The Edinburgh Horror Festival has become quite the lightning rod for fans of the occult, ghostly and otherworldly. What’s more, the festival’s chair Ash Pryce has ensured that disabled and neurodiverse acts are front and centre when it comes to programming. Glad that our communities are represented we went along to the fest’s opening night to see the rich variety of work on offer.
Theatre piece The Afterdeath explored two women struggling to justify their goodness to escape purgatory. With an interesting (if cliched) script and well thought out stagecraft, it was nice to see considered effects and soundscapes create a frightening realm beyond our understanding. The monster that passes judgement looks impressive and there is some nice humour, unfortunately the whole thing becomes far too wordy. The seemingly endless monologues were all delivered in one tone, making the play’s twist unsatisfying. It could certainly use a heavy edit, as there were some nice elements especially toward the end.
The Wheel of Misfortune’s comic horror portmanteau was genuinely funny and very silly. The performers unhinged delivery and clear understanding of classic tropes made for an enjoyable set of stories. The fifties gumshoe detectives investigating animal tested cosmetics, a pantomime horse-ipede and lots and lots of terrifying clowns. Some of it was very Carry on, which is no bad thing. Special shout out to the Master of Ceremonies who held the thing together nicely. The first three stories were so well crafted that it felt that the final story let it down, it was messy and although more frightening, didn’t feel anywhere near as accomplished as the rest.
There was storytelling with spoken word artists Paul Cases’ Rogues so Banished, exploring Australian history, with a Conradesque narrative that was full of masculine angst and grotesque description. There was something nice at seeing storytelling stripped back. It was Case, a lectern and his audience. You often felt that you were experiencing the same oral traditions that go back centuries, especially in the cave room of the Banshee Labyrinth.
Finding Innsmouth was perhaps the strongest piece of theatre of the evening. A reimagining of Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth replacing racism with self-discovery. The monologue was brilliantly written and delivered with an almost journalistic reality. I really believed Bobbi Olmstead’s trip to Innsmouth really happened. All told to a tape recorder, the folk horror tale unfolded into something skin-crawlingly creepy.
The opening night ended with the ambitious Dr. Bonk’s Macarbaret Eliott Simpson’s cavalcade of B-Movie horror tropes and a sinister silent plague doctor with a love of prop comedy. It certainly was the most hi-concept MC’ing you’ll ever see. The acts were interesting; especially one hand of King Wine, who used an ancient gameboy for musical accompaniment. We had a victorian ghost stand-up, little Mo and Murderous Burlesque! The final act Richard Brown was a personal favourite, who knew wearing a cardboard box on your head and playing a Siri voice stand-up routine could be so hilarious.
It’s wonderful to see a niche festival thriving in times of economic uncertainty. Hats off to the team who work so hard to make it happen every year. It’s hard to imagine the festival occurring anywhere other that The Banshee Labyrinth. It would be lovely to see the Horror Festival spread to other satellite venues in future, to allow for quieter spaces, or would that mean it would lose the unique charm of the chaos surrounding vault.
The Edinburgh Horror Festival runs to the 31st October at the Banshee Labyrinth.
