The Ritual – The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh
As Part of the Edinburgh Horror Festival, at The Banshee Labyrinth just off Edinburgh’s ghostly Royal Mile, The Ritual draws a sell-out, expectant audience to the fifty-seater underground vault that is The Chamber Room. Talking to the queue beforehand, I find one acolyte who is back to see the show for the 13th time, who swears that the first viewing changed her life.
By the end of a very quick hour, I can see why this classic double act, Steffens Hanes as ‘The Master’ and Gregory Lass as his stumbling, crouching, fawning servant ‘Gregor’, are in the process of assembling an almost cult-like following. They are just brilliant.
Good Clowning requires not acting but reacting. Hanes, half Norwegian, half Danish and a graduate of the Paris Clown Academy knows this and uses it to its utm...