Review: Lizzy Sunshine

📍 Drayton Arms Theatre

🗓️ 20th May 2026

🎟️ PR Invite

Ahead of its upcoming Edinburgh Fringe run, Lizzy Sunshine is currently playing at the Drayton Arms Theatre.

Performed by Liz Coin, this chaotic one-hour show is a breath of fresh air. Before the show begins, Lizzy greets the audience and tells us there’s a bit of an issue.

Usually performed as a two-person show, Lizzy’s partner hasn’t turned up, leaving her with no choice but to carry on alone. But the show must go on — and Lizzy isn’t alone. Not really. She has the audience.

From that moment, the whole room becomes part of the show, and so the audience become her partner for the night in an evening filled with laughter, singing, sparkles, and sunshine.

The show is very much centred around audience participation, with everyone being asked to write their names on a sticker on the way in. The stage is decked out with costumes, clothes, and a suitcase on one side, while on the other sits a dressing table and Lizzy’s belongings — an area she retreats to throughout the show to give herself a pep talk and remind herself she can do it alone.

At its core, the show is a reminder to stay positive no matter what life throws at you, and so Lizzy turns to the audience to help solve their problems — dreams they’d love to come true, struggles they’re dealing with, and bad things that have recently happened in their lives — all in an effort to put a positive spin on them.

Liz Coin has a very engaging personality and lit up the room from the moment she walked in.

It can be quite daunting for introverts to walk into a show with this much audience participation, but the atmosphere was so warm and welcoming that there was never any pressure on anyone to take part if they didn’t want to - but it’s hard not to get caught up in it and want to join in.

From stand-up to impressions to a piece involving a Greek Orthodox priest, it barely gives the energy a chance to drop.

What makes the show work so well is Liz Coin’s ability to bounce effortlessly between high-energy comedy and quieter, more vulnerable moments. It works so well, and you can’t help getting pulled in.  

But of course, there were moments where the positivity did drop, because despite the outlook of “the show must go on”, Lizzy was scrambling to figure out what to do without her partner. She would retreat to her “dressing room” to look over the upcoming segments, work out what she could manage alone, and remind herself that everything would be okay.

Lizzy shifted her energy between these moments really well, and you felt like you were getting a glimpse of something deeper affecting her behind the scenes — while she still remained hopeful her partner would appear for the finale.

A phone call takes Lizzy out of her optimistic outlook, and soon it comes to light what is really going on. The show suddenly takes a darker turn, and her eyes are no longer quite as bright.

I won’t ruin the ending, but it explores an incredibly real and serious topic that comes somewhat out of nowhere, yet fully makes sense within the larger message of the show.

During the show, the audience are asked to put on rose-tinted glasses left under their seats, mirroring the way Lizzy chooses to see the world around her despite dealing with something so painful. It also reiterates the point that you never really know what’s going on behind the scenes in people’s lives.

This show is incredibly unique, fun, and heartwarming, with an underlying seriousness that takes you by surprise and really makes you think.

Beneath all the sunshine and silliness is a deeply human story that really stays with you long after the show is over.