Mythos: Ragnarök – Royal Hall, Harrogate

Directed, written and produced by Ed Gamester

Norse mythology and wrestling – when you think about it, it’s a wonder that it hasn’t been done before really. Far more brutal than the Greeks, and far grittier than the Romans, if there was ever a batch of stories about gods that deserved the WWE treatment it’s this one.

A whirlwind whip through the timeline, Mythos: Ragnarök starts with the meeting of Loki (Ed Gamester) and Odin (Howard Drake), defying the prophecy that should fire meet ice the world will end. Together they defeat Odin’s father and form Asgard, then set about populating it with adopted children and monstrous offspring. The show plays a little fast and loose with the stories, but no one is really there for the plot. The audience are here to see people wrestle!

This wrestling is excellent. Big hits, big throws and big personalities hitting the stage to the sound of cheers and jeers and hollering from the audience. Each performer knows how to work the crowd and get them going. Tiny women throw massive men like they weigh nothing, and those same men don’t hold back regardless of the gender they are facing (Hel, played by Daisy Jenkins, and Thor, played by Miles Ley, are crowd favourites here, although every wrestler is on form for this performance). It’s an exciting atmosphere, adrenaline filled and electric. The hype is increased tenfold by excellent lighting from Dan Phillips, with lashings of backlit, smoky entrances and excellent use of runic gobos, and sound by Bear Phillips-Pearce pounding through the venue. The final fight set to music makes you wonder why all the fights don’t incorporate a musical element, so well do the rocky folk songs add to the intensity.

Wrestling aside, it’s not quite as successful as a piece of theatre, however. A few of the performers cannot project their voices well enough to be heard near the back of the Royal Hall, and a number of important scenes are invisible in the wrestling style lighting states, covered by smoke or too silhouetted by backlight to be as effective as they could be (Loki’s mourning of Hel is especially spoiled by this, just a small amount of front lighting would have helped). It may be that the venue is not right – Mythos: Ragnarök feels like a show that benefits from intimacy, and the way performers frequently upstage themselves seems to suggest that it requires more traditional wrestling arena or in the round seating close to the ring to fully appreciate. That said, when it is good it is excellent. Gamester’s Loki is captivating; he always has the audience in the palm of his hand. Lee Alderman’s Baldr is similarly engaging, and the choice to make him an unlikeable heel when mourning his death is a trigger of the apocalypse is an interesting one. The visual elements of the show are also a highlight. The dominating set and excellent costumes created by designer Melanie Watson blend wrestling backdrops and practical costume needs with the Norse mythological aesthetic wonderfully. The script is tight, and very funny, and the wrestling elements are incorporated perfectly to avoid feeling like a gimmick. It sounds like several of the performers are experienced wrestlers, but newer to acting, so it is to be hoped that another season of touring will train them well, and that in the right venue they will all really shine.

Mythos: Ragnarök is a fantastic spectacle, and the smiles on the audiences faces as they left this performance were huge. It’s thrilling to watch and the creatives behind it have clearly poured their heart and soul (and buckets of sweat) into bringing it to fruition. It’s growth from Edinburgh Fringe darling to touring places that haven’t hosted wrestling in a long time is inspiring for any grassroots theatre creator, and for that alone it’s one to support. It’s a heart pumping night out, and a great in road to wrestling for non-fans too.

Reviewed on 19 April 2026