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\u201cThe outcome doesn\u2019t matter. F*ck the outcome. You\u2019re doing it. You have a clarity of purpose.\u201d For years, Sam Beeson drifted through an aimless stupor, pouring cement by day and drinking whiskey by night. Then the theatre kid stepped into a sweat-soaked mixed martial arts gym, and everything changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Eight Faces of Ellie Morrison\u201d <\/em>is a play written by Beeson about an MMA fighter who retired from the sport and finds himself living peacefully but is unfulfilled. The show is set to play at the Edinburgh Fringe with tickets selling fast. To play Luke, the main character, Beeson began practising combat sports and won two fights along the way, the most recent by TKO finish. He wanted the fighting and character to be as real as possible, as faithful to fighting as one can be.<\/p>\n With empty bottles lining his shelf, Beeson knew he needed to change. The playwright had fallen into a depressive fog during the COVID-19 pandemic and struggled to find his footing again. A theatre kid entering the world of combat sports, he arrived without an ego or anything to prove; only a willingness to learn. By accident, that decision changed his life.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one\u2019s going to save you but you,\u201d Beeson explained. \u201cThen I found fighting, and I remember being told to work on the heavy bag for five minutes. I didn\u2019t even hear the bell. I was still going. I turned around and half the class had left. You zone out, tune in, and find a frequency. It became a healthy outlet.\u201d The pounding sound of the heavy bag rang like a zen gong.<\/p>\n Sam Beeson in a Muay Thai fight ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe<\/p>\n The practise of combat sports became a meditation for the young actor and helped him recover from depression and alcoholism. \u201cThere\u2019s a clarity of purpose when you\u2019re in there. You get this tunnel vision: you only have to focus on one thing. You might not win, but you\u2019re in there, that\u2019s the goal. It\u2019s the same on stage. You know what you\u2019re supposed to do, you know what you have to handle, you\u2019ve done all the prep, and then you just have to get in there.\u201d<\/p>\n Sam Beeson in a Muay Thai fight<\/p>\n \u201cI love Rocky, it\u2019s phenomenal, but it\u2019s very much about going the distance and how hard you can push. I wanted to focus on the drilling, the monotony, the reps, and how much time is spent on one single thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Beeson wanted the play to focus on the Sisyphean task of the repetition, and finding peace along the way. \u201cIt\u2019s a hard life, but it\u2019s a fascinating life. Fighting teaches you a lot, but it isn\u2019t everything. If you can apply those lessons to the monotony of life, the work, the logistics, that\u2019s the real beauty of it.\u201d<\/p>\n The 21st century has been hard on young people who often feel aimless and isolated in a world of AI and performative personalities on social media. In 1873, Friedrich Nietzsche posited that a goal in life is to push oneself into a purpose: \u201cI know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible. The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is to live dangerously.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But the key is simply finding purpose, not necessarily success. It\u2019s the attempt that matters. This is the core of Beeson\u2019s \u201cThe Eight Faces of Ellie Morrison.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThere are a couple of lines that my coach in the show says: \u2018It doesn\u2019t matter. The outcome? F*ck the outcome.\u2019\u201d Beeson explained, \u201cIf you do the thing you were scared about, it\u2019s not fear at that point. As soon as you face it, it changes into something else. All you need to do is take the step. If it doesn\u2019t work out, it\u2019s fine. But you tried it. If you have an ability to do something and you really like it, what\u2019s stopping you?\u201d<\/p>\n The message of the play resonated and hit hard. Siblings of Beeson felt the weight of it. \u201cGetting that call from my sibling, hearing they\u2019d quit their job and wanted to find something different, was better than getting a knockout. It was a call to action. That\u2019s the whole purpose of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n Winning and losing matter less than the journey itself, and Beeson speaks from experience as he was able to capture a couple of combat sports victories along the way. \u201cWinning wasn\u2019t joyous. It wasn\u2019t elation. It was more like, \u2018Okay, good. I can do this.