Review: Goodbye Dandelion

📍 Belly Dancer, Underbelly

🗓️ 20th August 2026

🎟️ PR Invite

This show completely stole my heart, broke it, mended it and wrapped it up again. I would happily watch this again if I could and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since - literally getting teary-eyed thinking about how beautiful it was.

Performed by brother and sister duo Maddie and Marcus Rice, the show tells the story of an unlikely friendship with an 87-year-old woman, Darcy, who’s living her final years on earth. Accompanied by Marcus on piano, Maddie starts to tell us about this woman - how their friendship blossomed and grew over time and how she became Darcy’s confidante, despite initially not being appreciated for being there.

The mixture of music and storytelling within this show is truly stunning - yes, it’s a lovely story of friendship and ageing, but it’s also a show that really makes you think. In fact, it encourages you to think. To see things in a different way. To understand life for what it really is. To truly live a life that you want to live and be proud of.

Death is quite a heavy topic for a show, but it’s handled so well through the storytelling. There’s a lot of humour throughout the show that stops it from getting too heavy, and the way in which it has been written is so comforting. It was very clear that I wasn’t the only one in the room so moved by this performance - at times, you could hear a pin drop or sense the cogs turning in people’s heads as they processed the story and the questions being posed that really make you look at how you live your own life.

I truly hope this show has a future life beyond this Edinburgh Fringe run - I’m just sad I can’t fit it in again before I leave. It has left a lasting impression on me. It’s such a unique story, told so beautifully through the mix of storytelling and music, in an environment that feels comforting and safe.

Witty, emotional and thought-provoking - Goodbye Dandelion is a must-see at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

Goodbye Dandelion runs at Belly Dancer, Underbelly until 30 August at 16:10.