REVIEW: Sodom, The Quintessence of Debauchery, Nikita Matthews Production, EdFringe 2026 ★★

If you’ve ever walked down the Royal Mile in the early evening hours, you will have seen a gigantic golden penis flocked by actors in full Baroque costumes – the cast and crew of Sodom, the Quintessence of Debauchery, a truly ambitious and sloppy adaptation of the original 1673 Restoration farce once attributed to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.

The original Sodom is believed to be a satirical criticism of King Charles II and his hypocritical tolerance of Catholicism in England during its proscription. This adaptation takes a stab at a modern twist, featuring accompaniment by a live band and a fair few parodies of hit pop songs such as Milkshake by Kelis, reminiscent of an adult pantomime complete with dynamic choreography and larger than life performances.

The only thing that saved this production from its questionable direction was the cast and how committed they are to their craft. The production is studded with an all-star, gender-swapped cast: Ash KB as King Bolloxion is an absolute standout with their showstopping presence, bursting into a salacious rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables and showing off their incredible comedic timing as well as a soft tenderness towards the adorable Pockenello, played by Julia Bainbridge. 

Joey Price captures the audience from their first appearance as Queen Cuntigratia, while flanked by the ever-hilarious Sacha Marner and Howie Blow as Fuckadilla and Clytoris. Dale Wylde as the Virtuoso serves up incredible physical comedy at the merciless hands of Anna Gion’s General Buggeranthos, accompanied by a pram filled to the brim with dildos of all shapes and sizes.

Sodom boasts a wealth of well-constructed design choices, from its enormous phallic centrepiece with goats’ legs to the sheer amount of adult toys on stage, one of which was used in a simulated ejaculation scene. Which, despite the source material, really didn’t do much other than shock the audience for the first 10 minutes of the show. What does this show even want to do apart from sheer shock factor? You can’t claim that it’s a political satire when the focus of the piece is so clearly shifted for people to laugh at dick jokes.

A genderbent casting is always interesting to see as a subversion of the cisheteronormativity prominent in the industry, which is a real challenge when presented with adapting a drama deeply rooted in 17th-century androcentric beliefs. However, what would have been an intriguing concept wasn’t nearly highlighted or leaned into enough and it didn’t read as anything other than “oh look, a man in a dress”, which the audience did laugh at as they would a pantomime Dame. There was little further nuance, leading the piece to verge on misogyny, once the audience understood that the mistreated female characters were played by male-presenting actors. I wish this show wasn’t as heavily rooted in the male gaze as it was – attracting an audience that only wanted to see the obscene – especially with such a gender-diverse cast. 

Though potentially accredited to the disputed nature of the source material, the show felt unfinished with its abrupt ending, as Pockenello and Bolloxion are punished for their sodomy by the appearance of demons, fire and brimstone dragging the two to their presumed deaths in a wild, high stakes movement sequence. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on throughout due to the inaccessible language that could have easily been adapted, and the blatant refusal to part with the original script. 

Overall, I would have loved to see more consideration for pacing, especially in between acts as the narrative was unfortunately interrupted by the usage of unnecessary blackouts at every single scene change, which is lazy directing and quite severely interrupts the flow of the show. It would perhaps have been wiser to come up with more creative transitions between scenes to take advantage of the intimate nature of a fringe venue, without breaking the flow of the script.

Performances of Sodom, The Quintessence of Debauchery have now concluded at EdFringe 2026.