Guy Masterson – Theatre Tours International Ltd presents Kayla Boye

Written & Performed by Kayla Boye
Directed by Mark Weber
Dramaturged by Guy Masterson

An audience with Elizabeth Taylor! Kayla Boye returns to Edinburgh as the Hollywood legend, revealing her innermost feelings about life, love, triumphs and tragedies.
ACT 1: FROM LASSIE TO CLEOPATRA	ACT 2: FROM BURTON TO HUMANITARIAN
Assembly George Square: Studio 2	Aug 5 - 29 2026
ACT 1 Summer 1962: 29 year old Elizabeth is in her suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The filming of Cleopatra is on hiatus and she is dealing with the fallout from her shotgun wedding to Eddie Fisher after the death of her husband Mike Todd, her fall from grace, and the loss of her best friend, (Fisher's ex-wife, and 'America's Sweetheart') Debbie Reynolds. She expounds on love, life, death, heartbreak and Hollywood, until the phone rings... and she learns that Cleopatra will finally resume shooting in Rome, in December, with the Welsh Actor Richard Burton taking over the role of Marc Anthony... She is not impressed!	ACT 2: 1985: Elizabeth now 53 has been married and divorced four more times. She really doesn't want to talk about Richard Burton - who died the previous year, and who, frankly, turned her life upside down... but her reluctance wanes, and soon, she finally gives us her own heartrending version of the facts... While trying to make sense of her own extraorinary life... She is finally resolved to do something with her fame that truly means something... We join her at the start of that journey...

LONDON DATES (Full Show)

September 2-7, 2026, THE PLAYGROUND THEATRE, W10 (on sale soon)

CME Reviews Ed26

Edinburgh Guide
Counter Culture
Edinburgh Reporter
One-4-Review

Edinburgh Guide - 24/08/26
The life and loves of Elizabeth Taylor have been researched by the American actress Kayla Boye over several years. The dramatic journey began with a staged reading of Call Me Elizabeth: Lassie to Cleopatra in Chicago in 2019, later staged at the Hollywood Fringe in 2022, and transferring to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.  The actor, writer and director, Guy Masterson was so impressed by Boye's performance that he suggested they collaborate on a sequel, ‘Call Me Elizabeth: Burton to Humanitarian.’
This world premiere of Part Two of Elizabeth’s life story, is set in 1985 in a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, featuring a backdrop image of a swimming pool. To set the scene, a video clip from a press conference at the White House when Deputy Press Secretary Larry Speakes claims that President Reagan has not expressed concern for the AIDS crisis.
Dressed in a slinky, silk black gown, with carefully coiffured hair, Kayla Boye glides on stage and, without a word spoken, captures Elizabeth Taylor’s inimitable glamour. It’s all about confidence, her slow, soft, drawl of the voice all carefully judged, while her expressive eyes and poised physicality accentuate her natural beauty and grace. 
Boye’s stage career spans drama and musical theatre (Chicago, Anything Goes, Mary Poppins, South Pacific, et al), and this versatility as an actress is evident here in her almost choreographed, elegant moves across the stage. 
The narrative moves between the present, when Taylor is passionately involved as a celebrity activist to raise awareness of AIDS, then reminiscing over the previous twenty years of Hollywood fame. An imaginative use of the telephone creates the illusion that there are several other characters on stage, as Liz calls a few friends to entice them to attend a benefit dinner, Michael ('King of Pop, while she is Queen of the Nile', she jokes), and Frank at his Palm Springs home  - ‘I dated Sinatra’, she confesses with a wry smile.
Primarily celebrated for her jewels and romantic scandals, she is now clearly a serious campaigner for the cause. As a friend of Ronald and Nancy, she calls the White House, irritated by the operator who does not recognise her name, ELIZABETH, she spells and spits out in anger. Chatting to Ronald Reagan, she literally purrs down the line to make him listen to the fact that 10, 000 Americans have died. ‘This is not a Gay disease.’
Sipping a glass of Pellegrino, (‘I am on the wagon’), she now relaxes on the sofa, to recall happier days, immediately reliving the first day on set for ‘Cleopatra’. Meeting Richard Burton is described as an electrifying experience, ‘his blue eyes and kissable lips .. we could not keep our hands off each other.’  Their passionate affair led to a turbulent relationship through two separate marriages, with gifts of jewellery, endless drinking, (‘five bottles of vodka a day’), Oscar nominations, amidst the tragic cost of success and failure. A flurry of anecdotes too on her various husbands and upstaging Queen Elizabeth. 
The spacious stage set is deliberately simple in which there is little barrier between performer and audience. The conversational style makes it feel as though Elizabeth Taylor herself has entered the room to tell her story - candid, witty, and occasionally vulnerable. This intimate dramatic atmosphere turns the personal story about one of the world’s most famous actresses into a surprisingly, emotional, human portrait of a woman who found a Humanitarian cause which was of more importance than herself.
Kayla Boye is utterly sensational as the Hollywood legend; she summons the Elizabeth Taylor behind the diamonds, leaving us with the poignant vision of a glamorous lady transformed into one of courage, compassion and a heart determined to make a difference. (Vivien Devlin)
https://edinburghguide.com/festival/2026/call-me-elizabeth-burton-to-humanitarian-assembly-george-square-review-22089

