Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Monks
Annie Luján and Veronica Hortigüela
Genre: Absurd Theatre, Clown, Devised, Physical Theatre, Theatre
Venue: Lime Studio at Greenside @ George Street
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Monks follows the silly, sacred journey of two medieval monks who are left alone without supervision and dream of doing “nothing” with a room full of people who have come to visit them after a long time.
Review
As I left the show, I overheard someone saying, “I haven’t done drugs, but if I did, this is what I guess it would be like.” I imagine many people would resonate with that sentiment. Monks starts with the audience entering a sacred space, ready to be taken to another world. The two brilliant performers, Annie Luján and Veronica Hortigüela, are top-notch – with a presence, skill and sense of joy that makes it clear how happy they are to finally have these guests in their space.
They start off with games that are introduced early and return throughout the show. They set up the room with props, audience interactions and rules that will pay off as the story goes on. And they declare their dream of sitting with us to “do nothing”. It’s all wonderfully done, in true devised theatre fashion. In the initial minutes, they depend a little too much on gags that may have worked previously, but once the rules of their world are established and the audience lets go of its need to analyse, they are at their playful best and the room moves together like an orchestra.
There are certain scenes that captivate us more than others, particularly the one with the storm and the one with the donkey. Luján and Hortigüela show us how skilful they are at transporting us to different worlds. They make sure that what’s lacking in narrative is made up for through sensory experiences and play. Some might say they experienced sensory overload as well, and I’d accept that as a fair criticism of the show.
As the show goes on, it keeps getting more and more absurd, and the audience is in for the ride. But it also gets more and more lost. Where are we going with this? Why are they doing what they’re doing? Is this a commentary on masculinity by two non-male performers? They did mention they wanted to sit and do nothing, but what is stopping them from doing that? There’s a sharp contrast between the performance and the writing in this show. The writing is fragmented and tends to leave the audience confused.
Towards the end of the show, they realise they need to finish in time and suddenly jump into an emotional scene. It comes out of nowhere. Suddenly the masks are off, we see the actors instead of the characters, and it seems that they’re in a rush to move us before their time is up. Whacky, absurd chaos suddenly gives way to a tender, soft moment that nobody is quite on board with. The transition is too quick and the feeling is forced onto the audience. Can they arrive at this moment more organically? Is this even a moment they need to land on? Is the show really about doing nothing, or is it about being together right now?
Excellent performances, brilliant set design and awe-inspiring embodied dramaturgy are sometimes marred by intellectual ideas that seem to be trying too hard to make an impact. The show is far more impactful without them. The world of Monks is unique and rare, and we’d love to stay in it for as long as possible.
