Musings of a Serial Dieter
Etcetera Theatre
Alison takes you down the rabbit hole of being a Serial Dieter. Enduring the purgatory of never being content, she explores the food confusion, stirring in a mixed medium of music and mayhem. Served with a fat dollop of humour.
My First Time
Etcetera Theatre
First time, first high, first heartbreak, FIRST ORGASM! This one woman dramedy takes the audience on an unhinged ride through life's firsts. Told through the manic lens of a girl in the throes of losing her virginity. But much like the journey to self acceptance, nothing is linear. Told tangent style, this outrageous comedy of errors (my errors), invites you to laugh, cry and cringe along with me, whilst reliving some of life's biggest and most embarrassing moments. Come lose my V-Plates with me!
PERICLES (kind of)
SHAKEFEST @Old Red Lion
PERICLES (kind of) is a rapid un-telling? re-telling? mis-telling? of Shakespeare’s stormy story. Traditionally, Pericles follows a wandering prince who flees an incestuous king. Survives storms and shipwrecks. Escapes assassins. Wins deadly jousts! Falls in and out of love several times. Endures another storm. Is bested by Pirates. All ending in a brothel? A tale of true virtue! Through centuries of adaptations this story has changed surprisingly little... for Pericles. In this new telling however, Pericles has his work cut out for him keeping the story on track when other characters decide to see how far they can push a musical adaptation. Part Operation Mincemeat, part The Play That Goes Wrong, part The Princess Bride, PERICLES (kind of) is a musical that entertains, delights & ultimately leaves the audience wondering: is that really how the story goes?
The Wall
The Libra Theatre Cafe
Marriage is a wall built in silence. Ethan is trapped in a ten-year marriage and escapes into an affair with Wendy, a florist, finding warmth and meaning outside his empty home. He lives between two worlds, inside and outside marriage. His wife, Zoe, already knows. She doesn’t confront him immediately, but quietly lives with the pain and decay of betrayal. When she finally speaks, it becomes a calm but cutting three-way confrontation. Zoe exposes the lies, dismantles the illusion of love, and forces everything into the open, revealing Ethan’s selfishness and breaking Wendy’s belief in their relationship. In the end, love collapses and truth is exposed. Marriage becomes a shared trap: break it and everything shatters; keep it and nothing changes.
Noblesse Oblige
The Courtyard Theatre
1. Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly. 2. (Figuratively) One must act in a fashion that conforms to one's position and privileges with which one has been born, bestowed and/or has earned. - [The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française.] The War plays on, and the Butler is late for breakfast. The rabid Baron vies for meat. The bleak Butcher stalks for rank. The Baroness dances, kicking, to quash, as her haunted Daughter carries the tune on her viola. And the Son, blinded by the fog, searches desperately for the last of any light left. Another day breaks, and high above the corpses of the forgotten splayed in ashen gutters, noble vermin feed upon what is rotten.
Eoghan and Paul
Rosemary Branch Theatre
What happens when it’s all said and done, and we’ve gone down our separate paths? One locked door separates a pair of twins. It can only be opened if both are willing to face one another. Will they make the brave sacrifice? Or will they continue the cycle. Eoghan & Paul explores fractured family relationships, addiction and the cost of emotional avoidance. It’s an intimate, confrontational, and emotional experience steeped in stasis and unresolved conflict.
Caravan Tea Party
Etcetera Theatre
Who the f*ck is Kerry Katona and what’s she got to do with my mum? From a Nicaraguan coffee shop, Sophie Lovell nosedives into the merry land of make-believe. Confronted with more facts than fiction, old wounds are revisited as she questions what it means to be Romany. Written by Lauren Derry, supported by Dan Allum of The Romany Theatre Company. This marks Lauren's writing debut after graduating with an MA in Professional Acting from Drama Studio London last July.
Waiting Room
Hen & Chickens Theatre
A Fringe debut from Superfluous Theatre follows three siblings; Alex, a thin-skinned optimistic actor, Jennifer a disgruntled and stressed architect, and Harvey, a charmingly oblivious labourer. Having spent many years drifting apart, the catalyst for their reunion is finding their father has collapsed from a heart attack. Through revelations, rebuttals and roastings, they must reckon with each other and their antics, as they wait around for answers, and reconnect in the waiting room.
