Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Amadan and Mortair Kill the King
Genre: Comedy, New Writing
Venue: Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A wacky, high-energy medieval farce from the minds behind Tartan Tabletop. With larger-than-life characters, gleefully verbose dialogue and plenty of fourth-wall-breaking mischief. Amadan and Mortair Kill the King feels like Weekend at Bernie’s crashing headfirst into Blackadder. Silly, energetic and endearingly chaotic.
Review
Amadan and Mortair Kill the King is playing at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose Blether up to and including 14th August at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This light-hearted farce is brought to you by the brains behind the popular Tartan Tabletop: A Dungeons & Dragons Comedy live shows and podcasts.
One of the first things to hit home, due to the size of the stage the show is played upon, is that this is going to be an intimate hour and a challenge for the performers in terms of how to use that amount of space to drive the actions and intentions laid within the dramatic beats of the piece. Add to that a huge golden throne adorning the centre of the stage and suddenly they have to work even harder. It’s a challenge that the cast and creative team overcome with skill and resilience and it certainly doesn’t stop the piece from having the comedic impact it aims for.
We are greeted by the bouyant Olc, who is played with demonic and dastardly glee by the excellent Tom Whiston. He acts as the fourth-wall-busting narrator-cum-every-other-role required in the show that has any lines, and he playfully breaks character to keep us on side and on track with the unfolding tale of Amadan and Mortair. He has boundless energy and is also performing a solo show at the Fringe, Night Mail.
Abi Price also impresses from the off with her pugnacious and pompous King Reggie. She has the task of delivering a lot of the writers, Bathe and Aitken’s, more flowery and verbose dialogue and she excels at wringing every beat and syllable out of it with clarity, spontaneity and a cheeky glint in her eye. She will be appearing in Nosejob, which opens on 17th August.
Niall Curran takes up his post as the dim-witted and naive Amadan. Cousin to Mortair and right-hand man to the right-hand man. Having seen and heard the highly creative and confident Curran perform in the Tartan Tabletop productions, this kind of role seems to be his happy place: causing maximum chaos but accepting zero responsibility due to his characters often being deeply flawed, either mentally or morally, sometimes both. He’s naturally funny and nails the needs of this character with ease.
Finally, co-writer, Alex Bathe himself appears as the stoic and serious Mortair. The King’s arm, nose, tongue and probably a few other things too by the sound of it. Ultimately, it is his actions that drive the story forward, leading the tall tale to have us reflect on the pitfalls of his ambition to be king, the consequences and a little twist in the tale at the end. Imagine if Weekend at Bernie’s met Blackadder and you will land in the right tonal territory for the piece.
Writers Alex Bathe and Josh Aitken have created an endearing and high-energy show. It’s a wacky medieval farce that tickles the funny bone throughout and showcases the excellent storytelling and character performance skills that are frequently on display in the Tartan Tabletop universe.
