Merging the real world with the realms of the world wide web, R/Conspiracy – written and performed by Ella Hällgren, directed by Emma Ruse – sees Alex, a young girl in her twenties become fascinated by a thread on Reddit suggesting a man with machete has been spotted in the local area. Clearly distracting herself from problems in her life, she becomes obsessed with investigating the so-called ‘machete man’ leading her further and further into the online mystery.
Hällgren, who plays Alex, has a lovely brightness to her performance. It is clear to the audience that she’s really enjoying being on stage and speaking the words she has written. However, R/Conspiracy suffers from a big issue in regard to pacing. There is a lot of rise and fall in the piece’s energy levels, so much so that the audiences don’t get a lot of time to take in the story. Hällgren rushes through some moments before slowing down briefly and then rushing again. There were a few times within the piece that these slower moments felt very conclusionary, as if the play was reaching its end but, instead, it kept going. In addition, there were times when the story and voiceover sounds felt very repetitive. This made it difficult to engage with the performance fully. Despite this, Hällgren still gave good performance and gave her all during high energy moments.
The technical elements of R/Conspiracy were enjoyable. The light changes were subtle, never distracting from the action on stage, but added nice bursts of colour throughout. There were also various soundscapes used throughout which again, were never distracting although, as mentioned, some use of sound could be repetitive.
Director, Emma Ruse, made good use of the space on stage. Hällgren moved around effectively, leaving no area untouched. The use of rostra to climb on and jump off was a nice touch, creating levels and physical action.
Overall, R/Conspiracy is an interesting concept but, unfortunately, the script often falls flat. The audience is taken out of the story too often, so the show loses the impact it is trying to create.
R/Conspiracy runs until August 24th at Gilded Balloon Appleton Tower (Ruby) and tickets are available at https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/r-conspiracy
Reviewer: Dylan Mooney
Reviewed: 7th August 2025
North West End UK Rating: