Monday August 25th 2025
Gail Watson performing her one woman Fringe show, Faye's Red Lines
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Midlothian local, Gail Watson, has been awarded The Leading Light Prize at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, being recognised as the best Scottish theatre production for her one women show, ‘Faye’s Red Lines’.
Written by award-winning Ian Pattison, Gail’s one woman performance tells the story of a woman named Faye who realises in the moment that she can trust the crowd infront of her and unravles about past trauma, working between herself and the audience to work out what she is struggling with. Acting out stories of child abandonment and domestic violenc, Gail used all of her talent and years of experience to perfectly portray Ian Pattison’s story, claiming the award that recognises this year’s best Scottish theatre production.
Returning as a performer at her fifth Fringe, this is the first one women show Gail has performed, creating a dramatic interpretation of a true story.
Bonnyrigg born and raised, Gail has had a successful 23 year long career in acting and theatre, being part of popular TV shows such as, Katie Morag and Rivercity. Performing ‘Chemo Savvy’ at last year’s Fringe at the Gilded Balloon, Gail contacted the venue when an opportunity to perform Ian Pattisons story came about.
Gail explained, “It landed on my lap [Faye’s Red Lines script] about Janurary 2023 and it was for a Play, Pie and a Pint at Oran Mor in Glasgow. It was about 10 o’clock at night, everybody else was in their beds, and I just decided to start reading it.”
“I’ve got to be totally honest. Sometimes when you read a script for the first time, you tend to scan it a bit and I thought that was what I was going to do. But then I started reading it and I could tell that the writing was quite particular and stylised in areas, but I could also tell that it was a really hard and challenging learn.”
“I got to my bed and couldn’t sleep a wink because all I kept about was this character Faye and how damaged she was but yet how she was in no way a victim to the circumstances of past trauma. That really attracted me to her.”
With worries surrounding the execution of Ian Pattision’s writing, the hard work paid off despite Gail’s concerns of portraying Faye’s story to its full potential.
“I got to meet her [Faye], but Ian Pattison, who is the most unassuming person you will ever meet, didn’t let me know it was her until after.”
Performing a theatre production written by award-winning Ian Pattision is a monumental step in any actor’s career with Gail explaining the importance of ‘Faye’s Red Lines’.
“I may never get a one woman show with this kind of writing ever again, these shows don’t come very often. So, for me, Faye, as a story and as a piece I’ve performed wll always rate very high.”
Winning this year’s Leading Light award came at a surprise for Gail with thoughts, despite knowing how good her show really was, that she didn’t have a chance in winning.
Gail explained, “At the end of one night, with a crowd of only 14 people, this lovely man came up to me at the end when I was cleaning up, he said to me ‘thank you so much’, he was a very polite man. I ssaid ‘thank you so much’ and he said that was wonderful. I shook his hand, had a quick chat and off he went.”
“Well, when I turned up for the award the other day, he was on the board. I never knew I was speaking to this man but again that just shows you have to always have grace with every single person because you never know.”
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Leading Light prize is awarded to the best Scottish theatre production that is by a Scottish-based theatre company and produced and written by a Scottish director and writer with Gail and Ian Pattison’s show, presented by Gilded Balloon and Red Line Productions, picking up the prestigious award.
Gail fell in love with the arts from an early age. Growing up in Bonnyrigg, she was a dancer who fell into acting at around 18 years old and saw massive career opportunities in her early 20’s. Through success at a young age, her and her childhood bestfriend and dance partner, Sharon Jones, founded KIC Dance Stadios in Dalkeith’s Ironmills Park after converting the old football changing rooms into a state of the art hub for young dancers in Midlothian.
Speaking to Gail at Kic Dance Studio’s she explained her early love for acting and dancing, “So, as youngsters we grew up dancing and singing. We were thrown infront of the television and made towatch Roger and Hammerstein. I mean, I was a huge fan of all the musicals. Shannon and I knew verbatim, Greece, we all knew all these massive musicals.”
With dance being part of both Gail and Sharon’s lives from a very young age, Gail had a strong storytelling background with, as she explained, her family were great storytellers.
“That combo was great, then I grew up, and at 13 realised, I was kind of weaving away from dancing and going more towards acting. Then Sharon and I set up KIC Dance Company in 1991. Then I knew very well that I wanted to perform and in whatever capacity that was in.”
Being taken on by a drama school at only 16 on a 6 month trial after being told she needed to go study for a year, Gail’s percistancy got her into the school full-time, without any prior study, at the age of 17. From there, at 20, she left to take part in multiple theatre productions.
“What I will say is I’ve done it [acting] for 30 years but I am not famous, I am not know. I am somewhere in the middle. I have, however, made a living out of what I love doing and therefore I see that as a success.”
Growing her skills in the Midlothian community, surrounded by massive support, Gail credits her success at the Fringe and outside of the festival to the support of her community.
“The support that I’ve had from my community throughout this has been unknown and honestly, I am so grateful for it. The number of nights I go out there and I see friends from school coming in, mums from my son’s football, people from my neighbourhood, my family, my cousins.”
“Honestly the support has been unbelievable, I am so lucky to come from a community. We are so lucky to have the community that we have.”
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