Fringe 25: Hole!

Rating: ★★★★★

I went into this year’s Fringe feeling pretty cynical. Too many people and too many shows, most of which were starting to sound the same. However, amongst the sea of flyers and posters, I was drawn in by the raunchy and ridiculous premise of Hole! - and left with a renewed love for this festival, and humanity.

Utterly original and relentlessly hilarious, Hole! provides 70 minutes of comedic and storytelling genius. It’s a musical that follows the highs and lows of a religious sect in Nebraska devoted to their leader Garth, who correctly predicts that they must wear butt plugs at all times or else be sucked ass-first to burn on the face of the sun. After ordering 8,000 wooden butt plugs online, Garth successfully protects his congregation from ‘The Great Sucking’ until they are the last people left on Earth (or so they think). However, everything changes when Garth’s rebellious son Luke and his best friend Conor embark on an adventure across state lines and discover life beyond the bubble they were born into. 

Hole! is truly a masterclass in writing and pacing - unpredictable, exciting, and somehow believable with layers of detail and satisfying callbacks throughout. While it may be a musical comedy set in a post-apocalyptic world where everyone must wear butt plugs at all times, it’s also a profound story about queer liberation, the dangers of religious dogmatism, and the meaning of life.

It’s hard to believe a production of this imaginative scale is carried by only two people, Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, who convincingly embody every character, while conjuring up this ambitious world with nothing but a keyboard, a table of inanimate objects, and heaps of talent. There could easily be a forty-strong cast, twenty elaborate sets and a live orchestra, yet this is entirely unnecessary when these two are together. 

The songs are lyrically sharp and undeniably catchy, accompanied by Jake on the keys who skilfully creates a rollercoaster of emotion and tension throughout. Sound effects are ingeniously provided by Nadja through the use of live foley, which includes a vibrator, celery sticks, and tap shoes (to name a few). All of this is effortlessly executed whilst singing, acting, and narrating with incredible flair and wit.  

I suspect that watching Hole! is what it must have felt like to see Fleabag when it was first at the Fringe. You instinctively know that this is about to become big and feel so lucky you got to be there first. I’ve seen it twice now, and both times the audience erupted into an immediate standing ovation, with crowds of new fans eagerly waiting to meet the duo growing larger each time.

So do yourself a favour and see Hole! now before it becomes a cult classic. And if you were like me, cynical and tired of the fringe, I urge you to open up your heart to Hole! - it’s what this festival was made for. 

Hole! is an American Sing Song (A.S.S) production, showing every night at 8:20pm, at Underbelly, Cowgate.