Counter Culture- 10/08/26
Following on from Call Me Elizabeth: From Lassie to Cleopatra, this second instalment —  Call Me Elizabeth: from Burton to Humanitarian — explores Elizabeth Taylor’s later life, her turbulent relationship with Richard Burton, and her emergence as a committed humanitarian and AIDS activist.
Guy Masterson — an Olivier Award winner and one of the Fringe’s most enduring creative forces — presents this intimate solo production, directed by Michael Weber. His involvement adds a particular charge: Masterson is Richard Burton’s nephew, and the show quietly acknowledges Burton not just as a tabloid titan but as one of the great actors of his generation. That lineage gives the production an extra layer of authenticity before the performance even begins.
At the centre of the piece is Kayla Boye, stepping into the role of Elizabeth Taylor with a blend of glamour, vulnerability and sharp emotional intelligence. Boye doesn’t rely on impersonation; instead, she channels Taylor’s inner life, offering the audience a sense of being spoken to directly rather than watching a distant icon reconstructed. The result is a portrayal that feels lived-in rather than imitated.
The production moves through the turbulence and tenderness of Taylor’s relationship with Burton — the passion, the volatility, the public scrutiny that both bound them together and pulled them apart. Boye touches on Taylor’s well-known appetite for romance, her succession of marriages, her fascination with leading men, and her legendary collection of jewels. These elements are familiar, but the script treats them with a light hand, allowing the audience to see the person behind the myth.
Where the show finds its deepest emotional footing is in Taylor’s humanitarian legacy. Boye reminds us that Taylor was not only a Hollywood icon but a pioneering force in HIV/AIDS activism at a time when few public figures dared to speak. She helped raise more than $100 million for AIDS research, co-founding amfAR in 1985 and later establishing the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. The production handles this aspect with sincerity rather than sentimentality, grounding Taylor’s activism in personal conviction rather than celebrity obligation.
The atmosphere of the show is one of intimate proximity — a “living room experience”. The script has bite, Boye’s performance has conviction, and the direction keeps everything close enough to touch. It’s polished without being distant, affectionate without being soft.
Call Me Elizabeth is a production worth seeking out. It’s personal, revealing, and anchored by a performer who understands both the scale of Elizabeth Taylor’s legend and the humanity beneath it. Boye is convincing, the storytelling is tight, and the hour leaves a lasting impression. (Jacqueline Sharp)
https://countercultureuk.com/2026/08/10/call-me-elizabeth-a-fierce-intimate-portrait-of-taylors-turbulence-and-activism/

Edinburgh Reporter
Elizabeth Taylor is still on the telephone. During Kayla Boye’s performance of the Hollywood superstar Call Me Elizabeth: From Burton to Humanitarian, the telephone becomes more than a prop.
It is a lifeline to a vanished world, connecting Taylor with old friends, Hollywood royalty, and powerful figures, including Ronald Reagan, as she attempts to use her extraordinary influence to confront the AIDS crisis. This is the global premiere of the second part of Boye’s performance, following From Lassie to Cleopatra, which I reviewed at the Fringe in 2023. The emphasis has now shifted from the making of the Hollywood star to the woman who found another purpose for her fame.
The stage is intimate. A drinks table, some plants and a glass are enough to create the feeling of Taylor’s private world. At the beginning she pours San Pellegrino rather than champagne, a small but telling indication of a woman who has left her drinking days behind, at least for the moment. Boye is striking. Her posture is poised, the glamour unmistakable, the violet eyes shining out beneath the lights. There is grey in the hair now, but Boye, as Taylor knows, exactly how to command a room.
Then there is the voice; Boye has captured Taylor’s distinctive cadence and husky warmth with remarkable precision. The physical resemblance is important, but the voice completes the transformation. The audience is quickly in the palm of her bejewelled hand.
The telephone keeps ringing, and Rock Hudson is among those who feature in these conversations, and there is a particular tenderness in Taylor’s recollections of him; the end of his life is inseparable from the tragedy of AIDS. Taylor is determined to get people involved. She calls, persuades and cajoles, attempting to make others understand the scale of the crisis.
Some decline, others eventually come on board. There are conversations with Michael Jackson and Nancy Reagan, while Ronald Reagan becomes the much more intimate-sounding “Ronnie”. It gives us a glimpse of a woman who can reach extraordinary people simply by picking up the telephone. The privilege of celebrity has become a tool for something much more important.
Richard Burton remains at the emotional centre of much of her story, and Boye amplifies the extraordinary passion of their relationship. Taylor and Burton were not simply two actors who fell in love while making Cleopatra. They became the ultimate Hollywood power couple, dominating newspaper headlines and magazine covers, their romance becoming as famous as the films they made together.
Yet beneath the celebrity circus, Boye gives us the sense of a genuine love story. One of the stories she tells particularly well comes from the making of Cleopatra. Burton is suffering from a hangover, and Taylor holds a cup to his lips. It is a small, intimate gesture, but it feels like a lightning rod for everything that drew these two people together. The glamour, the drinking, the physical attraction and the emotional dependency suddenly come together in one image.
Elizabeth Taylor’s life was almost as cinematic as her film career. We hear about Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Burton’s heavy boozing, his affairs and philandering, but also the laughter, the happier times and the extraordinary bond between them. There is also Taylor’s determination to support Burton and help him achieve Oscar recognition. Despite seven nominations, he never won. She is not simply the woman standing beside a famous actor. She is trying to help the man she loves.
Eddie Fisher, meanwhile, is increasingly disappearing from the picture. A confrontation between Fisher and Burton makes the outcome seem inevitable. If this were a contest for Taylor, there was only ever going to be one winner. Boye does not reduce Burton and Taylor to a succession of scandals. She understands that the contradictions are what made their relationship so compelling. This was a relationship of extraordinary intensity, but it was also turbulent, filled with addiction, infidelity and moments of real danger.
One of the most brutal scenes involves Fisher holding a gun to Taylor’s head before suggesting, in effect, that her beauty is the reason he cannot bring himself to kill her. It is a disturbing reminder that behind the diamonds, magazine covers and Hollywood glamour was a woman who could also find herself in terrifying situations.
Boye handles these tonal shifts with remarkable ease. The play can move from glamour to the AIDS crisis, from the great love story of Burton and Taylor to the painful memories of those who are no longer here. Nothing feels artificially separated because Taylor’s life itself contained these extremes.
That is the achievement of From Burton to Humanitarian. It does not ask us to forget Elizabeth Taylor the movie star in order to discover Elizabeth Taylor the campaigner. The glamour remains, as do the sensuality, wit and confidence. What changes is where she chooses to direct that power and trauma. Michael Weber directs, while the production is presented by Guy Masterson, who is Taylor’s nephew by marriage to Burton. That personal connection adds another intriguing dimension to a production dealing with Burton, Taylor and the people who inhabited their extraordinary orbit.
The telephone becomes the perfect symbol. Once Taylor’s fame brought the world to her. Now she is reaching out to the world. For 60 minutes, Boye keeps the audience listening, laughing and increasingly reflecting on what remains after the headlines have faded. Taylor’s life was as cinematic as her film career. What Boye captures here is what happened when the cameras stopped rolling, and Elizabeth Taylor decided that her fame and power could be used for something beyond herself. (Richard Purden)
https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2026/08/fringe-review-2026-call-me-elizabeth-from-burton-to-humanitarian

