Edinburgh Fringe Review 17th August 2026

The title gives you a good idea of what happens at the start of this play: a man proposes to a balloon.

The setting is a park bench, where Mikey arrives carrying flowers and a red balloon. After drawing a face on it, he begins practising the marriage proposal he plans to make to his boyfriend. At first, I wondered why he chose to do this on a park bench in a public park, but the play cleverly develops through a series of conversations between Mikey and the balloon.

Without giving too much away, not everything is as it seems, and the title’s suggestion of “possibly something worse” becomes much more significant. The conversations soon extend far beyond the proposal, revealing the thoughts occupying Mikey’s mind and uncovering some surprising situations and uncomfortable truths.

Eoin McKenna’s acting is superb; I was transfixed by his every word and emotion. Written by Mark Daniels, A Man Proposes to a Balloon, or Possibly Something Worse is an intriguing and entertaining one-man play that becomes much more than its unusual title initially suggests.

“A deceptively simple premise that slowly twists into something compelling, poignant and deeply unnerving.”

Show	A Man Proposes to a Balloon, or Possibly Something Worse
Dates & Times	This reviewed run has ended.
Production Company	Mark Daniels (writer)
Original Fringe Link	Edinburgh Fringe
Venue	Blether at Gilded Balloon Patter House

Disclosure: I attended with a complimentary press ticket.