Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
November 12, 7.30pm
Award-winning theatre maker Victoria Melody joined a historical re-enactment society… because we all deal with divorce in different ways!
Spending weekends as a Musketeer trying to get her head straight, she uncovered the story of a bunch of 17th century radicals called The Diggers and then everything changed.
What started out as a personal search for happiness turned into a quest to find the Diggers of today. What she didn’t expect was that they’d be found far from the battlefield, right on her doorstep.
Back in modern-day Britain doing her day job, she realised The Diggers never really left. They’re still here, still fighting, making change on their own terms.
By blending storytelling and stand-up, past and present collide in this unexpected tale of high jinks. Alongside a community on the frontline Vic steps from re-enactment into reality, where history isn’t just remembered—it’s made.
Directed by Mark Thomas, Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak celebrates the ordinary people shaping history – then and now.
And, like The Diggers, they might leave behind something that will last…if they don’t get caught.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Edinburgh Festival magazine
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Guardian
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Stage
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The List
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Scotsman
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Broadway Baby
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Quintessential Review
“one of the most genuinely purposeful and hopeful shows” The Scotsman
“the tiny, funny woman is really a radical in elf’s clothing, bearing a new message of utopian rebellion” The New Yorker
“filled with stories of eccentric but real people who became emboldened to challenge the status quo” Broadway Baby
| Wed 12 Nov | 7:30 pm | £17 | Book |
Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak review “Hymn to community and solidarity”
Aug 6, 2025
by Natasha Tripney
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
**** (Four stars out of five)
Victoria Melody is fascinated with Britain’s subcultures. Over the years, she’s made work about pigeon fanciers, dog shows and the UK beauty-pageant circuit. She immerses herself into the worlds she’s exploring, even winning Mrs Brighton in 2012.
This time around, she has developed an interest in the Diggers, a group of 17th-century radicals led by Gerrard Winstanley who occupied common land in order to farm it. She joins a historical re-enactment society and acquires a fancy red musketeer’s outfit – even if they don’t let her near a real musket.
At the same time, Melody starts working in Whitehawk, the most deprived neighbourhood in Brighton, which also boasts one of the UK’s most progressive football clubs. (Typical chant: “Homophobia, we say no.”) In Whitehawk and its community centre, the Crew Club, Melody encounters people who go above and beyond for their neighbourhood: people such as Brian – who set up a food distribution centre for locals without waiting to be given permission, and who never lets anyone go away without a bag of home-grown veg – and Dave, a naturalist who discovered a new species of beetle, the Whitehawk soldier beetle, thus halting plans for development in the area.
Melody hits upon uniting these two groups by staging a re-enactment of the Diggers’ face-off with the Parliamentarians and property owners. She convinces the re-enactment society to come to Whitehawk and the community members to dress up appropriately. Although people take some persuading on this front and the re-enactors are very concerned about historical accuracy, right down to the knives they use to peel carrots, soon everyone is eager to get involved.
This story is all delivered with Melody’s slightly scatty charm and customary warmth. The affection for all the enthusiasts and community workers she encounters comes through in her performance. The show has a fittingly handmade quality. The backdrop is a fabric map of Whitehawk, and she uses cardboard cutouts to represent the people she meets. The vegetables have been (very impressively) hand-knitted by community members.
It might not provide a rigorous history lesson on the Diggers, but Melody has created a hymn to community and solidarity. It’s also a rebuke to the idea that you can simply arrive in a place as an artist and make change; it requires time and commitment, enmeshing yourself in a world. That the show is directed by comedian and activist Mark Thomas makes total sense – thematically, it’s completely in his wheelhouse.
Together, he and Melody have created a heartwarming tribute to the people – the volunteers, artists, activists and people who can’t be arsed waiting for the council to get their act together – who give their time and energy to keep a community afloat when societal safety nets fail and the welfare state can no longer be relied upon.
Press interviews and reviews
Reviews:
5* EdFest Mag Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak – Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
“This show is so relatable. It is packed full of human stories that make you think, that make you laugh and that make you shake your head with dismay. It is about the power of people and the magic that can happen when they come together for good.”
“There is a serious lesson embedded in Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak, one we could all learn from … one that the widest of audiences will remember for a long time.”