One-4-Review - 22/08/26
Kayla Boyle gives a spellbinding performance in Call Me Elizabeth: From Lassie to Cleopatra, an intimate portrait of Elizabeth Taylor at a moment when her glittering public image masked considerable private turmoil.
Newsreel footage immediately adds authenticity, showing the real Taylor being wheeled across an airport tarmac by Eddie Fisher after surviving pneumonia, before going on to win her Oscar for Butterfield 8. The action then moves to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where a glamorous Elizabeth, her tracheotomy scar barely visible, sips champagne and records notes for a possible autobiography.
She begins her life story with her first role in Lassie and how early success and her body developing quicker than would normally be expected meant that she didn’t get a chance just to be a normal young girl and was thrust into adulthood far sooner than was healthy for her.
As she recalls failed marriages to Nicky Hilton and Michael Wilding, the vulnerability beneath the Hollywood façade emerges. The ever-present threat of gossip columnists such as Hedda Hopper makes that pressure palpable.
Boyle makes us feel as though Taylor is confiding her deepest secrets directly to us. Constant interruptions from Fisher suggest yet another marriage in crisis, with his principal contribution seemingly a steady supply of painkillers for the back problems Taylor traces to her fall while filming National Velvet.
There is tenderness, too, in Taylor’s recollections of Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson. But it is when she speaks of her great love, Mike Todd, that she truly lights up. Boyle captures that transformation beautifully, completing a compelling and remarkably convincing performance. For tales of Hollywood glamour and a screen goddess at the height of her fame, you’ll see no better performance this Fringe – apart, of course, from Part 2 of Call Me Elizabeth. Review to follow shortly! (Rona)
https://one4review.co.uk/2026/08/call-me-elizabeth-from-lassie-to-cleopatra-guy-masterson-tti-presents-kayla-boyle5/

One-4-Review
Kayla Boyle gives another sparkling performance as Elizabeth Taylor in Call Me Elizabeth: From Burton to Humanitarian, an engaging sequel that explores both the actress’s tempestuous private life and her emergence as a formidable AIDS activist.
The show opens with a White House press conference, where journalists laugh and officials display a shocking ignorance about AIDS. When Elizabeth joins us on stage, we discover she is organising a benefit for friends in the industry who have succumbed to the disease, but even her considerable star power struggles to overcome prejudice and indifference. Ronald and Nancy Reagan are “otherwise engaged”, but Elizabeth refuses to be silenced.
She soon, however, resumes her life story, initially insisting that Richard Burton is off limits. Inevitably, his gravitational pull proves irresistible and we follow their relationship from their first meeting, through paparazzi-fuelled scandal and exhilarating happiness, to the two painful ruptures caused in no small part by Burton’s alcoholism and Taylor’s own drinking. As with Mike Todd in Part 1, Boyle’s Elizabeth sparkles when she recalls the second great love of her life.
Her later marriage to John Warner receives a brief mention, while Larry Fortensky is entirely absent, but Burton remains the emotional heart of the piece, and let’s face it, that’s who we all want to hear about!
Boyle once again captures Taylor’s glamour, wit and vulnerability beautifully, while revealing the determination that transformed a Hollywood icon into a passionate humanitarian. A warm, compelling and beautifully judged performance. (Rona)
https://one4review.co.uk/2026/08/call-me-elizabeth-from-burton-to-humanitarian-guy-masterson-tti-presents-kayla-boye-5/

