Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Level Up!
Goldspun Media
Genre: Musical Theatre
Venue: Big Yin at Gilded Balloon Patter House
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
An adventure that combines gaming and musical theatre, Level Up! Julian Kirk’s catchy score is a standout, as are the retro projections that echo early console aesthetics with charm. A promising show that may need more development to truly level up.
Review
Level Up! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose brings the focus immediately to a large square box made of maneuverable screens, which can split into three and form the backdrop to the show’s entire set. It is a striking idea that promises plenty of flexibility, and while it could perhaps have been used more creatively to re-shape the quite bare stage, it provides a distinctive visual style for the piece.
As the lights come up, we meet Jo, Raff and Bobby; three everyday kids connecting online to play their favourite game when, for reasons never made entirely clear, they are sucked into the digital gaming realm. Each character is given a task based on their gamer profile: Bobby must explore, Raff must save the world through an exhausting sustainability game, and Jo is tasked with collecting tokens. It is a fun premise, but the lack of set-up and clarity over why any of it matters runs as a theme throughout.
This is a common challenge for musicals at the Fringe: with only an hour to establish a world, characters and stakes, there often isn’t enough room for everything to land. Level Up! struggles here. While Jo’s descent into greed and crypto-obsession hints at bigger ideas, the other two characters fade too far into the background and the obstacles the trio face never feel urgent or meaningful. Why must they succeed? What happens if they fail? How will they change and adapt? Without clearer answers, the story doesn’t fully grip.
That said, there is plenty to celebrate here. The six-strong cast are talented, working slickly together with well choreographed numbers, strong singing and tight harmonies. Each performer gets a moment to shine and seizes it. The music, composed by Julian Kirk, is excellent and a real highlight: catchy, varied and with a strong overall identity that compliments the show. The pixelated projections and console-inspired visuals are also brilliantly crafted and echo early gaming aesthetics with nostalgic charm. The dialogue and lyric writing is also good, it only suffers through structure.
Ultimately, Level Up! is a good show, warmly received by its audience and bursting with evident hard work and creativity. It does feel like a piece that is still finding its final form. With sharper storytelling and deeper character journeys, it could go from being a promising, enjoyable watch to something truly memorable. Right now, it’s levelling up but it is not quite at the boss stage yet.
