Theatre Royal Plymouth in association with Bristol Old Vic have brought an unusual, and sold out, multi-media production to Edinburgh. Written by Malaika Kegode with music written and performed by Jakabol the narrative is somewhat labyrinthine, blending, as it does, folk horror, folk music, electronics, video, podcasting and storytelling.

On a badgeresque floor of the theatre sits a woman (Phoebe McIntosh) deeply engrossed in her work.  Behind her is a black pod which we soon find out contains two musicians who pepper the show with a mix of compositions and soundtrack, some of it endearingly experimental.  Macintosh starts the show by telling the audience that it is in a historical market town with a castle, ghosts and a Reiki Pet massage lady. She’s telling us of how in 2015 Ben, a folk musician, came to town and recorded a break up album in the woods – a bit like Bon Iver.

Taken in by an elderly lady Meles has a ghastly secret to tell and a song that must not be recorded or its listeners will die, a bit like in Japanese horror sensation Ring. Indeed, at one point the two musicians exit the booth and stand terrifyingly on stage just like the girl in Ring, all long hair draped around their visages.

What emerges is an overly complex multi-layered story about death, maybe paganism, certainly witchcraft, and badgers.

There are more badger references in this show than one would expect in the average folk horror production and these, in fact, become the theme of a wildly successful ‘viral’ podcast created by Meles, the disappointing daughter of a feted journalist. The successful episode features a recorded conversation between Meles, her mother and the old lady who took in Ben, who mysteriously disappeared. Maybe she killed him, unless she turned into a badger of her own accord, like Ben maybe did, or not. It’s quite hard to tell.

Most of the story is told as a narration and field recordings of Meles and the supporting cast.

There’s plenty of craft on show in this ambitious production, but the plot is tricky to follow and ultimately the show didn’t really hit the heights of true folk horror or anything that could be described as particularly unnerving. The performances are solid, the music interesting but the whole adds up to less than the sum of its parts.  A right curate’s egg.

Badgers is at Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre until Sun 30 Aug 2026