Loureviews - 09/08/26
Call Me Elizabeth: from Lassie to Cleopatra and Call Me Elizabeth: from Burton to Humanitarian are playing on alternate dates at Studio Two at Assembly George Square Studios as part of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Previously, the original Call Me Elizabeth took the story of Elizabeth Taylor from childhood stardom to her meeting with her fifth (and sixth) husband Richard Burton.
This time, Kayla Boye’s two shows move the Burton years into the second part of the story, which is set in 1985 at the height of the AIDS crisis but also allows some reflection on the past.
Boye definitely feels as if she has got under the skin of Taylor, with the Lassie to Cleopatra part set in the early 60s and Burton to Humanitarian twenty years later.
Born in 1932 in England, Taylor was the breadwinner for her family from an early age and never allowed to be an ordinary child. On screen from the age of ten, and married at eighteen for the first time of 8, Taylor was always on the front pages and in the gossip columns.
Splitting a forty-year span into two plays gives more time to Taylor’s later humanitarian work and her lifelong belief in the man who would sweep her off her feet.
Each husband seems to offer it, then disillusionment (or in the case of Mike Todd, death) steps in. This version of Elizabeth Taylor knows her own mind but never really grows up where romance is concerned.
Her marriages to Burton represented her longest commitment, but seemed more ‘George and Martha’ in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?than anything concrete. In both shows, Boye’s Taylor is talking to an invisible confidante, taking calls and reflecting on decisions made.
What are still missing from this marrative are her four children – two sons with 2nd husband Michael Wilding, a daughter with 3rd husband Todd, and a daughter eventually adopted with Burton. She doesn’t feel a natural mother – more someone who gets lost in a pair of blue eyes or the memory of a quick fling.
In both Call Me Elizabeth acts, Boye brings out the star quality and delicacy of Taylor, and even if you are a fan and know all the twists, her portrayal is never cruel, malicious or ridiculous.
Her marital woes aside, and attachments to gay men who died prematurely (Dean, Cliftonville, Hudson), the plays also touch on her pill and booze addiction, perhaps placing them on the burden of being one of the most famous women in the world, albeit one who has more diamonds than the Queen of England.
If you want the full story, see both plays, which are introduced by archive video clips – one of Taylor being seriously ill before the release of Butterfield 8, the other a White House briefing referencing ‘the gay plague’.
Taylor’s role in AIDS activism was a major part of her later life, especially after the end of her 7th marriage to Republican senator John Warner, a man who eventually wanted to silence her publicly and found himself divorced.
I find it interesting that the 2nd play is set in 1985 but does not mention Taylor’s reaction to the premature death of Burton just the year before. She clearly carries a great deal of love for him, as she did to the end of her life, making it a tragic cornerstone of her story.
Taylor outlived 5 of her 7 husbands, for all her health issues, dying herself at 2011 at the age of 79. Her last film role was in 1994, and her last TV role – in 2001 – teamed her with Debbie Reynolds, long after she took up with Reynolds’ husband, and Taylor’s 4th, Eddie Fisher.
Michael Weber directs both shows, which now have the dramaturgical input of Guy Masterson, the nephew of Richard Burton.
Wtitten with love and respect, and performed with passion and raw ability, Call Me Elizabeth gains 4 stars this time around. (Louise Penn)
https://loureviews.blog/2026/08/09/edinburgh-fringe-review-call-me-elizabeth-parts-1-and-2/

PUNTERS REVIEWS PART 1

David Lever - 28/08/26
A remarkably convincing portrait of Elizabeth Taylor. Kayla Boye looks uncannily like her, with beautifully judged make-up, costume and staging helping create the illusion that Taylor herself is sharing her extraordinary life over a few glasses of champagne. Boye handles the light and shade well, moving from Taylor's wit and glamour into darker experiences of abusive relationships without losing the intimacy of the performance. Polished, fascinating and impressively realised - 3 STARS

Andrew Usher - 25/08/26
Kayla Boye is dazzlingly superb in this first part of the exquisite play. What a beautiful talent she is.
Call Me Elizabeth : From Lassie to Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) It's simply a treat to see. Best play on this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
5 stars from me . Highly recommend.

Nigel May - 25/08/26
Kayla’s portrayal of the iconic Elizabeth is charmingly and accurately done. She knows her subject matter incredibly well. A snapshot of the cinematic legend that is both warm, a little spicy and beguiling.

Babs - 12/08/26
Engrossing and very well acted and produced. Would recommend.

Fiona - 11/08/26
An excellent show, entertaining, the hour flew by. I would recommend going to see both of her one woman shows about Elizabeth Taylor.
Daiss - 30/08/26
Beautifully written and acted one woman show. Deftly humorous and light - yet left with a weighty sensitivity by the end.

Steve Kerr 30/08/26
Call Me Elizabeth: From Burton to Humanitarian is a captivating and deeply moving production that succeeds on every level. From the opening moments, the audience is drawn into an intimate exploration of Elizabeth Taylor's life, moving beyond the glamour and celebrity to reveal the compassion, resilience and humanitarian legacy that defined her later years.
The standout feature of the production is the extraordinary performance by Kayla Boye. Her portrayal is nuanced, intelligent and utterly compelling. Boye captures Taylor's charisma, wit and vulnerability with astonishing authenticity, creating a character that feels both iconic and remarkably human. Whether delivering moments of humour, reflecting on personal challenges or recounting Taylor's tireless humanitarian work, Boye commands the stage with confidence and grace.
Particularly impressive is Boye's ability to portray the emotional depth behind one of the world's most recognised public figures. She transitions seamlessly between glamour and introspection, allowing the audience to connect with the person behind the legend. Her performance is heartfelt, convincing and memorable, elevating the production into something truly special. 5 Stars

Andrew Usher - 25/08/26
Call Me Elizabeth: From Burton to Humanitarian  Kayla Boye delivers a masterclass in solo stage acting especially due this second part of this wonderful tribute to Screen legend Elizabeth Taylor.
Absolutely the star of my Edinburgh Fringe 2026. She deserves a Fringe First Award for Best Actress. Totally successful and believable as an older Elizabeth despite being decades younger. Stunning and captivating from start to finish. Bravo!!!
I hope this isn't the last time that we see Boye perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. Another 5 stars from me.

