15 August 2026
There are some Fringe ideas that sound so completely bonkers that you can’t help but be intrigued. Mythos: Ragnarök is one of them: the Norse legends of gods, giants, betrayal and the end of the world, retold as a smack-down wrestling match for championship belts rather than kingdoms. It sounds like the sort of idea that should collapse under the weight of its own ridiculousness. Instead, it absolutely flies.
This is camp, berserk, exhilarating theatre that embraces the sheer absurdity of its premise and turns it into something genuinely thrilling. There are gods throwing punches, bodies crashing to the floor and enough theatrical swagger to make Valhalla feel like the world’s most extravagant wrestling arena. It is funny without ever becoming a parody of itself, and spectacular without losing sight of the story underneath.
Ed Gamester, who created the show and stars as Loki, is the undeniable star. He has exactly the right combination of theatricality, muscular physicality and mischievous charisma for the role. Loki is slippery, flamboyant and dangerous, and Gamester – who played Odin for the first 150 shows – seems to be having an enormous amount of fun inhabiting him. He gives the whole production its anarchic energy.
This is very much a wrestling show in which the women get to do as much of the wrestling as the men. They throw just as many punches, take just as many hits and occupy the stage with the same ferocious physicality as the men. There is certainly no sense of them being ornamental additions to the saga.
It is also a remarkably big production. The lighting is fantastic, transforming the space into something halfway between an arena, a mythological battlefield and a rave nightclub. The wrestling floor itself is microphoned beneath, so every slam, crash and body hitting the canvas lands with a deeply satisfying resonance.
It shouldn’t work. Norse mythology as professional wrestling sounds like an idea conceived at three in the morning after several drinks or some dodgy self rolled cigarettes. But somehow, magnificently, it does.
Mythos: Ragnarök is ridiculous, raucous, camp, funny and genuinely exciting. The perfect late night Fringe hit.
