Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Mythos: Ragnarok
Group: The Mythological Theatre and Phil McIntyre Live
Genre: Physical Theatre, Theatre
Venue: Assembly
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
This is the tale of Odin: his rise to power to rule the Gap between Ice and Fire.
A blockbuster show that combines wrestling and theatre.
Review
Based on the story of Odin’s rise to power in Norse mythology, Mythos: Ragnarok combines wrestling and theatre to make an epic spectacle. This play returns to the Fringe after its run last year and a worldwide tour.
Banners of Norse houses are raised across the stage, with colourful lighting, smoke and pumping music, which sets the tone as the audience enters.
This tale explores Odin’s rise to power with his accomplice Loki, taking control of ‘The Gap’ as he defeats his enemies to attain their belts, as you would in professional wrestling. Most of the characters have an ‘entrance’ like you would see in WWE; coming from the back of the stage to intense music, unique for every character. Opponents fight by wrestling on the raised ‘squared circle’ in the middle of the stage, using high-risk moves you would see in AEW, NJPW or other wrestling companies. Sometimes, there are even scenes where the characters use sword fighting to battle for each other’s belts.
As Odin gains power, he becomes greedier and selfish. When his sole focus becomes sovereignty, he neglects those who stood by him and helped him achieve his goal. The conflicts within his team lead to complicated politics and power struggles which makes for a compelling watch.
This production is exhilarating, with high-risk moves, fight scenes that work their way into the audience and striking lighting choices. They use blasting music for entrances, set changes and fight scenes; a mix of either Nordic folk music or heavy metal. For the ending, without giving too much away, we get a real blockbuster: with the lights, sounds and wrestling all slammed together to make an action-packed finale.
Ed Gamester is the Writer, Director and Producer of this play, who also stars as Loki. At the end of the performance, he spoke about how the sports council wouldn’t give him funding because they “Weren’t real athletes” and that the arts council wouldn’t give him funding because they “Weren’t real actors” which led to him selling “Everything he owned” to put this show on. The show has been successful with intercontinental tours, since starting in 2021; making his speech a testament to the hard work of him and his team.
This is excellent work as it cleverly integrates wrestling with acting to make an enjoyable show. Most professional wrestling companies create scripted storylines, so it’s an intelligent idea to create a theatre performance that merges wrestling with acting.
From, the music, to the wrestling, to the story, this was a great play and it was well received by the audience; other audience members looked emotional afterwards and a couple were tearful. The show is very punchy and Ed’s story is encouraging to artists.
Acting-wise, all of the actors were technically good and performed with flair. Some stage actors forget to have fun or take risks and make the performance all about themselves. The actors served the characters, the audience and they enjoyed themselves onstage. As an audience member, I find it painful to watch an actor when they take themselves more seriously than the craft.
Years ago, I saw The Tempest at the RSC in Stratford-Upon-Avon. There was a difference between two of the actors: one actor performed for the audience and the other did not. When the second actor entered, I waited for them to leave but I had the opposite feeling about the other.
Most of the cast took risks and had a good time, which made us as the audience enjoy the play more.
For this piece to be outstanding work, all the actors would need to take these risks and have fun, as a couple of the actors looked a little timid. I also saw some of the actor’s ‘acting’ sometimes and would invite the cast not to think too hard about ‘acting’ in these serious moments, because the audience can see it. I would encourage the actors to find these moments from a genuine place that stems from finding the fun they had in the previous scenes.
Overall, I was impressed: considering that the cast is made of Wrestlers and not Actors, I could have been fooled into thinking the opposite.
This is a jam-packed show that is not dissimilar to something you would see in an action movie. It is a beautiful blend of wrestling and theatre that combines to make something special.