Jago - 24/08/26
Absolutely incredible - I would recommend to this to everyone! Can’t wait to see part 1! Moving, funny, wonderful, poignant - a joy to experience!!

Candice Moore - 16/08/26
This show was disappointing. The script and portrayal are dull and one-dimensional. None of Elizabeth Taylor’s spark and feistiness was captured. The actress is too young to be believable. Unfortunate.

Babs - 12/08/26
Saw part one last week and part 2 also lived up to expectations. Would recommend.

Fiona - 11/08/26
An excellent show, entertaining, the time flew by. I would recommend going to see both of her one woman shows about Elizabeth Taylor.

AliBee - 8/08/26
Fantastic show! Off to buy tickets for the other part.

Guy Masterson – Theatre Tours International

in association with Passion Pit Theatre & J Productions Milan presents

25th Anniversary Edition

The Interval (09/08/26)
The List (25/08/26)
The Skinny (17/08/26)
Sunday National (17/08/26)
UK Theatre Network (25/08/26)
North West End (17/08/26)
UK Theatre Web
British Theatre Guide
Edinburgh Guide

The Interval (09/08/26)
On the eve of a new millennium, the hundred-year-old clown Scaramouche Jones spends the last hour of his life looking back over a journey that spans seas, continents, and indeed the entire twentieth century. As Scaramouche, drunk, stumbles into the tent, he gradually begins to open up to the audience about the first fifty years of his life, moving through the dying frontiers of the British Empire in a one-man epic journey from Trinidad to England.
Writer-director Justin Butcher's acting is nothing short of exceptional, and effortlessly carries the story and the audience along with it. Grotesquely presented yet surprisingly charming, Butcher allows the clown's tragedy to reverberate and sustains interest for every one of the ninety minutes he dominates the room. Although told end-on, Assembly's Spiegeltent appears the perfect venue as we really do feel the intimacy that might well be a clown's dressing room in the back of the circus.
Those expecting a clown show, however will be disappointed. While humour plays its part, Butcher's insights about the end of colonialism through the eyes of a Trinidadian boy with a white face whose dream it has always been to make it to England, are poignant. Moving through a collapsing world, Scaramouche Jones invites thinking on class, race, and colonialism without lecturing for a single moment. Instead, everything in the room is working together: the sound and lighting complement every step and transition, while the venue itself adds to the effect.
This is one of those rare pieces which succeeds in gripping onto its audience from beginning to end. I was on the edge of my seat throughout. This is exactly what one-person theatre can do when the writing, performance and theatrical craft all meet at the same point in time. (James Fox)
https://edinterval.uk/review/scaramouche-jones

The List (25/08/26)
In this ‘search for the next big thing’ mindset that shadows Edinburgh, it takes an act of bravery to bring back a 25-year-old show about a 100-year-old clown’s last night on earth. Thankfully, Justin Butcher is full of courage, with a barnstorming performance full of imagination and emotion. His self-penned script is a thing of wonder too: rich, replete with detail, making you want to pause the show and rewind almost every line, giving it space to sit with you. 
At its heart, Scaramouche Jones is a play about the human condition: the endless beauty and unimaginable horrors that come with simply being alive. Scaramouche’s seven masks, all relating to different periods in his life, are carefully unpeeled and unpacked, as Butcher’s lithe physicality conjures up whole worlds with a change of position or accent. Naturally, there’s a lot of life lived in 100 years and the gift of this show is that we get to live them alongside Scaramouche, the time alternately flying by or stretching to contain enormous emotion. This is compelling stuff, stunning in its breadth yet with a universal quality, no matter how wild the flights of fancy become. Exactly what the Fringe is made for, in other words.  (Jo Laidlaw)
https://list.co.uk/news/scaramouche-jones-theatre-review-humanity-through-time-48966

The Skinny (17/08/26)
To those who you who think you’ve heard the tale of the tragic clown before – you have not heard this one, and you must. Justin Butcher’s self-penned play Scaramouche Jones is a triumphant display of the emotional depths which clowning can reach when taken up by so expert a performer.
Returning to the Edinburgh Fringe to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary, Scaramouche Jones shows its audience man reduced to his true self: a clown, a ridiculous old clown. Nearing one hundred years old as the twentieth century breathes its last, Scaramouche recounts in eloquent monologue the story of how he was born and how the clown was made. It’s not a funny story, often, but he’ll make you laugh in the telling of it. It’s the story of a pale-faced boy born in Trinidad to a gypsy mother, who sings of his long-lost English father whom he dreams to find. Following her murder, Scaramouche is sold into slavery at age six. He spends the next twenty four years of his life trawling around Africa after his master, a snake-charmer, and his beloved snake, Benjamin Disraeli – no association. When disaster strikes yet again, the winds of fate blow Scaramouche to Venice, Poland, Germany, and finally, England, gaining each of his ‘seven white masks’ along the way. These masks symbolise the defining incidents of Scaramouche Jones’ hundred years of life, his face irrevocably stained white by them all. What makes the clown is not humour, but horror.
Nevertheless, Butcher’s playful performance ensures that Scaramouche remains always a clown at heart. This prevents things from becoming completely bogged down in misery; both Butcher and his protagonist feel a responsibility to keep their audience entertained even in the darkest of moments. Most of the more traditional clowning featured in the show happens, shockingly, at a concentration camp in Split. Butcher’s performance here is outstanding, deftly intertwining terror with delight. Physical theatre, clowning, and masterful storytelling settle into harmony under his guidance, casting a spell of theatrical reverie over the audience. This will not be the funniest clown show you’ve seen at the Fringe – but it will be the best.
https://www.theskinny.co.uk/festivals/edinburgh-fringe/comedy/scaramouche-jones-assembly-rooms

