EdFringe Talk: Jealousy Play

Posted in *EdFestivals 2026, *Written Interviews by

“When I returned last year as Director of Sluts With Consoles, I fell in complete love with the festival.”

WHO: Rachel Isobel Heritage

WHAT: “Joanne has spent years working towards a life on stage. Neptune arrives there effortlessly. As their paths continue to cross, comparison turns corrosive and envy becomes obsession. In this psychologically driven solo performance, Joanne confronts the trauma, class barriers and survival instincts shaping her ambition. An intimate and unflinching exploration of burnout, neurodivergence and what it costs to pursue a creative life while carrying what remains unhealed.”

WHERE: Clover Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court (Venue 16) 

WHEN: 20:40 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my third visit to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. My first was as a baby producer in 2021 – a very atypical year at the Fringe. It was much more low key because of COVID and to be honest I was just winging it. When I returned last year as Director of Sluts With Consoles, I fell in complete love with the festival. It was so healing to be surrounded by such passionate storytellers and be witness to so much great work. And I knew I had to come back, so I am so proud that I’ve been able to manage it again this year. We are so blessed to have a space that is so dedicated to platforming new works, the energy of the festival it what makes it so great. Everyone is so full of care for their shows, hope of them taking off and encouragement for each other. It’s a spirit I try to embody year round.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2025 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Yeah, massively. After Fringe last year (after 6 years of running around in chaos as an Actor and Self Producer) I had a bit of a massive burnout/ego death. The biggest lesson: slow down. My life used be centered on a constant state of emergency. I was working over full time because I thought that’s what I needed to do to survive in this industry. But to make great art, it is better to thrive than just survive. I’m going into Fringe this year with the goal to simply be to enjoy the festival, and indulge in the art. Being a self producer is hard because you have two voices arguing with each other in your head: the artist and the producer. The artist wants to indulge and the producer wants results. I’ve learnt that if you allow yourself the space to fully commit to the art, the outcomes don’t actually matter. Your story is the priority, let it be.

Tell us about your show.

I wrote the show and it very much came from my ego death. It’s loosely [she says] based on the past 5 years of my life, exploring my own CPTSD and how that manifested in a codependent relationship with Acting, and ‘the industry’. CPTSD is a very misunderstood mental health condition, and often those who struggle with it go unseen. Symptoms manifest as people pleasing, hyperindepence and masking to such an extreme that you don’t even realise the extent to which you are self abandonment. That’s where I was at, running on desperation at 10,000 miles an hour, blaming external circumstances for a deep rooted pain I couldn’t otherwise explain. That’s what trauma does; it hides and it rules your perception. Until one day, your body says no. Jealousy Play is the culmination if how I learnt to face my trauma and chose myself, letting go of the need for approval and external validation. It’s a show about an actor for actors. And a love letter to all my fellow late realised neurodivergent artists out there.

It’s produced by my company Lockdown Projections, which I set up in 2020 after graduating my Acting Foundation in lockdown. We preview the show at the Pearly Queen in Bow on July 23rd and 24th. No current plans post Fringe – but we are open to booking invites!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

I was lucky enough to watch extracts of all three of these shows at Lockdown Projections’ own Edfringe showcase ‘WIP IT UP’ at The Divine earlier this month. SUCCUBUS is a hilarious and unique exploration of women’s health, Bloody Mary(s) uses song and storytelling to enlighten the audience with some untold history and You Are What You Eat is brilliantly self aware in its comedy.

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