From Concussion to Buddhist Chanting - the birth of Lolo’s Boyfriend Show at Edinburgh Fringe
Fresh off its Audience Choice Award win at the 2024 NYC Fringe, Lolo’s Boyfriend Show has landed at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe - and it’s already making waves. Running every day until 16th August at theSpaceUK, this bold, funny, and deeply personal solo show from actor and writer Lauren O’Brien isn’t just another breakup story. It’s an exploration from the messy middle of heartbreak, healing, and self-discovery - told with a wink, a wince, and a lot of heart.
But the road to Lolo - and to Edinburgh - was far from straight.
In 2019, O’Brien suffered a traumatic concussion that turned her world upside down. “I had a constant headache and messed-up vision,” she recalls. “I saw double in my peripheral and couldn’t focus on a page. It was very unnerving.” For a performer and writer, this wasn’t just physically painful - it was existential. But even then, there was a creative part of her watching.
“Maybe that’s the artist part... morbidly excited to turn anything into art?” she jokes now.
Through months of vision therapy, cranio-sacral therapy, and deep rest, her eyesight gradually returned. “Within three or four months I started to get my vision back and slowly started working again. The whole process was - and still is - very humbling.”
That healing journey laid the foundation for Lolo’s Boyfriend Show, a solo performance that leans hard into vulnerability — but always with levity.
Much of the emotional and creative resilience behind Lolo’s Boyfriend Show comes from O’Brien’s Buddhist practice. She chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, a mantra rooted in the Lotus Sutra that focuses on bringing beauty and strength from life’s messiest moments.
“I started chanting when I moved to New York City. I was working a temp job and met a woman who radiated this incredible energy. She invited me to try an experiment: chant for ten minutes in the morning and night toward a goal,” O’Brien recalls.
Since then, chanting has become a cornerstone of her life - helping her navigate grief, recover from physical injury, and overcome creative blocks. “It helped me transform my life, from living in a one-room apartment in Queens with a view of a brick wall and negative money in my account - to building a more stable, joyful life.”
It also helped birth Lolo’s Boyfriend Show.
“Chanting helped me heal physically and emotionally. Like Lolo, I had a tendency to look outside myself for validation. But this practice helped me find internal sovereignty - and that sense of worthiness made it possible to create.”
Lolo’s Boyfriend Show is a hilarious, heartfelt solo show following the misadventures of Lolo - a woman unraveling (and maybe awakening) in the aftermath of a breakup. It’s part stand-up, part storytelling, and part soul-searching confession. And it’s resonating.
After its NYC Fringe win, the show’s Edinburgh run is quickly gaining attention for its fearless mix of comedy, vulnerability, and theatricality.
At its core, Lolo’s Boyfriend Show is about the absurdity and beauty of trying to put yourself back together. It’s also a celebration of what happens when art grows not just from inspiration - but from injury, recovery, collaboration, and spiritual practice.
Lolo’s Boyfriend Show runs daily until 16th August at the Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall at Edinburgh Fringe 2025.