“A technical marvel […] harmless fun”
This is part of a series of shorter reviews from Edinburgh Fringe, August 2026.
When Pastor Garth has visions of a “Great Sucking”, he encourages his congregation that, in order to survive the forthcoming reckoning, they must all wear butt plugs. Yes, this is the concept of an actual musical that returns to Edinburgh after playing in London last month. The entire show is performed by two actors (Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonhard-Hooper), who take on multiple roles throughout, whilst also performing all the music live – Brasch on various keyboards and Leonhard-Hooper using a whole variety of household objects in what is quite an impressive piece of kit. It is, at times, like watching one of those old-fashioned radio shows where all the sound effects were made on the go. It is a technical marvel.
One might expect the show to offer a commentary on the power of indoctrination, and how easy it is to get people to blindly believe something without any truth. Indeed, that is what happens to begin with, as members of Garth’s congregation insert their butt plugs with pride. But when the “Great Sucking” actually happens and the majority of Earth’s population is sucked into the air butt-first, it seems that Garth is some sort of messiah after all, and from there, the show instead shifts focus to become a burgeoning love story between Garth’s son Luke and his best friend Connor.
It turns out that Garth’s congregation are not the only survivors of this “Great Sucking” – there are also a group of men known as the Cincinnati Daddies who were wearing butt plugs at the time of the rapture for… other reasons. Luke and Connor are tasked with infiltrating this gang by pretending to be gay – roles that are not too difficult for them, it turns out. It is all harmless fun, with a few funny gags thrown in there, although there are only so many ways to sing about butt plugs before it all starts to get a bit tedious. This is a perfect vehicle for Brasch and Leonhard-Hooper to demonstrate their incredible talents, and it provides some late-night laughs for those wanting something a bit different from stand-up comedy, but at almost an hour-and-a-half, one cannot help but feel the joke wears a bit thin as the plot becomes ever more outlandish.
Tom Morley, August 2026
“Hole!” plays at 9:30pm at Cowbarn, Underbelly, Bristo Square until 30th August.
Broken Legs Blog 