Tartan Table Top in a Dungeons and Dragon’s Comedy: The Never-Ending Quest – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

Are you a fan of Dungeons and Dragons? Ever shown an interest in the game just never had a team to play with? Or just fancy a silly early evening show at the fringe that doesn’t require having to think too much? If so, this may just be the show for you.

Tartan Table Top in a Dungeons and Dragon’s Comedy: The never-Ending Quest brings the beloved role-playing game of Dungeons and Dragons to this year’s fringe, playing a fringe long game in which, you can either come for one sitting or join them for the whole journey every day of the fringe (excluding 16^th.)

Josh Aitken takes the role of Dungeon Master being incredibly likeable and witty, controlling the session and interacting the most with the audience. Our team of adventurers is made up of: Borogorn who is a character based off of 2 characters from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy with a comically “interesting” accent (played by Alex Bath), Undercover New York criminal parading as a gardener: Sam Wiseguy Gamgino (Niall Curran), A  Lego man with a tragic back story: Legoman Greenbrick (Mark O’Keeffe) and the ever changing character that is Noblin the Goblin (a guest star role, today played by Noah Matthews as a very Tory MP).

Join this group of adventurers as they navigate their way through a house as a group of tiny borrower like creatures to try and stop the human owner of their home from getting married to a clean and tidy woman, destroying their one and only food source: his mess. Can they discover and destroy the powerful ring of engagement in time? Well, you may not find out at the show, but you’ll see at least some of the journey.

Tartan aTble Top: The Never Ending Quest is a fun little show in an intimate space within The Gilded Balloon Patter house, a space that fits the style of the show perfectly. Whilst the set-up is very Comic-Con panel, it just serves to show how well this group of performers get along and how much fun they are having which then translates well to their audience. Each member of the team bounces off of one another and we see their dynamic as friends not just characters which I think is a fundamental part of D&D in its own right.

Whilst I enjoyed the show and its characters it is a shame that the game continues over the whole run, leaving no big boss climatic fight until I’m assuming the end of the run, for those staying at the fringe short term they really will miss out on the real rush of a battle run by dice, and the tension it builds. This being said the Tartan Table Top team are very social media driven and reassure that the journey will be updated daily on their socials so you can keep up to date. There is a very small amount of audience participation although it’s short lived, or at least it was in the performance I caught.

Overall, this is a very fun little show if you are a fan of D&D or curious about the game, it may be worth adding to your fringe To-Do lists.

Tartan Table Top in a Dungeons and Dragon’s Comedy: The Never-Ending Quest runs from 13^th– 27^th (excluding 16^th) at 17:40 at The Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose.

Buy Tickets at https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/tartan-tabletop-in-a-dungeons-dragons-comedy-the-never-ending-quest-ends-aug-27th

Reviewer: Beth Eltringham

Reviewed: 12th August 2023

North West End UK Rating: