Brief
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Photograph: Mihaela Bodlovic View image in fullscreen Particularly precious puns … Crybabies Ed Jones and James Gault in The Scaring. Photograph: Mihaela Bodlovic Edinburgh festival 2026 Review Crybabies: The Scaring review – chills and laughs abound in twisty tale of demonic possession Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh This fantastic comic play from the Radio 4 trio unleashes a torrent of great gags and illusions Brian Logan Thu 20 Aug 2026 21.00 CEST Last modified on Thu 20 Aug 2026 21.01 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google H orror pastiche has a proud lineage at this festival – for example Garth Marenghi , and Andrew Doherty’s hit Gay Witch Sex Cult two summers ago. In that company, Crybabies ’ The Scaring can stand as tall as the demon Haeldrrun towering over its finale: it’s another fantastic comic play from the Radio 4 trio of Michael Clarke, James Gault and Ed Jones with chills as well as laughs, and production values rarely seen on the fringe. A tale of demonic possession and a disillusioned priest, set in a guesthouse that makes the Overlook in The Shining seem five-star by comparison, it’s as tightly packed with smart gags as a hotelier’s cellar with the corpses of slaughtered guests. The plotting, too, is twistier than Regan’s neck in The Exorcist , a moment referenced in one creepy/comical scene here featuring a haunted dolly. It begins with two priests exorcising a beast from another dimension. But the beast wins, leaving our hero Father Arthur bereft of his partner, and his calling. And so (cue non sequitur second scene) he must take up work in the immersive stag-do industry – at least until summoned to the Lyle Away hotel, where a reckoning with his traumatic past awaits …. View image in fullscreen Platinum-dense plot … Michael Clarke, left, with Jones and Gault in The Scaring. You get plenty of bangs (and shrieks) for your buck with what follows, as Crybabies squeeze escaped serial killers, a haunted boy with a bloodlust, a possessed bouncy ball, and an anti-woke spook into their platinum-dense plot. When parental bereavement is added to that mix, in a show not designed to bear that weight, one feels a twinge of unease. But they pull it off, as Gault issues that son’s oddly tender goodbye – and as the trio’s battery of big-yield visual and verbal gags (including some particularly precious puns) keep emotional significance at arm’s length. Making Love with David Magidoff review – instant improv musical based on Fran Healy’s teenage infidelity Read more Among those, the hotel guest/ghost forever “fading away” into another realm is a keeper, as is the brilliant Two Ronnies-alike conversation between Arthur, his hotelier and a spectre that only one of them can perceive. Add to this accomplished illusions and corny-but-effective jump scares, and you’ll feel spoiled by a spooky show riffing ridiculously on revenants, and the difficulty of letting them go. At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 30 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews Explore more on these topics Edinburgh festival 2026 Edinburgh festival Comedy (Stage) Radio 4 Theatre Comedy (Culture) Horror books reviews Share Reuse this content Most viewed Most viewed Books Music TV & radio Art & design Film Games Classical Stage News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning Sign up for our email About us Help Complaints & corrections Contact us Tip us off SecureDrop Privacy policy Cookie policy Tax strategy Terms & conditions All topics All writers Newsletters Digital newspaper archive Bluesky Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Threads TikTok YouTube Advertise with us Search UK jobs Tips Accessibility settings Work with us Back to top © 2026 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)
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