Edinburgh Fringe 2024
The Ceremony
Ben Volchok
Genre: Absurd Theatre, Comedy, Experimental, Interactive, Solo Show
Venue: Summerhall
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A unique blend of humour, emotion, and thought-provoking moments of a kind that that you can probably only experience in fringe theatre. A must see – or rather, a Must Take Part interactive show. A wonderful, bizzarre, interactive way to end your Fringe Day. And avoiding sitting in the front row won’t save you this time, this show isn’t called ‘interactive’ just for decoration, the audience steers the whole narrative.
Review
The Ceremony at Summerhall’s Women’s Old Locker Room is a surreal, immersive experience that defies easy categorisation. This isn’t just a show you watch; it’s one you become part of. Avoiding the front row won’t save you on this occasion. From the moment you step into the transformed women’s locker room—a space that retains its utilitarian feel but hints at something more sacred with its rounded roof and a screen displaying ‘The Ceremony’ and two lit candles you know you’re in for something different.
Described as “co-created with the audience,” The Ceremony lives up to its billing. Each performance is a unique, unpredictable show of metaphysical nonsense, guided by the enigmatic Ben Volchok. The setup is simple: a screen, a table with a keyboard and a bucket, and our host, at ease in an armchair, watching us with a mix of amusement and curiosity.
The genius of Volchok’s performance lies in its subtlety. He begins by mimicking moves made by the audience—shifting in his chair, fidgeting, removing and replacing his jacket – until, almost without realizing it, we are imitating him. This silent dance gradually draws us into the heart of the performance, blurring the lines between performer and spectator.
Somehow, we end up contributing words around the meaning of ‘ceremony’ and end up reading recipes for smoked salmon canapes and contributing to the ‘Comments Bucket’. Accompanied by a great show of stage magician these are handed out to the audience to read. One of the most impressive technical aspects of the evening is Volchok’s ability to touch type whilst making faces at us and/or looking at the screen as the words appear.
Additions to the PowerPoint slides are made via trips down bizarre and hilarious rabbit holes, each path determined by our collective responses. It’s a structure that is loose enough to allow for spontaneity but anchored by Volchok’s sharp improvisational skills.
The atmosphere is a character in itself, crafted through an ambient soundtrack (also written by Volchok) and lighting that’s as unpredictable as the performance. The tech, like the audience, navigates the show in real-time, adding to the sense of shared discovery.
The Ceremony is a rare gem in the world of immersive, participatory theatre. It’s an experience that balances the solemn with the euphoric, the absurd with the profound. No two nights are the same, as the audience’s energy shapes the evening’s tone.
On the night I attended, canapés, smoked salmon, and turnips played the unexpected leading roles, proving that this show is as much about what you bring to it as what Volchok offers.
I went with little idea of what to expect and found it to be a unique blend of humour, emotion, and thought-provoking moments of a kind that that you can probably only experience in fringe theatre.
A must see – or rather, a Must Take Part interactive show. A wonderful, bizzarre, unforgetable way to end your Fringe Day.