NYRA
The Courtyard Theatre
A space mission is over. The return should be simple. As two women make their way back to Earth, something begins to feel off. Isolation draws something buried quietly back into the light. What begins as a journey home becomes a confrontation with something far more personal.
From the Ashes
The Libra Theatre Cafe
Dear The old me, I forgive you. From the Ashes is a gig-theatre show that centre's around Ellie, a young woman who is trying to recover from her grief by coaching her past self through her relationships and actions. Exploring the loss of a relative, a breakup and parting ways with a best friend 'From The Ashes' uses text and song to communicate the truth about losing your naivety.
Skaff
Bridewell Theatre
Three friends, one metal scaffold tower, and some Phatt Bass. The 90's. London. Free parties. You comin? We dance, fly, spin, flip, and fall creating a dynamic and electric show that leaves you thirsty for the dance floor. Exploring the themes of Freedom and Oppression, we grant the audience permission to be uplifted and energised. Taking inspiration from companies such as Motion House and Diablo, we tell our story through movement and physicality, using our bodies as instruments for freedom. One gentle reminder: Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
Tim Swanton: Bear The Load
Aces and Eights
So-called comedian Tim Swanton presents his breakout comedy special - a gut-busting appreciation of the struggles we all face in life, from love for Legoland to running over old ladies (with shopping trolleys). A show of stand-up comedy and theatre meshed together that looks at what it means not just to be a stand-up comedian, but a performer, and what happens when it's just not possible to bear the load any longer.
Threads of May
Etcetera Theatre
“I am a remarkable woman - always was, though none of you seemed to think so.” May Morris steps out from the shadow of her father William Morris in an actor-musician odyssey from Isabella Javor. THREADS OF MAY weaves together live music and storytelling to stitch together the intricate life of the woman who designed some of the most iconic Arts and Crafts patterns. The play traverses her journey from her bohemian childhood, stepping up to continue her father’s legacy managing the embroidery department of Morris & Co, to her later years falling in love with her gardener Mary Lobb. A blend of original music and feminist history, THREADS OF MAY is a vivid tapestry of legacy, politics, and hidden queer love.
PERICLES (kind of)
SHAKEFEST @Old Red Lion
PERICLES (kind of) is a rapid un-telling? re-telling? mis-telling? of Shakespeare’s stormy story. Traditionally, Pericles follows a wandering prince who flees an incestuous king. Survives storms and shipwrecks. Escapes assassins. Wins deadly jousts! Falls in and out of love several times. Endures another storm. Is bested by Pirates. All ending in a brothel? A tale of true virtue! Through centuries of adaptations this story has changed surprisingly little... for Pericles. In this new telling however, Pericles has his work cut out for him keeping the story on track when other characters decide to see how far they can push a musical adaptation. Part Operation Mincemeat, part The Play That Goes Wrong, part The Princess Bride, PERICLES (kind of) is a musical that entertains, delights & ultimately leaves the audience wondering: is that really how the story goes?
Quickening
Lion & Unicorn Theatre
Quickening is the narrative of three abortions - Lina and Josey find themselves in the same ward in 1972, a few years after the legalisation of abortion in the UK. In 2011, Lina’s daughter Darla faces a similar situation to her mother, putting a strain on their relationship and causing Lina to recall the emotional and social consequences of the abortion she had years before, as she struggles to adapt to Darla’s contemporary politics. Quickening is an incendiary piece of new theatre that interrogates one of society's most emotional debates, spanning decades to show the generational effects of social and individual change.
Motopia
The Cockpit
"Once upon a time, there was a forest, where the sun and the wind and the people ran through the trees with free abandon. Welcome to Motopia!" A new piece of writing, 'Motopia' is a musical choose-your-own adventure play where the choices of the protagonist are placed in the audience’s hands as they navigate their way through The Forest. Imagine the Fighting Fantasy books come to life, or as one audience member put it, “D&D the Musical.” Join Pip as they navigate increasingly complex choices, and the excitement, loss and responsibility that free-will (or lack thereof) brings, leading them to question "What do you do when you don't know what to do?" The world of Motopia is explored through a fairytale lens of childlike wonder, with a cast of five actor-musicians, original music and eccentric characters threaded throughout.
