Content warning: This review discusses suicide, self-harm, grief and mental health. Right Before I Go is a deeply moving piece of theatre that stays with you long after it ends. I saw Stan Zimmerman’s suicide awareness play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and its combination of raw testimony, exceptional performances and complete honesty made it one of the most powerful shows I have seen this year.
Written by Zimmerman, whose credits include The Golden Girls and Gilmore Girls, the play was created following the suicide of his close friend Kevin Gill. Zimmerman has spoken openly about struggling to understand that loss and wanting to create something that could challenge the shame and silence still surrounding suicide. The result is a piece built around real suicide notes, testimonies from people who survived attempts and stories spanning celebrities, veterans, bullied teenagers, members of the LGBTQ+ community and people from many different walks of life.
It is an incredibly heavy subject, and Right Before I Go never pretends otherwise. There are moments that are devastating to listen to, particularly because you know these are not fictional words created to generate an emotional response. They belonged to real people. Yet what Zimmerman has created never feels exploitative. The writing gives those voices space, allowing the audience to sit with them rather than rushing towards an easy explanation for something that rarely has one.
The performance I attended featured Wendie Malick, Claire Feuille, Stan Zimmerman, Claire-Marie Hall, Sam Stuart Fraser and Gerard McCarthy, and the quality of the entire cast was exceptional. Much of the production relies on the performers moving rapidly between different people, voices and experiences, sometimes with little more than a change in accent, posture or expression to distinguish one story from another. Every performer commits completely to the person whose words they have been trusted with.
Claire-Marie Hall is astonishing. There is such control in her performance, and she moves between stories with an emotional honesty that never becomes overstated. Some of the smallest changes in her expression are enough to completely shift the room, and her performance stayed with me long after the show ended.
Sam Stuart Fraser is equally powerful, and it was particularly lovely to see Scottish talent among this rotating cast at the Edinburgh Fringe. He brings real sensitivity to the material, allowing the words to carry their own impact without pushing for emotion that is already there. Gerard McCarthy has a commanding presence from the moment he speaks. His delivery is incredibly assured, but there is still vulnerability underneath it, and he holds the room completely during some of the show’s hardest passages.
Wendie Malick is phenomenal, and you can really feel the experience of such a seasoned screen performer in the way she commands the room. She moves between different voices with complete confidence, giving each one its own rhythm and personality without ever pulling focus away from the words themselves. Claire Feuille has a different role within the piece, playing Kristin, Stan and Kevin’s friend, rather than moving between multiple testimonies. She gives the character a more direct, abrupt edge, which works well against Stan’s openness and makes their exchanges feel honest rather than overly softened.
And then there is Zimmerman himself. There is something especially affecting about watching him perform material born from his own grief. At one point, he openly questions what right he had to write something dealing with a subject this serious when so much of his career has been spent making people laugh. That vulnerability becomes one of the strengths of Right Before I Go, because Zimmerman understands that grief is not experienced in one emotional register.
There are moments of humour here. A throwaway comment, an observation or simply Zimmerman’s natural comic timing breaking through. Importantly, the humour only appears where it feels natural. When the material needs to be sad, Zimmerman lets those moments stand on their own and gives the audience space to sit with them. The humour comes in the spaces where people often find humour in real grief, not because anything is suddenly less painful, but because human beings are complicated and sometimes laughter exists alongside loss. That balance is difficult, and Zimmerman handles it beautifully.
What struck me most was how captivating the simplicity of the production becomes. There is no elaborate staging trying to recreate the circumstances surrounding these deaths. The focus remains on words, faces and voices. Because of that, you find yourself listening with an intensity that a larger production could perhaps have diluted. Each letter becomes about the individual behind it rather than another statistic.
The statistics still matter, though, and when the play places these individual stories beside the scale of suicide around the world, they are difficult to comprehend. It makes the purpose of Right Before I Go very clear: these conversations cannot only happen after somebody dies.
The post-show discussion is therefore an essential part of the experience rather than an optional addition. Instead of sending the audience straight back onto Edinburgh’s busy streets after an hour of such heavy material, the show creates space to talk about what we have heard, ask questions and continue a conversation still too often avoided. On the day I attended, a representative from Andy’s Man Club joined the discussion to speak about men’s mental health and suicide prevention
I shed a few tears during Right Before I Go, and looking around the room, I was clearly not alone. What impressed me most, though, was that the sadness never became the only thing the show offered. There is compassion here, along with anger, humour, remembrance and a real desire to understand. Most importantly, there is an insistence on talking.
For CultureCues, Right Before I Go is an incredibly powerful piece of theatre. The subject matter is difficult and there are moments that are genuinely painful to hear, but it is handled with enormous care by Zimmerman, director Abigail Morris and an exceptional cast. Hall, Fraser, McCarthy, Malick and Feuille are all excellent, and Zimmerman’s willingness to bring his own grief and vulnerability into the room gives the piece an added honesty. It is not an easy hour at the Fringe, nor should it be. It is raw, emotional and at times heartbreaking, but it also creates exactly the kind of conversation Zimmerman hoped for when he began writing it. I left immensely sad, but very glad that a show like this exists.
CultureCues Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
I also had the chance to sit down with Stan Zimmerman after the show to talk about Right Before I Go, his career and much more. Keep an eye on CultureCues for the full interview coming soon.
Right Before I Go runs daily at 15:35 at Pleasance Dome, Queen Dome, until 31 August 2026. The show runs for approximately 60 minutes, is recommended for ages 14+ and features a rotating cast throughout the run. You can find out more information and book tickets here.
Nikki Murray is a UK-based writer, screenwriter and founder & editor of CultureCues, covering film, television, music and pop culture. Her work focuses on storytelling and the moments shaping modern entertainment.