The Invocation – The King’s Arms

In one of the most suited theatres for such a performance, the King’s Arms welcomes “The Invocation”, a bizarre twilight zone-esque evening by Casino Improv, an Improv troupe from Wigan as part of Greater Manchester Fringe.

As the audience settled into their seats, the cast, clad in black clothing and red capes, began engaging with the audience in a ceremonial fashion as they asked for “requests” that could be improvised into a horror story. The requests chosen were randomly selected via an iPad and then the stories began!

The evening then essentially became the presentation of a bunch of improvised horror stories in a hilarious “off the cuff” style by the comedy quintet. Eerie music and various sounds to accompany stories were used throughout. There is no denying the talent on stage and the utter randomness of the developing stories. The cast clearly know each other very well and the stories were a testament to this. At times they could be seen making each other laugh at the bizarre, craziness of the stories. At this performance we learned of a blood thirsty “Famous Five” and a Dinner Lady who ate “kidz” (with a z!) to name a couple.

The entire evening was much funnier than it was horrific, perhaps making the audience realise that horror can actually be very amusing indeed. Much laughter from the audience and even a heckler – who was positively engaged with by the cast and ended up on stage towards the end-all added to the improv energy that never faltered. The cast were literally able to deal with anything thrown at them.

Stage set was appropriately simple but perhaps a few more props may have created a better visual other than the candles and the Invocation board that the stories were selected from. There is no denying the humour in the tales, but it may have been interesting to include a different dynamic, in keeping with the theme of horror on stage, other than relaying story after story.

Invocation is on for one night only at The Kings Arms Theatre but do look out for more performances as there are many planned in the future at other venues.

If you want horror, humour and utter craziness and furthermore that you are brave enough to bring a friend, do tell them they are in for a surreal night of rather amusing horror stories!

Reviewer: Angela Kelly
Reviewed: 26th July 2025
North West End UK Rating: