Indra has always wanted to be an astronaut. From an early age, they petitioned for an Astronaut Barbie to help realise their dream. Their family couldn’t afford one so they had to make do with a secondhand wannabe. So it’s all their dreams come true when they meet someone apparently ready, willing and able to support the mission. They decide to train for it together but gradually, sadly, Indra realises that all the training in the world doesn’t always guarantee success.

FLOAT is a new play from writer / performer Indra Wilson, produced by award-winning local theatre company, F-Bomb Theatre. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the mission Indra really yearns for is a nine-month one, that manifests not in a moon landing but in the birth of a child. But as happens so frequently but no less devastatingly with so many early pregnancies, it doesn’t work out. The too-rarely discussed raw awfulness of baby loss forms the topic of Indra’s autobiographical show.

Wilson’s script is a bundle of joy, full of warmth and wit alongside a sharply honest insight into the liminal lasting world of grief. The set design deserves a prize (Isadora Gough, Kirsty May Hamilton). There’s an extraordinary amount of business in this show, which is particularly impressive amidst the more common two-chairs-and-a-table stock Fringe sets, and Wilson makes light work of it all. The final box-opening is a piece of magic in itself. Directors Cora Bissett and Niloo-Far Khan keep the pace perky, embracing the fun and frivolity of Wilson’s university years, making the subsequent heartbreak all the more poignant.

This production is presented as part of this year’s Made in Scotland showcase and comes to the Fringe in partnership with Baby Loss Retreat. If you have ever loved and lost, come to FLOAT to remember and find more than a shred of hope in shared healing.