DEREK MITCHELL: GOBLIN
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
★★★★
“a performer in such complete control of his character that he improvises and embellishes his act with ease”
Derek Mitchell: Goblin, a one-man show performed by actor Derek Mitchell with Impatient Productions, kicks off as a vivid 2000s period piece, replete with heavy eyeliner, wristbands, O.G Queer Eye and overt homophobia. Eliot is a 15 year-old emo kid, bullied, earnest and anxious to be loved – a wish that will set him on a dark path under the manipulative influence of Max, a British Reality TV star and controlling older man.
Not only is the show laugh-out-loud funny despite its darker themes of grooming and coercion, Mitchell’s performance is so incredibly controlled and maintained: he embodies the giggling, cringing teenaged Eliot even when he improvises with audience interaction. And there is a lot of interaction with the audience- we are Eliot’s ‘Goblin’, an imaginary creature from whom he seeks confidence and counsel. He entrusts us with his precious belongings and looks to us for advice when he is tempted by a Christian camp counsellor with a penchant for poppers and teenaged campers. It’s a great moment that makes the audience feel that their intervention can help steer Eliot away from harm, which makes the show’s subsequent series of events even more tragic.
The other area where Mitchell really excels are physically comedic moments, from feigning a long, asparagus-fuelled piss to deep throating a cucumber with look of such distorted exertion you feel you have to look away. These moments are helped by well chosen and well timed sound effects that fit into the act seamlessly, including the menacing voice of Max who manipulates Eliot into moving with him to Florida, discovering the equally noxious pastimes of fitness influencing and smoking meth.
There is significant character shift that Eliot, now going by ‘Elio’, undergoes in the second half of the show, where, as joint proprietor of a spin shop, he sheds his former eager-to-please naivete and becomes a waxy, bitter 30-something with a ballooning, infected Brazilian butt lift (impressively rendered by an air pump). Mitchell leans even further into the tragedy of the character, with missed calls for redemption in encounters with former friends and an expression of deranged emotional exhaustion from the now smudged eyeliner of Eliot’s youth.
There are plenty of pithy observations about the vapidity of fitness influencers, miserable walks on Brighton beach, and being under house arrest – Eliot becomes a shallower character, and perhaps less compelling, but Mitchell isn’t interested in straightforward resolution or a fairytale ending. This can make the end of the show feel a little abrupt or unfinished, but it’s also a sign that Mitchell is bringing to the surface the dark undercurrent that has run through all of the show’s moments of crude humour and the younger Eliot’s more endearing character traits.
Overall, this is a flawlessly constructed show, and a performer in such complete control of his character that he improvises and embellishes his act with ease. Just don’t let the nostalgia and the teenaged hijinks mislead you- this is a dark, bleak story of innocence exploited and an audience helpless to intervene.
DEREK MITCHELL: GOBLIN
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Reviewed on 15th August 2025 at Former Gents Locker Room at Summerhall
by Emily Lipscombe
Photography by Dylan Woodley
