Review: Team Viking | Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026

James Rowland's solo theatre show Team Viking is at the Pleasance Courtyard, at Edinburgh Festival Fringe through August 2026. Read my review here.

James Roland, Team Viking

Team Viking ★★★★☆

Review: 5 August 2026 | Edinburgh Fringe, Pleasance Courtyard

Ten years since its 2016 Edinburgh premiere, James Rowland brings his solo show Team Viking back to the festival. In the intervening years, Rowland has toured Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe's hit Every Brilliant Thing, as well as his own Songs of the Heart trilogy. With a reputation for presenting shows that combine easygoing storytelling with minimal staging, Rowland now returns to the Fringe with his debut, breakout show: a "true story" about his childhood friends.

Team Viking is the tale of three friends - James, Tom and Sarah - who bond as young kids over their love of the Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis film The Vikings (1958). When some years later, a twenty-something Tom is diagnosed with fast-moving terminal cancer, he asks his friends to do one final thing for him: to give him a Viking funeral.

What follows is a heartfelt, darkly funny tale of best friends who grow up, live, love and lose, and who find themselves doing unimaginable acts, such as stealing a corpse and a boat, to honour their best friend's dying wish.

Knowing how a story ends doesn't mean that there's no value in its telling...

...says Rowland, and I heartily agree.

Team Viking is one such rich story that I could listen to time and time again, especially when told with such passion and charm as it is here by the very likeable James Rowland. With no more than a microphone, a sound pedal, a Viking helmet and a skoosh of Lynx Africa to set the scene, Rowland (with direction from Daniel Goldman) presents his story in a beautifully relaxed yet engaging manner, even taking the time to personally greet and build rapport with the audience before the performance begins.

His bittersweet memoir is packed with gems of wisdom and bitingly funny quips. Unusually for Edinburgh Fringe, this show is neither 'stand-up comedy' nor a comedy play. James Rowland's Team Viking is pure storytelling. It feels less like a piece of theatre and more like a sit-down with an excitable, chatty pal who is telling you a wild, and wildly entertaining story. It does become a little frantic at times as Rowland races through the fast-paced narrative, but it's wonderfully warm and nostalgic.

Team Viking, like all good stories, blends a finely balanced mix of hilarious highs with devastating lows. There is plenty of gallows - or in this case, grief - humour in the telling of this tale. We all cope in different ways, and James Rowland copes by saying the highly inappropriate and absurd things out loud.

A moving, raw, yet uplifting piece of theatre, Team Viking should only become stronger as the Fringe ramps up and the room fills with more audience members and more atmosphere for Rowland to bounce off. At the end of the show, the audience is left to decide for themselves how much of James's story they believe to be true. Personally, I'm all in, but it's an entertaining ride either way. ★★★★☆

James Rowland's Team Viking is at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, at Pleasance Courtyard (Beside) from Wednesday 5 to Monday 31 August 2026.

Running time: 65 mins | Age Recommendation 14 +

MORE: Find more news and reviews from Edinburgh Fringe here: https://www.lisainthetheatre.com/edinburgh-fringe

James Roland, Team Viking

About bringing Team Viking back for a 10th anniversary tour, James Rowland said:

“I’m thrilled to be bringing Team Viking to mark the 10th anniversary of its first run at the Edinburgh Fringe. It’s a show that has been beloved by audiences over hundreds of performances. It feels like the best offer of Art and Life that I can bring to people right now, and I’m so excited to meet this lovely thing again as a more practised and experienced artist.”