4* The Guardian Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak review – a champion of eccentric hobbies and people power | Edinburgh festival 2025 | The Guardian
“a self-styled anthropologist with a ‘passion for other people’s passions’”
“this is a story, directed by Mark Thomas, less about history buffs dressing up in old costumes and eating authentic stew, and more about people resisting authority and taking control of their environment.”
“wide-eyed and ever delighted … a joyful testament to people power and a heartening parable about the possibility of collective action.”
4* The List Trouble, Struggle, Bubble & Squeak theatre review: The right side of history | The List
“Directed by Mark Thomas, Melody’s heartfelt and funny piece of real-life rabble-rousing is part living newspaper and part civic intervention that becomes a moving and inspirational comic call to arms.”
4* Broadway Baby Broadway Baby: Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
“Her show is filled with stories of eccentric but real people who became emboldened to challenge the status quo, confront the powers that be, and take on the local council to improve their lives.”
4* The Stage Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak review at Edinburgh Fringe: Charming
“This story is all delivered with Victoria Melody’s slightly scatty charm and customary warmth … a hymn to community and solidarity … a heartwarming tribute to the people who give their time and energy to keep a community afloat when societal safety nets fail and the welfare state can no longer be relied upon”
4* The Quintessential Review EdFringe Review: Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
“Melody, a most charming storyteller, essentially creates a live documentary, tracking the collision between the two worlds of re-enactment and social activism, which she mediated.”
“I doubt there will be many, if any, shows at the Fringe this year which will restore your faith in humanity more”
4* The Scotsman Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews Trouble Struggle Bubble And Squeak Lymphomaniac
“narrated in fine agitprop style”
“while Melody’s show may not be the most polished performance of the Fringe, it is one of the most genuinely purposeful and hopeful; reminding us that once people reclaim the soil beneath their feet, and start using it to grow their own food, they are on their way not only to a radically better diet at prices they can afford, but to a true sense of autonomy and empowerment, long lost to the machine age.”
“one of the most genuinely purposeful and hopeful” shows
3* ScotsGay Arts Trouble, struggle, bubble and squeak, Above at Pleasance courtyard (Venue 33) Review – ScotsGay Arts
“a celebration of the power of ordinary people coming together to resist the powers that be and the continuation of the status quo.”
“An enjoyable hour, with a heartwarming message and some very good knitted vegetables.”
“Another entertainingly loopy true story from Victoria Melody”
“she’s always had a terrific sense of comic timing”
“an entertaining show that’s directed by veteran leftwing comic Mark Thomas”
“a thoroughly rousing yarn”
“Good fun as ever … it’s always a pleasure to spend time in her company.”
3* Theatre Weekly Edinburgh Fringe Review: Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak at Pleasance Courtyard (Above) – Theatre Weekly
“Victoria Melody is an engaging storyteller and gently pokes fun at herself and her quirky way of dealing with life’s vagaries.”
“It teaches us lessons too about what can be achieved with belief and heart and an amazing greengrocer who fed 500 during Covid, but I suspect could easily have fed the 5,000.”
“It’s a wonderful story with lessons we should all learn from.”
The New Yorker A Season of Unease at the Edinburgh Festival | The New Yorker
“My favorite work in the look-back-to-look-now vein was Victoria Melody’s Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak”
“Everywhere she finds wonderful people, everyday heroes, in and out of armor”
“the shy, tiny, funny woman is really a radical in elf’s clothing, bearing a new message of utopian rebellion”
Awards:
Shortlisted for Popcorn Writing Award
Audience reaction:
Articles & Interviews:
Mark Thomas tells Theatre Weekly about Victoria Melody in Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
“It is full of surprise, hope, tenderness and truth”
“You’d be a mug to miss it”
The Recs’ Edinburgh Fringe Spe… – The Recs Podcast – Apple Podcasts
Artist, performer & comedian Victoria Melody spoke with The Recs Podcast about her latest solo show – Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
Southern and London Times interview with Vic
“It’s roughly 375 years on from the English Revolution, but there’s still a bunch of ordinary people fighting for their community.”
“It’s a tale of how people are compelled to take action. Because if they didn’t, nobody knows what might happen to those falling through the cracks.”
7:30 pm
£17
