Hole! – Gilded Balloon ★★★★★

The Edinburgh Fringe has always operated on a simple principle: absolutely anything can become art. A dictator can become a tap dance. A kitchen sink can become a metaphor for late capitalism. Somewhere, right now, somebody is probably developing a one-person musical about garden furniture. Yet even by Fringe standards, a musical about a cult that believes keeping a butt plug inserted will prevent the apocalypse sounds like the sort of idea that should collapse under the weight of its own punchline. Instead, Hole! pulls off the impossible. It takes one of the most ridiculous premises imaginable and transforms it into something hilariously funny, technically dazzling and unexpectedly moving. If that sounds unlikely, that’s because it is. The secret lies in the artistry of Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonhard-Hooper. It would be easy to describe them as performers, but that barely covers what they achieve here. Throughout the evening they operate simultaneously as musicians, lyricists, foley…