Friendship, Grief and Finding Hope: Inside Uncorked

Uncorked is a new dark comedy-drama at the Edinburgh Fringe that explores friendship, fertility, miscarriage, and the pressures of navigating womanhood in your twenties. 

 

We spoke to writer and director Holly, alongside cast members Mirren and Meera, about the inspiration behind the production, the importance of lived experience in shaping the work, and what they hope audiences will take away from the story.

 

Can you tell us a bit about Uncorked and why you decided to write this story?

 

HOLLY: I have always been drawn to women-led stories, and the themes explored in Uncorked are ones that feel incredibly close to home.

 

The idea for the play came to me on a rare day off in the lead-up to Christmas, when I found myself reflecting on stories I had heard from women who had experienced similar situations to those depicted in the script.

 

The characters and narrative were shaped by my emotional response to those stories and by a desire to explore the complexities surrounding these experiences. It is a subject that still carries a great deal of stigma, despite how relevant and prevalent it remains today.

 

As a theatre-maker, I am always asking myself, "Is this something I would want to go and watch?" I love creating theatre for people like me—work that sparks conversation, challenges assumptions, and makes audiences feel seen.

 

Theatre is a powerful tool for exploring difficult topics and exposing people to perspectives they may never have considered otherwise.

 

With Uncorked, I wanted to create a piece that not only tells a compelling story with two young women at its core, but also encourages discussion, empathy, and greater awareness of the issues at its heart.

 

The creative team and cast all have personal connections to the themes explored. How did those lived experiences shape the way the production was developed?

 

HOLLY: The lived experiences of the cast and creative team were central to the development of Uncorked. I never wanted to create a show that was not rooted in real experiences, even though details have been changed and fictionalised. 

 

The arts can provide a powerful and safe space to explore difficult conversations, and I wanted this process to create opportunities for women to share their perspectives and experiences.

 

It was incredibly important to me to work with a fully female-identifying creative team. It has allowed us to create a space where we can have honest discussions, challenge each other's assumptions, and hold ourselves accountable to representing a range of experiences rather than a single viewpoint. 

 

A huge amount of research also went into the writing of the script. One of the biggest challenges was balancing the show's humour with its more serious subject matter. 

 

We know that many people use comedy as a way of processing trauma or difficult experiences, and we wanted to reflect that honestly.

 

At the same time, the comedy needed to never undermine or trivialise the issues being explored. Every joke had to earn its place within the story and serve the characters, rather than simply providing an easy laugh.

 

The lived experiences helped shape a production that feels authentic, nuanced, and grounded in genuine conversations about the realities many women face.

 

MIRREN: When I first read the piece, I really connected with it. I have some medical conditions which mean that my chances of conceiving in the future are almost zero.

 

I think that this has been helpful in this piece because it's really easy to see Kate’s character as selfish and insensitive in the play as it is from Nadia's perspective, but when you properly dive down and look at the other side of things, it really flips. 

 

These are just two women, both experiencing these awful situations at the same time, and neither of them properly knows how to support the other because of their own pain and fears. They are both just ultimately human beings experiencing their own form of grief. 

 

Miscarriage and pregnancy loss are still rarely talked about openly. What do you hope audiences take away from seeing these experiences reflected on stage?

 

HOLLY: If even one audience member leaves feeling seen, understood, or a little less alone, then I feel the production has achieved something meaningful.

 

It is impossible to represent every individual's experience. Everyone's relationship with pregnancy loss, grief, and healing is different. That is simply part of being human.

 

What theatre can do, however, is create a space where people feel safe to reflect on those experiences, explore their emotions, and see aspects of themselves represented on stage.

 

I hope the play encourages conversation. Miscarriage and pregnancy loss affect so many people, yet they are often spoken about in whispers, if they are spoken about at all. By bringing these experiences into a theatrical setting, we can help challenge some of that silence and stigma.

 

From the beginning, it was important to us that audiences were not simply left with the weight of these themes and no support. That is one of the reasons we reached out to organisations such as Cruse Scotland. 

 

We wanted to ensure that anyone who saw their own experiences reflected in the production had access to further information and support should they choose to seek it out.

 

MEERA: I hope audiences come away with a greater understanding that there is no single way to experience miscarriage or pregnancy loss. Everyone’s journey is different, and none of those experiences is more valid than another.

 

Kate and Nadia are both navigating fear in very different ways. How does the production explore the idea that grief and loss can show up in our lives even before something is gone?

 

HOLLY: Kate and Nadia are navigating fear from opposite ends of the spectrum. Although they are best friends, they process their emotions and experiences in very different ways, and much of the tension in the play comes from watching those differences unfold.

 

For me, the play explores grief and loss not only as something that happens after an event, but as something that can exist in anticipation of what might happen—or what might never happen.

 

Kate is grappling with a fear of moving forward, while Nadia is wrestling with a fear of being left behind. Both are carrying anxieties about the future, and those anxieties begin to shape their lives long before any definitive outcome arrives.

 

Women are often confronted with conversations about timing, fertility, and their so-called "body clocks." There can be immense pressure attached to ideas of where you should be in life and when. 

 

Uncorked asks what happens when two women are faced with the opposite of what they hoped for, and when each is forced to watch the person they love most experience the thing they desperately want themselves.

 

At its heart, the play examines friendship, jealousy, guilt, love, and the complicated emotions that can exist alongside genuine happiness for someone else. It explores how grief can emerge not just from loss itself, but from uncertainty, expectation, and the fear of a future that may never look the way we imagined.

 

I do not want to give too much away! But if you want to find out how Kate and Nadia navigate those challenges, you will have to see the show.

 

For anyone coming to see Uncorked who may have experienced miscarriage or pregnancy loss themselves — what would you want them to know before they walk in?

 

MIRREN: Anyone coming with lived experience should be aware of the themes in the play - but they should also know that there is support and helplines there to support them. 

 

We will be taking time at the end of each performance to signpost our audiences to these materials. We are grateful for the assistance we have had from charities and organisations with information helping us in the creation of the piece and making sure it is well received!

 

MEERA: As a team, we have been mindful of the responsibility that comes with telling this story and the themes around it, and we hope our audiences feel that. I also hope people find comfort in seeing lived experiences like these represented on stage, because they are so often kept private.

 

More than anything, I hope anyone who has been through pregnancy loss, fertility issues and grief feels seen and supported.

 

To book tickets to see the show, please click here.