Why Mina Liccione’s comedy show for Edinburgh Festival Fringe is her most personal yet

Mina Liccione's latest show is the story of a lifetime.

After a decade of building up the comedy scene in the UAE as a performer, promoter and trainer, the Dubai resident has stepped out with her most personal project to date.

Growing Up Ringside is an affectionate account of being raised in a traditional Italian-American household, before moving to the UAE where she pursued a career and family of her own.

The show enjoyed its premiere at Dubai Comedy Festival in 2021 and is now available for streaming on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe website.

While delighted with the quality of the production — the show was recorded in May during a two-night run at the Theatre of Digital Arts in Dubai — it was the opportunity to perform in front of her family at the New York International Fringe Festival last September that made the emotionally fraught process worthwhile.

"The whole clan was there and they came from all over New York state to see the show," Liccione tells The National..

"It was really special and an emotional experience for me in a lot of ways, but particularly because my father was in the audience. This whole project really began because of him."

Growing up a fighter

Born in New York, Liccione learned to roll with the punches from an early age. As the daughter of a boxing promoter, she recalls a childhood steeped in Italian-American tradition and hyper masculinity.

Her early life was spent in damp boxing rings full of sweaty athletes and some colourful characters ducking and weaving the law.

At the centre of this raucous atmosphere was her father, Tony, holding court and dispensing wisdom in his own imitable style.

"There was my dad, a walking stereotype. People were convinced he was part of the witness protection programme," Liccione recalls during her show.

"People would come to him for guidance because he would always give his unfiltered opinion ... he would always start with a 'not for nothing' and end with 'but that's just me'. That's an Italian-American's legal disclaimer."

Encouraged to overcome her shyness, Liccione was enrolled in dance schools by her parents.

The experience spawned a passion for theatre and performance, which eventually led her to Dubai in 2008. Here, she co-founded Dubomedy — one of the first performance training institutes in the UAE — alongside Emirati comedian and eventual husband Ali Al Sayed.

Inspired by Tony’s forceful personality to take a leap of faith and move to Dubai, his fraying health brought Liccione back to New York to share insights gleaned along the way.

And, after Tony suffered a stroke in 2020, Liccione was spurred on to revisit the project, which had been left on the back burner. "I always had this idea of telling the story of my father and family, whether through writing a script for a television series or a book with my dad," she says.

"But after my father had a stroke, and the general situation with the pandemic, it made me realise there is a timeline to everything in life.

“We are not promised tomorrow, so not only did I want to pay tribute to my dad on stage, but I wanted him to be there to see it."

Family ties

It is that emotional core which makes Growing Up Ringside so compelling.

Mixing spoken word drama with comedy and multimedia elements such as photography and projections, it is the kind of eclectic offering tailor-made for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

With the show beginning as an initial love letter to her childhood, before retracing her “fish out of water” experience of moving to Dubai, Liccione’s journey resonated with both sides of her family.

"It made my in-laws understand my family a lot more. And, it was the same with my parents because, while they understood the artistic stuff I do, they didn't really get my life in Dubai and what it was like in terms of culture,” she says.

"In New York, I had some old-timers in the crowd — those who used to be boxers and are hardcore Catholics — who were given a better understanding of Islam, how I married a Muslim and am still able to keep my last name.

“It created this profound dialogue. It made me realise there was a higher purpose involved with the show, which really moved me."

Liccione hopes to take Growing Up Ringside further internationally, hence her online appearance as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

"It is great to have UAE representation in one of the world's biggest festivals, one known for its reviews and critics," she says.

"I am glad to have my story be part of that and I view it as another stepping stone to keep moving forward.”

'Growing Up Ringside' is available to stream until August 29 from £8.00 ($9.70). More information is available on tickets.edfringe.com