fast to deliver necessary exposition, whilst other sections lean more into powerful ballads, such as when Cooper sings of the “Night of a Thousand Lights”, performing against a backdrop lit up with stars. Yet each song strives for a climax that swells and soars, making many of the songs feel like they end on a similar note and resulting in a lot of the musical numbers blending together. Whilst there is diversity in the lyricism, there is little diversity in the musical accompaniment.
Cleopatra’s sisters Charmion (Catriona Gallagher) and Iras (Jasmine Hill) act as narrators, and whilst some of the narration is spoken rather than sung, it all rhymes, testament to Watson’s incredibly clever wordplay. The sisters do very little to influence the plot, but act as useful sounding boards for Cleopatra, and the three of them present a powerful image together.
This is a musical that feels like it has a way to go (there is no choreography here, the production is little more than a performance of a soundtrack), but there is a lot of potential. Josh Rettie’s Caesar is calling out for an elongated version of his “Veni Vidi Vici” song, an opportunity for the musical to find some much-needed cheekiness and lighter moments, whilst Zack Gardam’s Mark Antony could do with a repeated motif to help him stand apart from the other characters and bring him more into focus. I can see a bright future for this musical, and I would encourage Fringe-goers to attend just so that they can say, in a few years time, “I was there right at the start”. A very promising piece.
Tom Morley, August 2026
“Cleo” plays at 17:25 at temple, C ARTS, C aquila until 9th August.
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