{"id":1137888,"date":"2026-08-08T13:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1137888\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:42:15","slug":"edinburgh-fringe-2026-a-ghost-among-the-living-pleasance-queen-dome-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1137888\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Fringe 2026: A Ghost Among the Living &#8211; Pleasance Queen Dome, Edinburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Writers: Antonia Christophers, Noel Byrne and Mark Collier<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Director: Mark Collier<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Edgar Allan Poe\u2019s tales of gothic horror get a superbly crafted showcase in this new production by Fringe regulars Box Tale Soup. The show features four stories, within the framework of a lecture given by a scholar \u2013 an expert on Poe\u2019s works, who has his own dark secret threatening to overwhelm him.<\/p>\n<p>Poe\u2019s strange life (and death) and his shocking themes of murder, delusion and madness are a perfect subject for Box Tale Soup\u2019s signature mash-up of theatre and puppetry. The impassive faces of the masks, and the unsettling way in which puppets can (in hands as skilled as these) engage our emotions as if they were flesh and blood, just add to the otherworldly vibes. As we are drawn in as witnesses to these macabre events, the suspense is accentuated by a gripping original score by Dan Melrose.<\/p>\n<p>Noel Byrne plays the scholar and various protagonists in the stories: haunted, amoral and vengeful characters whose motives are often unclear. For the tormented scholar, \u2018conscience is no quiet companion\u2019, and his gradual unravelling is compelling, with a shadowy presence (Antonia Christophers as the \u2018saintly soul\u2019 and an ominous bird) pulling at the threads of his sanity. Both actors animate the handcrafted puppets (apart from one that seems to have a life of its own) and the choreography of scene-changes is elegant and precisely synchronised.<\/p>\n<p>The piece was specially commissioned by the Clark Memorial Library at UCLA, and like their scholar, the Box Tale Soup company have immersed themselves in the library\u2019s collection of Poe\u2019s works and archives. Their understanding of their subject shines through this adaptation, and it proves a perfect introduction to Poe\u2019s dark and troubling world. Follow them into the catacombs \u2013 if you dare\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Runs until 31 August 2026 | Image: Contributed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tThe Reviews Hub Star Rating<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t100%<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tGripping Gothic Horror<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writers: Antonia Christophers, Noel Byrne and Mark Collier Director: Mark Collier Edgar Allan Poe\u2019s tales of gothic horror&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1137889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8816],"tags":[309361,309362,309363,748,309364,1102,31356,56777,307142,4884,295255,309365,309366,6080,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-1137888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edinburgh","tag-a-ghost-among-the-living","tag-antonia-christophers","tag-box-tale-soup","tag-britain","tag-dan-melrose","tag-edinburgh","tag-edinburgh-festival-fringe","tag-edinburgh-fringe","tag-fringe-2026","tag-great-britain","tag-mark-collier","tag-noel-byrne","tag-pleasance-queen-dome","tag-review","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117060183674084599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1137889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}