Jules O’Brian: Avoid Excessive Cleavage (and Other Advice to Ignore)
Camden Comedy Club
Now in her fifties, Jules O’Brian has become a magnet for advice she never asked for. What to wear. How to behave. How to age “gracefully”. And which inspirational quotes she should apparently be living by. She’s not having it. A former English teacher turned stand-up, Jules takes aim at the clichés, unsolicited opinions and well-meaning nonsense that seem to multiply the older you get. From strangers offering life advice to the constant pressure to shrink, behave and be grateful for it. Warm, sharp and very funny, this is a show about getting older, getting wiser, and deciding which bits of advice can get in the bin.
Plowman and Cummins are Plowman and Cummins
Rosemary Branch Theatre
Clown duo Plowman and Cummins present a surreal trip to the hairdressers. Expect bouncy blow-dries, falling over, mess, beauty, violence and classical singing. Using absurd visual comedy, physical theatre and splintered narrative, Plowman and Cummins herald a slapstick revival. The salon dissolves into moments of chaos, danger and silliness as objects, costumes and bodies morph in and out of reality. Part-clown part-performance art, ‘Plowman and Cummins are Plowman and Cummins’ is their debut hour-long comedy show, appearing at Brighton Fringe for the very first time. For fans of foolishness, laughing and the feeling you get when you watch someone run for the bus as it drives away.
Baby Got Back (Problems)
Camden People's Theatre
In 2023, Joe Leather was chasing his dreams of an Edinburgh Fringe debut, when...ping! A herniated disc! Some people survive shark attacks; Joe stretched too enthusiastically. Refusing to accept such a humble beginning, Joe rewrites history live onstage to find a 'back' story worthy of the painful consequences. Baby Got Back (Problems) is a musical comedy about ambition, bad timing and the absolute audacity of the human spine. It's a show for anyone who’s ever thought "this is going to be my year..." then had to lie down for a while. Offie-winner Joe Leather blends musical comedy, puppetry and genre-bending storytelling in a show about pain, performance and the desperate human need to turn random suffering into a good tale(bone).
Point Of No Return
Upstairs at the Gatehouse
Point of No Return is a taut thriller set in a dystopian future where the richest person on Earth’s predictions about climate events causing the end of human life are, day by day, proving to be true. As time draws nearer to the unthinkable reality of human extinction, they ready a previously prepared plan. But for it to work, they have to make a world-changing decision.
Milkshakes Milkshakes Milkshakes
The Courtyard Theatre
Three idiots open a milkshake stand with a revolutionary idea: human-flavoured milkshakes. It’s bold. It’s original. It’s a terrible plan. Try one—they’re bloody delicious. From interrogating a robber about his career choices, to being chased by vultures desperate for a sip, to sourcing ingredients in ways that raise serious ethical questions, their business spirals through one ridiculous situation after another. With surreal, sketch-show logic, mime, and high-energy physical comedy, nothing behaves as it should. This is a fast, chaotic ride through the rise and fall of a very bad idea. You laugh at them. You laugh with them. Mostly, you wonder how they’re still open. Created and performed by Paul Kelvin, Elsa Mills, and Gabriel Parker-Ellwood, this marks their debut as a company.
Your Melody – The Musical
The Water Rats
She was a teenage pop sensation living her dream. Then she had a very public breakdown. This new queer musical follows a fallen star rebuilding herself and healing her trauma through memory, music, and her first love who knew her before the world did. Original music by Windsor, U.K Composer Nisha Chand. Script by Malcom James Roding.
A story about love
Canal Cafe Theatre
Agnès is a relationship therapist. She is happy. She loves her partner. Then a stranger comes to dinner and she disappears inside her own head. A Story About Love is a solo performance about limerence: that consuming, irrational state of romantic fixation that bypasses reason entirely. Agnès knows exactly what is happening to her. She has the clinical framework. She cannot stop it. Intimate, physically dynamic: a story about a woman who learns, at last, to choose herself.
Metamorphosis
Circle and Star Theatre
A lifetime of invisible labour. This ferocious solo physical theatre adaptation reimagines Franz Kafka’s masterpiece through the lens of modern female burnout. Stripped of props, a single performer uses Berkoff-style expressionism to chart a corporate worker’s visceral transformation into a repellent insect. A disturbing nightmare about family exploitation and societal invisibility. This haunting adaptation examines the fragility of human relationships and the crushing weight of societal norms. An enthralling exploration of identity, transformation, and the darkness lurking beneath the surface of familial bonds.
