Bring the House Down set in Edinburgh – Charlotte Runcie

Submitted: 7th July 2025

Bring the House Down – Charlotte Runcie

A theatre critic at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe writes a vicious one-star review of a struggling actress he has a one-night stand with……

Apparently Charlotte has plucked this from her own experience – in the sense that she once wrote a review of a comedian that they didn’t like….. if this is true, then the book is even better!

Map of locations in Bring the House Down

Bring the House Down set in Edinburgh - Charlotte Runcie

BOARDING PASS INFORMATION

Destination : Edinburgh

Author guide: Charlotte Runcie

Genre: fiction

Food and drink to accompany: something from the street carts!

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A novel to transport you to the Edinburgh Fringe

Map of locations in Bring the House Down

The setting and location of Edinburgh Festival is just spot on from the start. We can all hear the music, the madness and see the crowds from the off. Everyone knows what the festival is like. But Charlotte takes us behind the scenes and into the mosh pit of it all. Bring it on!

Alex is a theatre critic who gives a one star review to a female comedian but then sleeps with her. Hayley, the woman in question is annoyed and turns the tables. Her show is now the Alex Lyons experience where she trashes him and gets her revenge.

Well, that’s just the start. What happens next spirals out of control. It’s a sharp and witty look at how we review, interpret art, have differing opinions and how we should behave. The festival is such a unique experience that its a world of its own quite frankly, but it did get me thinking. I don’t give out one star reviews as I feel it’s mean when an author has taken a year to write the book only for me to trash it. I keep those to myself and just spread the positive ones. However, a theatre critic can’t do this of course. But how would you react if you get a one star review? I don’t know!

Map of locations in Bring the House Down

What I found interesting was that this whole saga is outlined not by Alex or Hayley, but a journalist by the name of Sophie. I didn’t get this approach at first but then I started to enjoy it and to be fair, it does make sense by the end.

On another note, I think the book looks at relationships well. How we act in casual or long term relationships is examined. There was a lot to look at here and I raced through so quite aptly, it was a one night read for me.

Next time I’m at the Edinburgh festival, I will certainly be looking at the crowd differently!