UK Theatre Network (19/08/26)
Scaramouche Jones cuts a tragic, almost grotesque, figure as he drunkenly stumbles onto the stage in, appropriately, the Bijou Spiegeltent, feeding my lifelong fascination for clowns and my childhood terror of them.
But although a stock clown character from the 16th century commedia dell’arte, associated with Harlequin and, later Punch and Judy, Justin Butcher’s Scaramouche opens our eyes to a completely different world, one in which he was abused, paraded or lauded for his ‘white’ face.
It’s New Year’s Eve 1999 and Scaramouche is about to celebrate his 100th birthday…by dying. That he wants to share his last hours with us is something I shall remember for a very long time. His life has not only been very colourful but in the mix he manages to occupy numerous characters and to include accounts of the great historical moments of those 100 years, from the end of the American War of Independence to the Second World War when, at the age of 51, he discovered that by clowning he could put a smile on the faces of the children waiting to be shot or sent to the gas chambers.
And what a treat, indeed a privilege, that in that little tent on St Andrew’s Square we are able to see the man who created this character 25 years ago (since when it has toured the world and won numerous awards) and who last performed it at the Fringe in 2008. This is a masterclass in storytelling, a diamond among the many gems occupying the Fringe, and has to be seen.
The story is evocative, moving, and rich as Scaramouche sheds the layers of his fascinating life, leaving himself bare before us, and made so much more of a theatrical experience by Ashley Martin-Davis’s and Adam Cork’s haunting set and sound designs, award-winning artist and animator Damian Hale’s atmospheric videos and Olivier Award-winning Guy Masterson’s direction.
https://uktheatrenetwork.com/2026/08/23/edinburgh-fringe-scaramouche-jones-or-the-seven-white-masks-at-bijou-st-andrews-square/

North West End (19/08/26)
Where on earth is everybody?
Justin Butcher is giving what is arguably the finest one-man performance I have seen at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Scaramouche Jones is theatre-making and storytelling of the absolute highest quality.
And the Bijou tent is barely a quarter full.
What is going on?
Butcher’s Scaramouche Jones has been travelling the world for 25 years. Pete Postlethwaite originated the role, directed by Rupert Goold, and the play itself has subsequently travelled internationally. Maybe nobody wants to see a 25-year-old play, or perhaps it is just not to the ‘modern’ palate.
Whatever the reason, what a joy it was to discover.
On Millennium Eve, 1999, Scaramouche stands on the brink of his hundredth birthday and takes us back through an extraordinary life spanning almost the entire twentieth century. Conceived in Barbados, he becomes traveller, survivor and eventually clown, gathering the seven white faces that gradually construct Scaramouche Jones.
Yet describing the plot hardly begins to describe the experience.
There is poetry in Butcher’s language, a lyricism and an exotic tang that seems almost to hang in the air. Close your eyes and you might be atop a camel. A moment later you are rattling across another country on a railway train, then aboard a boat heading towards another continent. Landscapes appear from words. Heat, dust, sea and distance seem to materialise around you.
You don’t simply hear Scaramouche Jones tell you where he has been. For 90 minutes, you travel with him.
And what a journey. Across countries, cultures and continents, through encounters comic, fantastical and increasingly dark, Butcher takes us into places most of us will never visit and ultimately towards some of the terrible realities of wartime Europe. The poetry never disguises the horror. If anything, its beauty makes those destinations still more affecting.
Under Guy Masterson’s assured direction, projection, lighting and sound become intimate fellow travellers. They don’t overwhelm the storyteller but gently enlarge his world, allowing a tent in Edinburgh to become somewhere altogether more alluring and mysterious.
At the centre of everything is Butcher. Characters emerge and disappear almost before you notice the transformation. Comedy turns to pathos, pathos into horror and then, somehow, back towards joy. This is a performer completely in command of his material and an audience.
Perhaps 25 years explains some of that assurance. Scaramouche Jones feels like a polished gem, a rare jewel that has travelled around the world. Every rough edge has been smoothed through years of performance until it arrives here gleaming.
Which makes that quarter-full tent all the more extraordinary.
Maybe everyone else has already seen Scaramouche Jones. Fine. But if, like me, you haven’t, get yourself down to the Bijou and watch a master at work. A master of comedy, a master of pathos and, above everything else, a master of the sheer joy of storytelling.
For 90 minutes he will lead you a merry dance, in fact he will take you around the world. All you have to do is turn up.
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 20th August 2026
https://northwestend.com/scaramouche-jones-assembly-bijou/