One Man’s Land
Hen & Chickens Theatre
They say love thy neighbour, but what happens if they're a raging b*tch? Audiences are invited to find out in ‘One Man’s Land’, a darkly comic original one woman show by Josie Rose Embleton, where the violent worlds of war, politics, and conflict collide with the peace and serenity of the English countryside. Problem is, it’s hard to maintain peace when your house sits on an old historic battlefield where the skeletons of war seem to be raising from the dead. Next thing you know, bibles are being thrown through windows, cats and dogs are literally fighting like cats and dogs, but that’s nothing compared to their neighbouring owners. You might be wondering how this all began? Well, it was truly over just a little patch of grass in the garden. I guess people really are that petty. Director: Esther Fernández Guerra Assistant Director/ Sound Designer: Tara Jamora Oppen
Mega Church Xmas Play
The Libra Theatre Cafe
From Drag to Deuteronomy, this show has everything! Mega Church Xmas Play is a surreal, absurd, irreverent farce exploring the competitive side of the entertainment industry, organised religion and man buns. Devoted followers of Mega Church "Skylife" are preparing their annual Xmas play, but will ruthless ambition, ego and jealousy consume them? GOD wants this year's Xmas show to be the BIGGEST and BEST in the WORLD, putting senior pastor Cole Crampson under immense pressure. The hard working church members are competing for the lead roles, but will talented newcomers from rival Mega Church "EarthHeaven" take their place? Who will be crucified before curtain call?
Momma’s Got a Brand New Toy Kitchen
Aces and Eights
She's peopled her last please, now she's figuring out hey ‘why can’t she be desired’? Why can’t she be naughty? Why can’t she be made out of HDPE plastic? Her exterior’s hard plastic but inside she's stagnant air from 1991. Bex can’t hide behind a toy kitchen mask anymore... she's 5ft8. A fragile woman made entity! Whose masquerading as someone whose normal. But not really. Instead of sharp edges Bex has soft curves, a sturdy base and a small rack. Who is she but a toy kitchen? Join whimsical and (sometimes scary) comedian Bex Turner for a (mostly) stand-up show of weird tales, Autism and lots of crude Crudités! Bex Turner is a high energy, eccentric, surreal, stand up/character comic. Her likeability combined with her comedic sense of adventure makes audiences love her. She was a 2018 Quarter Finalist at Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year and a 2015 Semi Finalist for Laughing Horse New Act of the Year.
Are You Waiting To Be Found?
Lion & Unicorn Theatre
Until the job is finished, they’re going nowhere. Down in a basement office, Mister David Barclay and his four agents (Ross, Gilda, Graham and Belinda) are working to discover the whereabouts of the lost boys (as Dave refers to them). A pair of suspiciously well-kempt boots, a soft shoe shuffle to Flanagan and Allan’s Forget-me-Not Lane and a riff-rap vignette from Hamlet, finally point towards a chilling conclusion and a disconcerting new case for TWO of the investigators. This unsettling and darkly comedic noir drama will keep you on your detectorist toes and is perfect for fans of flawed anti-heroes, from Jackson Lamb and Sam Spade, to Krapp and his last tapes!
Barleycorn
The Courtyard Theatre
★★★★ “A hilarious mash-up of folk song, dance and storytelling" - StageTalk Magazine It’s been raining all summer. But that’s not going to stop the residents of Hopley Drew gathering in The Barleycorn Inn for their annual village show and one final knees up before the pub closes its doors for good. As the villagers show off their soggy crops, share songs and tales of local lore, and wait with baited breath for the results of the raffle, a wild storm rages. Some say it’s just typical British weather, but others say it’s something much more sinister... Can this drenched and disenchanted community band together to overcome whatever lurks outside? Acclaimed folk theatre company Riddlestick Theatre present a new musical comedy inspired by English lore, folk horror, and ‘wyrd’ 1970s telly, featuring traditional and original music and dance. ★★★★ “A musical comedy both immersive and full of homespun appeal... Barleycorn is a highly enjoyable slice of pastoral charm” - The Fix Magazine “Their energy is boundless, the script fiercely intelligent and the original live music bound to stay dancing through your head” - The Guardian on The Cabinet of Madame Fanny Du Thé (Featured in ‘Best Shows at the Edinburgh Festival 2018) “This is creative, imaginative theatre at its very best” - Bristol 24/7 on The Cabinet of Madame Fanny Du Thé “Energetic, rich storytelling seasoned with a generous helping of genuine fun” - A Younger Theatre on The Cabinet of Madame Fanny Du Thé “The troupe are expert storytellers” - Epigram Arts on Undercover Christmas Club “Hysterically funny” - Bristol 24/7 on Undercover Christmas Club
Children of Empire
Rosemary Branch Theatre
A white father and his mixed-race daughter drive through their town one night in his cleaning van, taking down English flags. Beginning as an act of reclamation, the night progresses with paranoia whipping up between the pair, bringing them to question their own trust of each other and the place they both grew up in. Starring MIFTA winner Elise Nguyen as Diana, and Coronation Street star Gareth Berliner as Chris, this new play by Jake Turner Chan was hailed as "a powerful interaction, neatly encapsulated... evok[ing] a political landscape in a deeply intimate way" by a Young(ish) Perspective, when it was put on as a part of Untold Collectiv's 'Short and Mighty' scratch night. At the Rosemary Branch Theatre, it makes its full-length debut.
