Edinburgh Fringe Chats (#42): Susan Edsall, BUEN CAMINO

30 Jun

As anticipation builds for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, we’re catching up with a range of exciting creatives preparing to bring their work to the world’s largest arts festival this August. In this series, we delve into the stories behind the shows, the inspiration driving the artists, and what audiences can expect.

Today, we’re joined by Susan Edsall about her show Buen Camino.

Can you begin by telling us about Buen Camino and what inspired it?

In the summer of 2022, I experienced a devastating loss in my life that unravelled me. A year later, with no relief to the pain, on an ordinary trip to the grocery store, I heard a Voice (I don’t believe in Voices) telling me to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. I was nearing the end of my rope and possibly the end of my life, so I decided to go as a last ditch effort to find a way out of the darkness.

Seven days and 135 miles after I began my solo walk, The Spirits arrived. For the next 400 miles to Santiago they showed me the resentments and memories I held and that defined me. Kindly, but without openness to negotiation, they stood firm that I would never be free until I let go of it all. I put up a royal fight, fearing that by losing these defining moments, I would lose myself, my understanding of who I am.

My exhilarating personal freedom is a consequence of their unremitting insistence that I let it all go without a single thread of attachment. When my inner space was finally empty, meaning and purpose rushed in. It was exhilarating. I knew immediately that I had to write a show about my experience.

What made you want to bring this work to the Fringe this year?

My director, Jessica Lynn Johnson, suggested it and I said yes. Why not? I’m 69. I say yes a lot.

How would you describe the show in three words?

Unvarnished, funny, deep.

What do you hope audiences take away from watching your performance?

I hope they tune into their hearts, bypass their heads, and say yes to their real selves.

What’s your top tip for surviving the Fringe?

As a first-timer, I haven’t survived it yet, so I have no idea. I like to eat fresh food, get a good night’s sleep, and spend time with people who are interesting and not self-involved.

Where and when can people see your show?

I’m at the Eve Theatre at The Gilded Balloon in Appleton Tower, 30 July - 24 Aug (NOT 11, 18 AUG) at 14:20 daily.