Sunday National (17/08/26)
At Edinburgh's Fringe there is an urgent story being told
An acclaimed monodrama that is celebrating its quarter century. Justin Butcher’s Scaramouche Jones (Assembly at St Andrew Square, until August 31) is, in many ways, a quintessential piece of Fringe theatre.
The piece was premiered in 2001 by the late, great Pete Postlethwaite. Butcher first performed his text himself (on the Edinburgh Fringe) in 2008, under the directorship of another great solo actor, Guy Masterson.
In the excellent script, the titular hero’s fantastical biography overflows with evocatively rendered history and politics. Butcher adds to that a truly virtuosic solo performance, offering both masterful performative storytelling and spellbinding, emotionally intelligent insights into the human condition.
We meet Scaramouche on New Year’s Eve 1999. A circus clown, he joins us in his dressing room following what has been, he is certain, his final performance: he is certain because he knows that tonight, on his 100th birthday, he will die.
The centenarian clown says this without a hint of regret, because Scaramouche has lived many lifetimes across the 20th century. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad to a Black woman – a prostitute of African-Caribbean and Roma heritage – he is (thanks to his Anglo-European biological father) as white as any denizen of the Caucasus.
In Africa, he is taken under the wing of the beneficent Senegalese snake charmer Yazoo (whose money-making viper is named Benjamin Disraeli). Scaramouche then experiences the bustle of the markets of Dakar and finds himself in attendance at the opulent coronation of Haile Selassie in Addis Ababa.
His Picaresque adventures also bring him to a fascist police station in Italy, a Nazi death camp in Croatia and, finally, (via a favourable ruling at the Nuremberg trials) to refuge in London.
Needless to say, there are, within this narrative, a multitude of gloriously improbable and horrifyingly grotesque twists and turns. There is also a wealth of knowledge, imagination and – in our ever-darkening times – much-needed humanism.
All of this is expressed by Butcher with tremendous erudition, charm and emotional charge. Twenty-five years on, this 90-minute drama remains an absolutely transfixing work of solo theatre. (Mark Brown)
https://www.thenational.scot/culture/26469081.edinburghs-fringe-urgent-story-told/

UK Theatre Weekly (25/08/26)
This is the 25th Anniversary production of Scaramouche Jones, a one-man play that I have been keen on since I first saw it more than a couple of decades ago after which I purchased the script and read and re-read it. An amazing story written by Justin Butcher, who apparently trawled stories from his own family's history for many of the scenarios, tells of a clown, on his 100th, and last, birthday - a clown 50 years inthe making and 50 years in the performance - from centruy's start to century's end. Powerful and engaging, I couldn't believe it had been 90 minutes, it flew by... Books& Literature
http://uktw.co.uk/news/Scaramouche-Jones/7585.html

British Theatre Guide (21/08/26)
I first saw Justin Butcher in his solo show about a 100-year-old clown at The Fringe in 2014 although it wasn't new then, and it keeps returning—I spoke to Thom Tuck for the BTG Podcast last year about playing the part, and it has also been played by Pete Postlethwaite on stage and on radio by Warren Mitchell. But this year, the playwright is back in the role he originally wrote for himself.
The 'current' date is 31 December 1999, exactly 100 years after the birth in Port of Spain, Trinidad of the man named Scaramouche by his mother because of his peculiarly white face. His mother was a prostitute but he didn't know who his father was, although his mother told him he was an Englishman. But she was murdered, and Scaramouche went to an orphanage on Barbados then was sold as a slave, ending up in West Africa in 1906 with a snake charmer with a cobra called Benjamin Disraeli.
He was arrested in Addis Ababa in 1930, but saved by an Italian prince who took rather a fancy to this white-faced young man and took him to Venice at the time of Mussolini. He rescues a gypsy girl from police violence by agreeing to marry her, even though she is only 12, but her relatives beat him up for not consummating the marriage.
He found himself on a transport with a lot of other people wearing yellow stars, but was picked out for his distinctive appearance to be a gravedigger at a concentration camp, where he would entertain children going to their deaths by mocking the German soldiers and mimicking what was going to happen to them in a comic way, making them laugh. This got him released at Nuremberg after a spell in Spandau prison to make his way to his supposed father's place of birth, England, where the Welsh passport clerk insisted he must have a surname—he took the clerk's name of Jones.
This took him to the mid-point of a century in which he had witnessed some terrible historic events. He said the it took fifty years to make the clown, then he spent fifty more years playing the. clown, bringing him to us, now, on the last night of his life.
It's an impressive performance of a very densely worded text with Butcher alone on stage for 90 minutes, but there is so much packed in that you have to really concentrate to catch it all—I'm sure there were things I missed. But as a story, it is fascinating, occasionally humorous, often harrowing and a tour of some of the worst human acts of the twentieth century, as well as showing how the humour of a clown can often come from pain and trauma. (David Cahtterton_
https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/scaramouche-jon-assembly-rooms-25928

