They Thought Their Friendship Was Over. Then They Wrote a Musical About It. Meet Julie Lake and Annie McLeod

Blending raw dialogue with original music, Forget-Me-Not is the unfiltered new musical play coming to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Written and performed by longtime friends and collaborators Julie Lake (Orange is the New Black) and award-winning singer-songwriter Annie Macleod. As Artist-Mothers navigating midlife reinvention, the pair delve into themes of caregiving, self-expression, and the often uncomfortable truths of female friendship. We caught up with Julie and Anna to find out more about the show

Forget-Me-Not blends musical storytelling with raw dialogue. What drew you to this hybrid form, and how did you approach balancing the two?

We never really had a choice about how real the dialogue would be—or how emotionally charged the music is. These stories are true. The songs were written right in the thick of living them. Our first draft was basically six back-and-forth essays, but something was missing. Once we added scenes of us speaking directly to each other, everything clicked. That raw, gritty, irreverent way we talk—it comes from 30 years of friendship. We knew we had to let that energy live in the show.

The piece centres on the emotional cost of choice between self-expression and caregiving, independence and intimacy. How central was that to your creative process?

Extremely central. We wrote both the script and music while deep in the trenches of mothering. That constant tug between creating and caring for our families is always present. But as Artist-Mothers—a term we’ve lovingly coined—we believe both are essential parts of who we are. One can’t thrive while the other withers. It’s a constant dance to find balance between freedom and safety. We want our cake, and yes, we absolutely intend to eat it too.

Many stories about female friendship end in rupture or idealisation. Yours finds a space for repair. Why was that important to explore?

Because humans are complicated. What we’ve found is that all of our conflicts came from one of us bumping into a deep, old wound in the other—something that usually had very little to do with the present moment. But if there’s space in the friendship for that kind of awareness, to own our experiences and stop holding the other responsible for our feelings, repair becomes possible. What’s rare—and what makes our friendship special—is that we’ve both been willing to look at our own shit.

You both come from different professional backgrounds – TV, songwriting, and performance. How did those perspectives shape the show’s tone and structure?

It kept us honest in both realms. When we had to cut the show down for time, we knew we couldn’t shave down the natural shape of the songs or remove the dramatic heart of the story. We had to stay true to both within the 55 minutes we have to tell it. Practically speaking, Annie brought tons of experience with live music while Julie was a total noob. But Annie hadn’t done theater in over two decades—and Julie’s a pro. We mentored each other through the realms that felt less familiar.

The show doesn’t shy away from envy, judgment, or shame between friends. Were those the hardest emotions to put on stage?

For us, judgment was the hardest. Annie took the rarely travelled road of leaving her kids for a time to pursue her dreams, and Julie’s judgment—both in the show and in real life—reflects how so many people feel about mothers who make that choice. Including that perspective in the show wasn’t easy, but it was necessary to stay honest. Performing that dynamic night after night might be painful, but it’s also what makes the story real and resonant.

Do you think audiences in 2025 are relating differently to stories of female identity and midlife reinvention than, say, ten years ago?

We think midlife reinvention still gets a bad rap—just like it did ten years ago. We both said, “We’ll never do that,” in our early thirties… and yet, here we are. Reinvention isn’t a crisis—it’s a shift toward something more authentic. Yes, things fall away in the process, and that can hurt. But after forty years of living, you finally start to understand what you actually want—and it becomes your responsibility to try and make that life real. Otherwise, the quiet misery creeps in—for you and everyone around you.

The show focuses on reclaiming voice, literally and metaphorically. Has making Forget-Me-Not helped you do that for yourselves?

We’ve removed all our outs with this show. Even though we’ve both been lifelong artists, there’s always been that tempting voice saying, “Maybe it’s time to get a real job.” But this show makes life and art inseparable. By telling the raw truth of our actual lives—and living through that truth while creating and performing it—we’ve forced ourselves into a kind of reckoning. Are we willing to put everything on the line, with no backup plan, no fictional veil to hide behind? The show itself, and the wild process of bringing it into the world, is our loud and undeniable “yes.”

Forget-Me-Not will be performed at 11:40 in Greenside @ George St from 1^st – 9^th August

For tickets and more information: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/forget-me-not