dinosaurs | Get Your Coats On

“I’ve learned that I need to make rest a priority and be intentional with my time.”

WHO: Mandy Rubeli

WHAT: “Dinosaurs begins when Claire comes home to an unexpected guest: a real-life dinosaur rummaging through her apartment. After retracing her steps, she concludes the dinosaur is a strange manifestation of unresolved trauma she carries after being sexually assaulted as a teenager. Claire then determines the only way to send the dinosaur back in time is to find closure. For fear that the very fabric of time and space could collapse at any moment, her quick solution is to confront her abuser, and somehow, what she discovers in the process is even more unexpected than a spontaneously appearing dinosaur.”

WHERE: Thistle Theatre at Greenside @ Riddles Court (Venue 16)

WHEN: Varies (50 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I first came to Edinburgh in high school, when I performed with my high school theatre troupe. Returning now, after studying theatre in college and growing as a performance artist in Los Angeles, feels like a homecoming. I’m really excited to experience the Fringe with fresh eyes and discover how it continues to challenge, inspire, and transform me as an artist.

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

Over the past year, I’ve learned that I need to make rest a priority and be intentional with my time. The Fringe is full of incredible opportunities, but I can’t say yes to everything. Staying focused on my “why” helps me decide which shows, events, and experiences I want to prioritize. I’m not sure I’ve fully absorbed those lessons yet, but I’m hoping Edinburgh will be a great place to try putting them into practice.

Tell us about your show.

The Nightmare Lizards are a collective of multifaceted artists specializing in creating work that is absurd, existential, and somehow, still sort of funny. They have produced several ensemble pieces at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, each earning critical acclaim and multiple accolades, amassing a total of ten awards and nominations. Their work has been featured in over fifteen local and international publications and highlighted on two podcasts. Certified reviewers have praised their work, with one calling their sophomore piece Dinosaurs, “The best play I have ever seen.”

Dinosaurs is a dark comedy about time travel, healing your inner child, and revenge, written and produced by Nightmare Lizards founder Mandy Rubeli. The show begins when Claire comes home to an unexpected guest: a real-life dinosaur rummaging through her apartment. After retracing her steps, she concludes the dinosaur is a strange manifestation of unresolved trauma she carries after being sexually assaulted as a teenager. Claire then determines the only way to send the dinosaur back in time is to find closure. For fear that the very fabric of time and space could collapse at any moment, her quick solution is to confront her abuser, and somehow, what she discovers in the process is even more unexpected than a spontaneously appearing dinosaur. The piece has been performed twice at the Hollywood Fringe, and we hope to keep touring the piece after Edinburgh.

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

Two shows I’m especially excited about are Mark Vigeant’s Out There and Greg Nussen’s QWFWQ. They are both fantastic artists whose work has thrived at Hollywood Fringe. Mark’s work will make you laugh so hard it hurts, and Greg’s piece will take you on an introspective journey through your mind that will leave you feeling transformed.

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“A show with so much heart mine nearly burst”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars: Outstanding

I was slightly worried, from the name, that this would be one of those overly geeky shows where the actors become a bit self-absorbed in being dinosaurs that they lose the plot – literally. Thankfully, this production strikes a wonderful balance between storytelling, humour and a moving tribute to one of the world’s best loved films.

It really is a show with everything – packed with laughs from start to finish, touching moments of tenderness, dinosaurs, family dramas, a ballad to the triceratops and even a Britney Spears dance break. More importantly, it’s performed with so much energy, love and conviction that one can’t help but be carried along with the fun.

The premise: a father (Terry) and his two children (Noah and Jade) welcome the audience to the village hall for a screening of their favourite family movie (Jurassic Park), as a tribute to Terry’s wife and the children’s mother Madeline, who died a year ago. What follows is a tale of a broken family, love, heartache… and dinsoaurs.

As a piece devised and performed by a Lecoq-trained company, it is understandably very physical, with each of the actors switching between human character, dinosaur and the cast of Jurassic Park with ease and finesse. Moments involving lifts and embodying the larger dinosaurs are particularly impressive, as is the creative use of props – who knew a rucksack could look quite so much like a Tyrannosaurus’s mouth?!

I would have liked to have seen the initial scene (in the village hall) developed throughout and have gotten to know the character of Madeline a bit better, perhaps at the sacrifice of one or two of the scenes involving the film’s reenactment. If any of these are intended to show parallels to the family’s story, the references are too subtle and disjointed to be effective. Some of the transitions between scenes also come across as somewhat forced, but in all other respects this show is hard to fault.

The cast work incredibly hard to deliver an hour of non-stop action, with personalities that really shine: Maria Askew as Jade is the perfect moody teenager, Frode Gjerløw is perhaps most impressive with his array of character changes, while Simon Maeder is just incredibly likeable – even while pretending to be a porn star!

This is a hilarious yet touching tale of one family’s coming to terms with grief through the medium of Jurassic Park, and I give it a roar of approval.