\u2019 It felt almost like permission, or relief. I was still the theatre kid in the gym, the guy doing stand-up at weekends, the entertainer, the one messing around in class. Then, after winning, it was like: \u2018Oh, sh*t, I can do it.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Making the play as faithful to real MMA was a key part of the journey, which is why Beeson trained across multiple gyms and competed in real fights. \u201cHaving that validation from my trainer felt better than the victory itself, having them trust me to tell something about the life they make. We could say, \u2018This guy went out, trained and got a knockout, and now he has this play.\u2019 It gave the show a little more reality. We do this for real; it\u2019s not just acting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was validating, because I did work really hard for it, and I wanted to take it seriously,\u201d He continued. \u201cI\u2019ve seen plays and movies about things I know a lot about, and there\u2019ll be one detail that isn\u2019t right; it pulls you out of it immediately. I find that super disrespectful. The trainers at Atlas Muay Thai based in Alexandria, Virginia had been nothing but good to me, and I wanted to do right by it.\u201d<\/p>\n By day, Beeson\u2019s hands were wrapped for the gym; by night, they were on the page. But eventually, the research began to compete with the writing itself. \u201cI\u2019d been training and writing the whole time. By then, it was more like: \u2018I\u2019m ready. I\u2019m prepared. This is the next thing to do.\u2019 Then I got a second-round knockout. The coach came up and said, \u2018You want fight number three?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Dude, I\u2019m writing a play about this. I\u2019ve got to go focus.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Sam Beeson in a Muay Thai fight<\/p>\n That balance between lived experience and performance remains at the heart of The Eight Faces of Ellie Morrison<\/em>. The drills, commentary and coaching language all come from Beeson\u2019s time in MMA gyms. The fight choreography comes directly from real bouts. \u201cIt\u2019s all real. It\u2019s pieced together from different fights. It has those moments where the audience gasps\u201d<\/p>\n Training and competing while writing the show took a physical toll. Beeson\u2019s wins gave him first-hand experience of MMA, while an ACL tear showed the cost of committing to it for real. \u201cI\u2019ve done so much physio, I\u2019ve had massages, and I\u2019m rubbing lacrosse balls into my shoulder every morning to dig everything out. It\u2019s hard, and it hurts. But it\u2019s worth it at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Real fighting and real injuries to communicate a real struggle. Plus, the show features local fighters and trainers from Edinburgh itself. The Edinburgh Combat Project Gym will feature its athletes and trainers in the play as referees. Additionally, the actors spent some time training at the gym alongside their Muay Thai champions. Pawel Zakrzewski is the CO-founder of ECP. Emma Davison, his fianc\u00e9, is the national bantamweight Muay Thai champion in the UK.<\/p>\n It is a raw story that hits the mark. \u201cAfter the New York previews, all the pieces fell into the right place. We had the crowd interactions we wanted, the chants, the jeers, the boos, the cheers. That was everything I wanted it to be, because I wanted that involvement.\u201d<\/p>\n Aislinn Evans as Ellie<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted people to come in, enjoy the moment, be off their phones and just watch theatre. We\u2019re not chasing clips. There\u2019s something real about it. That\u2019s why we thought the show would be great at the Fringe\u201d<\/p>\n That is what makes Edinburgh Fringe the ideal setting for The Eight Faces of Ellie Morrison<\/em>. Beeson has spent years turning a personal search for direction into a physical piece of theatre, one shaped by real training, real fights and a real connection with the MMA community. Now, in a city that embraces both combat sports and ambitious performance, he will put that work in front of a new audience. He is asking them to do more than simply watch a fight, but to consider what they are willing to fight for in their own lives.<\/p>\n Free Previews: Friday, Saturday & Sunday 7\u20139 August<\/p>\n 2 for 1 Tickets: Monday & Tuesday, 10 & 11 August<\/p>\n Regular Tickets: 12\u201329 August (no Sundays)<\/p>\n Greenside Venues<\/p>\nPurpose<\/h2>\n
MMA Training<\/h2>\n
The Eight Faces of Ellie Morrison at the Edinburgh Fringe<\/h2>\n