The Dahlia Files
★★★★☆ Compelling performance
PBH’s Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth (venue 156): Sat 2 – Tue 12 Aug 2025
Review by Tom Ralphs
The Dahlia Files, from the Hey, Thanks! Theatre Collective, draws on an infamous unsolved murder to explore the commercialisation of violence and question the motives behind the makers, and viewers, of real-life murder podcasts.
Writer Trystan Youngjohn also plays the 22 year-old victim, Elizabeth Short. In January 1947, Short’s beaten and disfigured body was found in the parking lot of the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. The identity of her murder was never discovered.
Trystan Youngjohn in The Dahlia Files. Pic: Louise Anderbjork.
The production’s early comedic elements and sidesteps from the main story run the risk of making light of what happened and reducing its impact. However the play gets into its stride and takes major leaps forward as Youngjohn gets into Short’s life story.
Youngjohn superbly captures the wide-eyed enthusiasm of someone who believed in the inherent goodness of people and was curious about the nature of fame rather than seeking either it, or the infamy, that eventually came her way.
At the same time, her portrayal shows the consequences of coming from a dysfunctional family and the decisions Short’s instinct for survival led her to make. Through this, Short becomes much more than a person known only, and incorrectly, for being a sex worker and victim of a gruesome murder.
campaigner
By letting audiences get to know and understand Short through the script and her portrayal of her, the impact of the sharp change in tone as she reads the story of her own murder in a newspaper also becomes all the more stronger than it may otherwise have been.
This also allows the subject matter to open up as the play moves effortlessly into the investigation, or lack of it, into her murder. Youngjohn turns Short into a campaigner for the voice of the victim, raising questions about the ownership of life stories and the exploitation of murder victims for profit in films, TV shows and podcasts, and forcing audiences to consider what their roles are as consumers of them.
Trystan Youngjohn in The Dahlia Files. Pic: Louise Anderbjork.
Kate Stamoulis’ accomplished direction helps Youngjohn to make the transition between the different versions of Short she is presenting, and this is accompanied by very effective use of a screen as a main feature of a simple set to illustrate the story on stage with postcards, newspaper cuttings and photos of suspects displayed at key points in the narrative to give context to the words.
The use of instantly recognisable theme music from a TV crime franchise further highlights the way murder and entertainment are inextricably linked in the national conscience, while a seemingly light-hearted moment where members of the audience are brought up to the stage to play a game also serves to highlight a more serious message.
A compelling performance of a very strong script under expert direction, The Dahlia Files deserves a long life beyond the Fringe.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval).
PBH’s Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth (Chamber Room), 29-35 Niddry Street EH1 1LG (Venue 156).
Saturday 2 – Tuesday 12 August 2025.
Daily: 1.10pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Details on PBH Free Fringe here.
Facebook: @heythankstheatrecollective
Instagram: @heythankstheatreco
TikTok: @heythankstheatre
Linktree: @heythankstheatreco
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