Furniture Boys, a brand-new show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by American artist and creator Emily Weitzman, is a unique and immersive piece of theatre — creative, buoyant, and presented in episodes by a single performer in the intimate Buttercup Theatre space.
The opening performances were well attended, with an enthusiastic audience behind her from the very start. The show begins with an introductory monologue poem, Why I Am Wishing to Elope with a Couch. With an acerbic, sardonic face and a flat yet punchy delivery of I am, I am, she convinces us — utterly — that the couch gives her everything she needs and wants in life. There are segments that draw out real pity in the pathos of her situation, and others that are irresistibly funny. The case for furniture is convincing: it’s long-lasting, durable, dependable… and it doesn’t answer you back.
Every piece of furniture on the set carries the ghost of a past relationship. The grandfather clock — too old, obviously. Maté the bookcase — a lasting and enduring companion. Frank the Fridge — far too cool. The silliness of these characterisations is matched by an absurdity you can’t help but laugh at, yet each choice has structure and meaning. A personal highlight was the Busby Berkeley-inspired sequence: couches as hand puppets that evolved into foot puppets, culminating in a full swimming scene. The audience — particularly those of a certain age — laughed heartily at this clever homage.
The first segment of the show is loaded with puns, built on the premise of one woman’s exploration of her relationship with chairs — especially chairs — as metaphors for relationships and her investment in furniture far beyond boys. Her monologue on the word boys is a sharp and persuasive argument: men is short, abrupt, and over quickly — “hard on the tongue” — whereas boys has a beginning, a middle, and an end. “Why,” she asks, “should we take seriously a word whose plural form doesn’t end in an ‘s’?” It’s a witty observation that had me thoroughly tickled.
Emily is a very accomplished performer who holds her audience’s attention for the full hour. One imagines her director must have had an absolute joy of a bundle of creativity and enthusiasm to work with in bringing this to the Fringe. It deserves strong audiences — as opening show proved — and is an excellent piece of theatre: silly yet frothy, frothy yet meaningful, and even a little thought-provoking.
Finally, if you’re in Edinburgh and looking for something to do, Furniture Boys runs daily at 12:45 in the Buttercup, part of Underbelly Theatre. It’s a lovely touch that audience members can speak to the performer and director afterwards — a chance to share your own thoughts and take away a souvenir chair .
Reviewer - Kathryn Gorton
On – 13 August 2025
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