Edinburgh Fringe: Meet Kirsty Mann, the secret doctor with funny bones

For the past decade, Kirsty Mann has been living a double life. She is an actor and comedian… and she is also a doctor.

Living a life of subterfuge and secrets, she has kept one profession hidden from the other, for fear of not being taken seriously in either.

It sounds like the plot of a comedy and Kirsty agrees, which is why she has decided to come clean and write a debut stand-up show all about her dual careers.

“Performing came first,” she explained. “I trained in musical theatre at the Royal Academy of Music, then got into comedy. A teacher at drama school told me I needed to have another job because I wouldn’t be employed 100% of the time and I thought I would love to be a doctor.”

Kirsty put herself through medical school while continuing to perform, but she quickly realised after graduating that her twin jobs confused people.

“I learned the hard way it was best to keep them separate. There was a director who used me in everything she did, then she found out I was a doctor and didn’t use me again. I’ve been in medical teams where some colleagues were supportive but the majority immediately questioned my commitment. I found it easier to not tell people rather than constantly be defending myself.”

Kirsty had an inner circle – her parents and very close friends – who knew, but them apart, she has tried to keep her medical profession secret from her performing colleagues, and her acting and comedy career hidden from her hospital workmates. Even on her wedding day.

“I kept the creatives down one end and the doctors at the other end, turned the music up loud, and hoped they wouldn’t talk to teach other, and I got away with it!”

Kirsty, who specialises in anaesthetics, spent the pandemic working on an intensive care ward.

“I do talk about it, but I thought hard about whether or not I would,” she said. “I find it difficult to talk about, so standing on stage doing so is challenging. However, I feel it would be remiss not to because it’s a huge part of mine and my colleagues’ stories and the biggest thing to happen to the NHS in our lifetimes.

“It is most definitely not a funny part of the show. When I’ve done preview performances, people have told me afterwards they had wondered if I really was a doctor until I started talking about Covid, and then they had no doubt.”

Kirsty, whose TikTok sketch collaborations with writer-director Dipak Patel have been viewed more than 30 million times, says she finds performing helps to de-stress from her medical career – despite the juggle required to accommodate both jobs.

“I have periods where I do one job more than the other. For example, last year I did a very intense 12-month contract with the NHS. Since I left that job in January, I’ve been a performer. That’s reflective of the past 10 years.

“Performing has helped with the stress of the medical job, particularly improv comedy. It’s quite mindful in its own way and I love that. And there have been days when I have been writing alone in a room and I’ve wanted to go into a hospital and see 100 people I know already and 100 I’ve never met before and just have a day surrounded by people.

“I believe both jobs complement each other in opposite ways, if that makes sense.”

She added: “I’ve been coming to Edinburgh for years. My first time was in a student production where I played a duck, and I thought it was the best thing ever and got addicted to the Fringe. But I’ve never done a solo hour and I’m so excited and scared by it.”

Kirsty Mann: Skeletons, Pleasance Courtyard – Below, Edinburgh, August 2-27 (not 15), 5.50pm