Diva – Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Diva continues at Drawing Room at Assembly Rooms until 24 August 2025.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

There should be a warning as you enter the Drawing Room at the Assembly Rooms that says: ‘Caution: Master Storyteller at Work,’ for what you are about to witness is nothing short of extraordinary.

With the simplest of techniques – a shift in posture, a change of vocal tone, a facial expression, a scarf, a simple prop – Vivienne Powell lives and breathes every person she must become in order to share with you the life story of world-renowned opera singer, Louisa McCrae.

And what a story.

Each precious item drawn from a suitcase of memories leads us into another chapter of the diva’s complicated life – successes and disasters, triumphs and traumas. The audition for the music academy, the coercive controlling husband, the soaring career, the second love, the joy, the tragedy and the loss are all portrayed with such economy and delicacy. They give us just enough detail to allow us to complete the picture for ourselves.

And the singing. Oh my, the singing. A voice that echoes with what it once was. One moment, a fully coloured rendition, the next, a whisper of what used to be.

There’s so much on the Fringe that’s high energy and fast paced, it’s a relief to discover a performer that allows herself, and her audience to breathe, to savour, to reflect and be awed by artistry in the room.

If you want to give life to a life story, this is how it’s done.

Breathtaking.

Steven Wren