Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Nuns!
Dog Complex Theatre
Genre: Comedy, Physical Theatre, Theatre
Venue: Assembly George Square
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
We’re in medieval Bavaria, back in the time when nuns were keen to be seen as holiest of the holy, forsaking sin and naughty desires but retaining just zat teenzy weenzy bit of curiosity about what a certain monk might be concealing beneath his robes. A zany, wacky, crazy hour of comedic physical theatre.
Review
We’re in medieval Bavaria, back in the time when nuns like the pious Gertrude were, well, keen to be seen as holiest of the holy, forsaking sin and naughty desires but retaining just zat teenzy weenzy bit of curiosity about what Monk Bertram might be concealing beneath his robes.
But when word reaches the nunnery that witches are on the loose, Gertrude puts such curious notions on the backburner to team up with Yarrow, a mysterious passing witch-hunter, in a bid to rid the world of devilry and its attendant evils. Oh, and banishing any lustful yearnings.
Dog Complex Theatre’s Nuns! starts out at about 90mph and gets faster as the show develops. Writer/performers Hebe Bartlett, Hannah Rogerson and Lili Herbert teamed up with Zachery Hunt (from Police Cops) to create/produce this zany, wacky, crazy hour of comedic physical theatre, with a few songs, dances and bits of cleverly executed magic thrown in to keep the pot boiling and the audience in perpetual stitches.
The plot is pretty incidental to what’s happening on stage, but that’s what makes this such a joyously uplifting hour of fun and frivolity. And with this amount of unfolding chaos, things are bound to go wrong, which only adds to the fun as this talented trio scramble around on stage “improv-ing” madly as they steer the show back on track. Or try to.
Frequent and frenetic costume changes add to the general sense of stage pandemonium in a performance that’s obviously been very tightly choreographed and meticulously planned and rehearsed, but looks and feels completely spontaneous. Props are many and varied and just add to the sense of silliness unfolding on stage. Music, sound and lighting are right on point too, essential given the frequent and fast paced segues.
Hebe Bartlett (Gertrude, plus a few other bits), Hannah Rogerson (principally Yarrow and the dashing Monk Bertram) and Lili Herbert (alternating with some dexterity between Mother Superior and the lecherous Bishop Carmichael) are uniformly superb in their respective roles, sustaining a vibrancy and energy that captured and held the packed audience’s attention from the word go. It’s full on commedia dell’arte with the silly-o-meter turned up to warp factor 11 pretty much throughout the performance.
Eventually, order (or something approximating to it) is restored as the witches’ secret hiding place turns out to be in a surprisingly familiar location, Gertrude opts for the lure of Monk Bertram’s hidden bits and the Mother Superior breathes a sigh of relief that the dangers of devilry have been dealt with. And that everyone will live happily thereafter.
Zany, wacky, 100% pure bonkers, and all the better for it. If you want an hour where you can just laugh yourself silly, then this is most definitely for you. But get on and book it, as these guys are selling out pretty much every night. Highly recommended.
