If you reviewed your own show, how would you describe it?
Rip Her to Shreds plays like a ritual disguised as a horror comedy: three young women orbiting each other in shifting alliances, competing and colliding as friendship curdles into something more volatile. What starts as recognisably intimate-sharp conversations, shared secrets, petty rivalries, expands into a world where emotion becomes physical force, and the supernatural feels less like metaphor than consequence.
Tell me a little more about your show and what audiences can expect?
Audiences should expect the unexpected. Rip Her to Shreds takes them on a wild ride into the secret world of girlhood.
Can you talk about some of the creative team involved?
I met Miranda Haymon when they were brought on to direct a workshop of my play Hags at Atlantic Theater Company. After working with them there, I knew immediately they were the right person to help me shepherd Rip Her to Shreds to Fringe. Miranda is a force of nature, and I felt that’s exactly what this piece needed. I’m so glad I followed my gut.
Our movement director, Julie Seal, and I have been waiting tables together for over a decade. During our breaks over the years, we’d always find ourselves talking about the work we wanted to make, what we were dreaming of, and what we were obsessed with. Julie has an extraordinary ability to observe and understand bodies moving through space; she’s also a dancer and choreographer, and she was the first collaborator I brought onto the project.
Our producer, Peter Heres, and I met on the set of the film Close To Nowhere. We spent our first hours together tracking down a memory card at B&H, and I remember watching how easily he won over every stranger we encountered, just through charm and genuine gratitude. I thought: that’s someone I’d love to work with.
My other producer, Alexa Spiegel, was introduced to me through a mutual friend. She immediately understood the world of Rip Her To Shreds, and I felt from the beginning that my work was safe with her. She also happens to be extremely fluent in spreadsheets, which has been invaluable.
Where do you draw inspiration from for your work, both in terms of creation and performance?
Women are my biggest inspiration. Everything I write is, in some way, an attempt to imagine women taking up as much space as possible; emotionally, physically, and theatrically.
Looking at this production, how would you say it links to previous work personally and thematically?
Rip Her to Shreds is the first of a trio of works called The Witch Plays. Each piece is intended as a kind of living history of American womanhood – less a linear narrative and more a set of evolving emotional and cultural portraits.
In that sense, this work is deeply connected to everything I’ve made before. I’m always interested in how women are shaped by the roles they’re expected to play, and what happens when those roles start to fracture or become too tight to contain them. This piece takes those ideas and pushes them into a more heightened, theatrical language where psychology, memory, and mythology start to overlap.
Why is this an important story to tell?
As girls we’re taught early on to manage ourselves, to be likable, to soften anger, to turn competition inward rather than outward. I’m interested in what happens when those pressures are stripped away, and young women are allowed to be as loud, messy, and complex as they actually are.
What would you like audiences to take away from seeing this production at the Fringe?
On a simple level, I hope it stays with them as something alive and a bit uncontainable. Something that feels like it happened in the room, not just something they watched.
Do you tend to take inspiration from events happening in the world around you in terms of your work? Do you think artists have a responsibility to respond to what’s happening?
I think artists are the mouthpieces of their time, whether they intend to be or not. We’re always absorbing what’s happening around us and translating it, consciously or unconsciously.
Personally, I take a lot of inspiration from the events and emotional climates I’m living through. I don’t really know how I’d process the world otherwise.
What do you do to relax in August?
I will most likely be taking a lot of naps. Also I can’t wait to visit all of the witchcraft shops I’ve heard so much about.
How do you feel about the current arts landscape in your country and your part in it? Does it excite you and inspire you to keep pushing the boat out?
I think art made by people will only become more valuable and powerful in the coming century. It’s our job to pull audiences away from their screens and into shared experiences as much as possible.
Why are arts festivals such as the Fringe so important for international exchange?
For me, festivals like the Fringe also create a rare kind of artistic ecosystem where experimentation is not only allowed but expected. They make it possible for artists from all over the world to be in conversation with each other in a very direct and human way, seeing what resonates, what provokes, what translates, and what transforms in the room.
What can the wider arts community do to get more people involved in their specific disciplines?
Always keep a certain amount of tickets free or affordable to all. Reach out to unexpected communities and hold post-show discussions. Tour to schools and areas other than major cities. Engage and encourage as many young artists as possible.
Have you got your eye on any other shows that are part of the programme?
Hotter Project’s HAM.
What’s next for you and how are you feeling about the future in general?
Me and my team will continue working on getting Rip Her to Shreds to new audiences. A college tour would be so cool. I also have a few exciting film projects in the works coming 2026/27!
How can Edinburgh audiences keep up with you beyond the festival?
DM me girl! Instagram: @Isabellemelody.
Rip Her to Shreds, Underbelly Cowgate, 5-30 Aug (not 18), 12.35pm