A SELF-PROCLAIMED feminist writer from Limekilns is getting ready to perform her first play at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Isla Fairfield, a former Woodmill High and Fife College student, turned CEO and Founder of Pink Palace Productions, has taken her own personal experiences and turned them into a play that shines a light on the real 'Hot Girl Summer'. 

The play follows Tilly, who in the aftermath of a breakup, jumps on a plane to Barcelona for a girls' trip, moves to London and navigates the treacherous waters of dating app Hinge. 

Isla told the Press: "It’s about a single, Scottish girl from a small town who dumped her boyfriend, goes on a girls' holiday, gets a job in London and then goes on a 'hot girl summer'.

"It’s heavily inspired by my own experiences but it’s also inspired by different experiences that my friends have had as well."

The idea of having a 'Hot Girl Summer' is one that is plastered over every young girl's social media, especially at this time of the year, but Isla's play aims to dispel the rumours. 

She continued: "At the very top of the play, it acknowledges that a 'hot girl summer', for the character at the start, is all about being able to prioritise yourself, have fun and, as she puts it, have men in the palm of her hand - like she’s so hot that everybody wants.

"What we want to show a 'hot girl summer' is, is that it's more about prioritising you, having fun and not just continuously chasing after male validation, it shouldn't be about that."

A big theme that Isla wanted to explore is, she believes, the double standards between men and women, in particular, when it comes to dating and hook-ups.

She said: "I think what I'd want [the audience] to take away is that dating, as a young person, the end prize shouldn't have to be a partner, you should be able to date and have fun, and also to sort of move away from the shame that’s particularly put on young women, that they can’t behave in the same manner that young men are allowed to behave in.

"By having casual sexual partners, by dating multiple people, by making silly decisions, they’re all tarnished with a different brush than what a lot of young men get when they behave in that way. I think it’s just reframing the way we see women who date in the same way we see men who date.

"We should be allowed to date without the prize needing to be a partner and we should acknowledge that as a young person, platonic love and love from your friends and family is just as important as finding love romantically."

The show also aims to reinforce the fact that you don't have to fit into conventional beauty standards to be beautiful, to put yourself out there and have a good time. 

"There are moments in the play that acknowledge this," she continued.

"Although I'm not under any illusions that I'm butters, I also know that I'm the pretty standard, average-looking girl next door.

"But you don’t have to look like Margot Robbie to have fun and be beautiful. Beauty is more than just fitting this standard we see on the front page of Vogue and this play does acknowledge this as well.

"I’ve got wee sisters who are 18 and 19 and I really hope I get a good bunch of them and their pals in.

"It’s the sort of play that I feel like is the sort of thing that I would have loved to have been influenced by."

In essence, the play is a "love letter" to Isla's younger self and her sisters to "highlight heteronormative ideals and transform these complicated and all too familiar dating experiences".

"I think that’s why comedy and being relatable is so important," Isla continued.

"Because if you're just telling [young people] that they shouldn't strive for male validation then they think, ‘Oh you’re a feminist, shut up.’

"Whereas if you put on a play they think, ‘Oh look at this girl who’s shagging all these boys but she’s actually found she needs to be confident in herself’, then that’s a better way of putting it.

"I’ve written it in a way where the character learns as she goes, she doesn’t have the foresight that I do as a writer.

"She’s a bit of a lost soul in a sense so she’s got to find it out for herself, and hopefully while she’s finding it out, there will be members of the audience who are as well."

Isla's first foray at the Fringe will take place from August 19 to August 24 at the Space at Symposium Hall.

Tickets cost £10 with an £8 concession and is only suitable for those aged 16 and over. 

More information and tickets can be found here.