Grid Iron stages Andrew O'Hagan's Mayflies in a Leith engineering works for Edinburgh Fringe
Grid Iron, the Edinburgh company known for staging work in found spaces, has turned a former engineering works in Leith into the venue for a world-premiere stage adaptation of Andrew O'Hagan's 2020 novel Mayflies. The production runs from 7 to 30 August 2026 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with previews on 7–9 August at 4pm. Tickets cost £25 and the show runs 95 minutes. (Broadway World)
The adaptation is written and directed by Ben Harrison and marks Grid Iron's 30th anniversary. The company, a regular Fringe presence, specialises in site-specific work — theatre made for a particular building rather than a conventional stage. The former engineering works sits near the shore at Brown's of Leith. (WhatsOnStage)
Mayflies follows two high-school friends, Tully and Noodles, from Ayrshire in 1986, when a defining trip to Manchester immerses them in the city's music scene. The second half jumps forward decades to Tully receiving a terminal diagnosis. WhatsOnStage describes the result as a coming-of-age story that feels like two plays rather than one, the two halves sharply different in tone. (WhatsOnStage)
The cast pairs younger and older versions of the central friends: Jude Bain as young Tully, Kieran Devine as young Noodles, Graham Mackay-Bruce as older Tully and Matthew Pigeon as older Noodles. Lucianne McEvoy and Carmen Pierraccini play the men's partners, and Paul McCole takes on a range of supporting roles. Production photography is by Mihaela Bodlovic. (WhatsOnStage)
The production is presented as part of the Made in Scotland showcase, a curated strand of the Fringe that highlights Scottish-made work to programmers and audiences. Grid Iron's own production page lists Mayflies as a Scotsman Fringe award winner. (Broadway World)
O'Hagan's novel, published in 2020, drew on his own upbringing in Ayrshire and a lifelong love of music — particularly the Manchester scene of the mid-1980s. The book was previously adapted for television by the BBC in 2022, with a cast including Martin Compston and Tony Curran.
For Fringe-goers, the Grid Iron production offers a chance to see the story staged in the kind of raw, non-theatre space the company has made its signature over three decades. The Leith setting puts the audience inside an industrial building a short walk from the waterfront — a long way from Ayrshire or Manchester, but close to the grit both places carry in the story.
Tickets are available through the Fringe box office. The show's final performance is 30 August.