Edinburgh Guide (13/08/26)
On Millennium Eve, a centenarian clown breaks fifty years of silence to tell the story of a life shaped by upheaval, cruelty and astonishing survival. From his beginnings in Trinidad to the horrors that eventually drove him into silence, Scaramouche’s history becomes a century-long passage through comedy, violence, love and loss.
The Spiegel Tent is configured in a conventional theatre arrangement, but its opening sounds are anything but reassuring: farting, whoopee cushions and fireworks — or perhaps the unmistakable crack of machine-gun fire? Against a spare, tent-like set and backdrop—used as a projection screen—expertly crafted visuals unfold, complementing and sharpening the show’s tone.
Scaramouche stumbles into view, drunk and fully dressed as a clown: red nose, oversized shoes, battered waistcoat, ragged trousers and a startlingly white-painted face. The laughter comes easily at first, but it is never allowed to settle comfortably.
Removing his red nose, he announces his intention to recount his life and explain the seven white masks he has worn across a hundred years. As each era unfolds, he summons a succession of characters, moving effortlessly between physical comedy, grotesque invention and moments of unbearable tenderness. His white face, which has shaped the course of his life, becomes both disguise and evidence: a marker of privilege, otherness and survival. That idea carries particular force for an audience watching the play twenty-five years after its premiere.
The performance’s most shocking revelation arrives late. Scaramouche has spent the following fifty years in silence after being tried for war crimes because of his role in a Nazi concentration camp, where he was forced to dig graves and perform for imprisoned children before they were murdered. Afterwards, he had to cover their bodies with lime, an image that transforms the whiteness of his clown’s face into something grotesque and unbearable. In the camp, the euphemism was not “going for a shower” but “going to see the clown”.
The collision between laughter and horror makes the experience emotionally devastating. A fart joke can tip suddenly into the sound of gunfire; a clown’s stumble can become the physical expression of trauma. The comedy does not soften the darkness — it makes it more shocking, while making the moments of human tenderness even more affecting. This is clowning stripped of its safety net: funny, grotesque and, in the end, devastatingly sad. (Shona McIntosh)
https://edinburghguide.com/festival/2026/scaramouch-jones-assembly-take-over-of-st-andrews-square-review-22015

PUNTERS REVIEWS ED26

Isla - 29/08/26
Excellent ,moving performance and beautiful story-telling throughout. Highly recommend this wonderful production.

Anya - 28/08/26
An incredible story performed with passion and stunning visuals, a must-see fringe classic. Touching, unexpected and, at times, mind-bending. Might benefit from more actual clowning, but gripping nonetheless.

Steve - 27/08/26
A masterclass in solo performance, every move and gesture utterly compelling.

Emma Ferrier - 24/08/26
I saw this show as part of a mystery day with assembly and i will not lie, this is not a show I'd ever have chosen to see. I do not do clowns. I really, don't do clowns - the stereotypical style clown, the creepy clowns if you will and Scaramouch Jones definitely falls into the creepy clown territory for me. The lack of colour in his costuming just making him feel like what you would see at a theme park horror event... so I was certainly uncomfortable at the start of this show and did not know how I'd last an hour and a half... but as the show progressed, it sucked me in. The storytelling was incredible - I could listen to him talk all day. I left with a lot to digest and as the days pass and I distance myself from the clown, the more appreciation I have for this show as well as for the performer for his ability to keep an audience engaged for so long by just talking. I can see how this has been going for so many years, despite having never heard of it before. If you're reading reviews to decide if this is worth seeing then my answer is YES. Yes it is. There is no denying this is pure art and executed perfectly. It is a piece that refuses to leave my mind. Get a ticket.

Matt Bader - 23/08/26
While I remain unable to attend this year's production of Scaramouche Jones, I stumbled upon last year's production starring Thom Tuck and proceeded to see it four times in a row-- such is the impression that Justin Butcher's one man epic made on me. If you are theatermaker, it is a masterclass. If you are a theatergoer, it is an enchantment; a mesmerizing tale-- "a spectacle that will fill you with fear and delight." You will laugh. You will cry. You will think. And you will feel. If you have legs that can carry you, *run* to see this show. And surrender yourself to the story of Scaramouche Jones. You will not regret it.

Emilia - 23/08/26
Thank you so much Mr Butcher for writing such an enchanting story and for performing it so brilliantly! You are a class act!

Cass Ma - 21/08/26
Probably the most impressive theatre performance we saw at the fringe this year. The writing is superb and really draws you into the tragic but remarkable story of scaramouche Jones. The actor made a great impression on us with his expressive movements and narrating, as each layer of his disguise was removed his demeanor changes, and a slightly different character was revealed as the narrative progresses which is very interesting to witness. The subtle changes culminate into a deeply emotional ending that would likely stay with you for quite a while.

Lukas - 19/08/26
I am speechless, mesmerizing acting. I was so taken from the first moment. If you want to see great one man acting - you have to see it. Every word and movement is perfectly crafted. Thank to the artist for such an experience.

Michael Appleton - 18/08/26
An amazing story, dramatically told by a superb actor. Must be one of the best shows on the Fringe - don't miss it!

Christopher Rust - 17/08/26
An absolute tour de force grippingly acted by the play’s author, atmospherically staged and superbly directed by Guy Masterson. A wonderful 25th year revival of the play and a must see opportunity to see this gripping story superbly told

Ricci Dedola - 16/08/26
From the moment he took to the stage i was with him. He breathes a life into his character so deeply. That he took my breath away many times. I had tears of laughter and grief running down my face several times during the show. The set design transports you immediately into the world of Scaramouche Jones, and carries you on the journey of his life. The use of the props and set where spot on. The direction was superb.. If this isn’t on your list, put it there. Don’t miss the show.

Anonymous - 14/08/26
Absolutely amazing, some of the best acting I’ve ever seen.

Bradford Montgomery - 14/08/26
Fantastic!

Anonymous - 13/08/26
Justin is amazing and puts his audience through laughter and tears in this tour de force. This is the third time I have seen him doing the show since he first came to the Fringe 25 years ago. Please go see it - I guarantee you’ll not be disappointed.

H&G - 11/08/26
Absolutely superb performance and production. Draws you right into his world so you laugh and weep with him.

John Shortt - 11/08/26
Excellent.

Emma McCarthy - 8/08/26
100% recommend, a wonderful 90 minutes of entertainment. Such talent. Go see it!

Scott McKeating - 6/08/26
Brilliant one man show, Scaramouche led us across a century of stories.