Show reviewed: 06/03/26

Show rating: A blazing 4 stars!

James Rowland: Team Viking is an internationally critically acclaimed and exciting entry to the Adelaide Fringe in 2026. It is a storytelling experience that very much reminds one to live while alive and that it’s the people you have that really matter in your life in the end. James Rowland is an adept bard, he can spin a compelling yarn and is someone you can tell is the guy with the “No Sh*t there I was…” stories over a pint during happy hour.

The show’s narrative structure actually reminds me of the Viking epic telling tradition where James tells us about his tight friendship growing up with Tom (the trickster) and Sarah (the capable one.) Team Viking’s narrative is mirrored in the Viking sagas (Norse myths) that are essentially the travel diaries of Thor and Loki journey to other-worlds and complete almost Herculean labours that highlight the contrast between Thor’s strength and Loki’s cunning.

The show is full of direct and indirect references to the Norse from filing The Vikings (1958), to mythology such as invoking the ravens of Odin (Huginn and Muninn) and a direct invocation to the gods to bless the show such as the case when attending a blot. You don’t need to know about any one these things but it is a nice touch for those of us that enjoy these sorts of attention to detail.

The threesome of Sarah, Tom and James create all sorts of mischief until Tom is diagnosed with a devastatingly rare cancer that is a death sentence with no reprieve. What follows is a master class in how to steal a corpse and blow up a boat in the most spectacularly Viking fashion. Is this story entirely true? I’m not sure that it matters if a good story is 100% factually accurate, however it does contain deeper moral truths and so I was willing to suspend reality for an hour of how James gave his friend a send of to remember.

Season has ended.