Take a character from an esteemed, world famous literary tradition, and make them do something oddly intimate on stage – in this case, take a full bubble bath. It’s a tried and tested Fringe tradition, and for good reason – the effect of seeing something so intimate so close up is jarring, intense and compelling.

Galahad Takes a Bath is a new play produced by Juggler’s Mistake and written by Jojo Jones. Galahad, the purest knight of the Round Table, and the only one destined to find the Holy Grail, appears before us at a lectern, taking questions from an imagined audience about his unique task, how he copes with the demands of perfection and throw-away gossip about the other, much less heavily tested knights of Camelot. He expects the audience to disperse once he makes it clear he needs to wash – and when they don’t, he is forced to expose himself more than planned, both physically and emotionally.

Forest Malley, who plays the title role, gives absolutely all of himself on stage. He plays Galahad with a strongly neurotic, people-pleasing edge – managing to stay on top of his emotions and swirling inner thoughts in the beginning of the show, slowly descending into greater discomfort as he bathes in front of a room full of strangers. Both writer and actor hail from New York, and there is a definite East Coast comedy vein to the writing.

The intimacy of the staging allows for greater examination of a character than can feel distant and hard-to-warm to in a modern setting, and the show handles this especially well when Galahad talks about his relationship with his father, the valiant but fatally flawed Lancelot. A retelling of the tale of the Green Knight at the close of the show also works extremely well, taking on a haunting atmosphere as Galahad recounts the story by lantern light.

Sadly, despite Malley’s unquestionable commitment and vulnerability, there are moments where the comedy of the writing feels a little forced, and times where the set-up of the imagined audience asking questions starts to wear a little thin. But Galahad Takes a Bath ends strongly, on one of Malley’s most unhinged moments – and despite slightly over-stretched writing, the experience of being in such an odd room is definitely worth having.

Galahad Takes a Bath is at ZOO Southside – Studio until Sun 25 Aug 2024 at 16:00