REVIEW: A Haunted House, David Hoskin, EdFringe (2026) ★★★★

Take caution, and try not to avert your eyes! You’re driving past a haunted mansion when you run into car trouble, and now you are at the mercy of the strange owner of a very strange home.

David Hoskin is a clown and mime, exploring memory in this piece of very physical theatre. It’s a wild and hilarious hour, playing with all your favourite campy horror monsters like werewolves, zombies, and vampires.

Things are not quite what they seem in this mansion, but they are delightfully macabre. As the host opens jars of memories, we meet visions of the past. Zombies do a dance number, a vampire stalks a priest, and there is a curious machine that seems to distort time.

It’s wildly fun to watch Hoskin inhabit the physicality of each new character, and marvel as he makes it all feel real onstage. As the short sketches get progressively darker, there is a scene wherein a creature begins to inhabit the body of Hoskin and it is truly unsettling to see the unnatural change to the body.

During the tour of the house given by the aging host, we encounter a jar labelled ‘grieving for a future never to come’. It is this jar that seems to be at fault for the slow warping of the narrative from that point on, culminating in a beautiful scene free of monsters where Hoskin imagines what life could have held if a relationship had never ended.

There is such care in the creation of A Haunted House, from the precise choreography to the intuitive comedic timings. Hoskin clearly knows his own strengths and has a great mastery of his craft.

Hoskin’s grief, which he explains inspired the show, feels like opening a sea urchin to reveal the tender inside. The performance is full of spikes and energy, and having this context gives the piece substance, although it is entirely entertaining already.

During several vignettes into the history of this spooky mansion, the narratives become progressively bizarre and complicated. The audience become both the environment and a character in their own right. You should come to this show excited to interact with it, and trust that it will be good to you.

Hoskin is an incredibly talented performer, endlessly charming and a connoisseur of the ridiculous. His wild imagination feels vital and alive, aided by clever lighting and a simple yet effective set; it’s a really delightful show.

I’d have liked to have seen a little more of this anxiety about future and memory throughout the narrative, to deepen the complexity of the theme, but A Haunted House is a fantastic show nonetheless.

Let David Hoskin guide you through his silly, scary world. It’s something to behold, just don’t lose your wit, and don’t fight your fate.

Recommended drink: Bloody Mary, it seems only right.

Performances of A Haunted House have now concluded at EdFringe 2026.