r/Conspiracy
★★★★☆ Believable conspiracy
Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower (Venue 140): Wed 30 July – Sun 24 Aug 2025
Review by Tom Ralphs
r/Conspiracy explores the allure of conspiracy theories and the addictiveness of Reddit. Ella Hällgren’s one woman show, which she also performs, has a full Fringe run at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower.
As Alex spends her time searching the site for interesting and distracting threads before stumbling across one about a man with a machete roaming her local park.
Ella Hällgren in r_Conspiracy. Pic: Julia König
Hällgren’s script shows a strong knowledge of both the people and topics found in the r/Conspiracy section of the Reddit platform. The thread is posted by a person with the username Hipnotic, spelt with an I and not a Y as Alex notes with curious fascination, whose user photo gives away nothing about their identity other than a possible fondness for the Muppets.
The picture they have posted about Machete man also offers up little or nothing that could be classed as strong evidence of his existence. But the power of suggestion and wilful suspension of disbelief – superbly captured in the script and Hällgren’s performance – draws Alex in at the expense of anything else she is meant to be doing with her time.
rabbit holes
Abbie Lowe’s technical design uses hypnotic music that is accompanied by the soothing voice of the Internet, provided by Rebecca Wilkie, and the purple string lights that are a prominent feature of Sandra Karolak’s set design to create the warm, comforting and seductive world of the internet. They create a mood that evokes how easy it is to fall down rabbit holes while searching for companionship or an escape from the parts of day to day life that you don’t want to deal with.
Ella Hällgren in r_Conspiracy. Pic: Julia König
Under the direction of Emma Ruse, assisted by Rebekah Smith, and with dramaturgy from Cara Watson and Hannah Low, Hällgren weaves a gentle story that draws you in and gets you just as engaged in solving the mystery as Alex is, even while you know that there is probably nothing to it other than a desire to believe that there is something other than mere coincidence between it and other events.
It’s a slow burner of a show that works at a constant pace, never rising to a point of no return or great tension, but equally never drifting into insignificance or lingering too long in any one area as the script and direction ensure the story remains engaging throughout.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower (Ruby), 11 Crichton Street Newington EH8 9LE (Venue 140).
Wednesday 30 July – Sunday 24 August 2025.
Daily (Not Tues 12 & 19): 3pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Book here on EdFest.com.*
Instagram: @r_conspiracy_play
*affiliate link.
ENDS