Darling, I Think I’m Turning Into A Chicken
The Cockpit
Darling, I Think I’m Turning Into a Chicken is a darkly comic exploration of how suppressed trauma takes root in the body. Florence has everything she’s ever wanted: a fiancée, a thriving career, and a perfect home. But when she begins to grow feathers, her carefully constructed life starts to unravel. As the transformation worsens—and threatens to kill her—Florence discovers she’s not alone: her estranged family are changing too. To survive, she must confront the past she’s spent a lifetime avoiding.
Prospero’s Dead
Camden People's Theatre
A Spirit, a King and a Monster enact a dark naked ritual on an enchanted isle in this stripped-down sequel to 'The Tempest'. At the end of Shakespeare's final play, moon-calf and monster Caliban is left on the beach unclad, unhinged and alone. Five years later in Milan, his old master - magician, magus and manipulator Prospero - reaches the end of his days. His passing triggers a new storm, a fresh cosmic disturbance that brings two of Caliban's old sparring partners back to the spellbound domain to play out an elemental triangular rite of ambition, dream and desire. This Jarman-esque fever-dreamed version of events half a decade on from the Bard's late romance is a rich and strange concoction of candid sights and sounds and sweet airs combining to deliver a sensual feast.
Terry’s Been Murdered!
Hen & Chickens Theatre
One mystery. Five suspects. No victim. And if you think you can guess what happens- think again... When six friends meet for a dinner party at Susan's house, nobody cares when Terry shows up. They're more interested in policeman Ray's stories- or chef Gabriel's cooking- or Nigel's new wife Maria. But when the phone rings to tell them that not only has Terry from school has been murdered, but ONE OF THEM has done it- chaos ensues. Even though Terry is in fact, in the room with them (and pretty confused by the whole thing). Suddenly people are pointing fingers and asking questions. Who saw him last? Who hated him the most? Why is nobody listening to Terry, who is definitely still alive? This mystery will spiral and unravel in ways no one expected, with more questions than answers and so many twists even the cast don't know what's going on. Will friends will betray friends? Will lies and secrets will be revealed? Will Terry still be alive at the end of the night? Probably. But anything could happen... "Knives Out" meets "The Naked Gun!" in this brand new, ridiculously silly, murder-mystery farce from Based On Originals.
3 Wise Men: 1st Coming
The Water Rats
3 Wise Men come bearing musical gifts. Their songs are a journey through social observation, family frictions and pure daftness. The success of the three-man duo comes from the upbeat vs downbeat onstage chemistry and songs that are “not just funny, but really enjoyable”. This show has minimal religious content, but you may find out why Jesus was a chippy carpenter. “Very good at what they do” – Peter Fox “Hilarious songs. Brought the house down” – Yasser Kayani
ECHOES
Etcetera Theatre
Echo: Spoke too much and was forever cursed to echo what others say. Philomela: Tongue severed and could not tell what had been done to her. Cassandra: A prophetess that no one would believe. Arachne: Said the wrong thing in the face of the gods. Helen: Bound to Troy and never allowed to tell her own story. ECHOES is a one-woman-show about the silencing and loss of the female voice. Using stories from classical mythology, the play weaves between modern and ancient narratives, as an actress confronts her ironic fear of her own voice, and tries to find out how she can reclaim not only her own voice, but also those of the women whose voices have been suppressed and distorted for centuries by male dominated scholarship. The show is a comical and confrontational depiction of women's struggles throughout the ages and shows how the female experience echoes through time.
LIMBS
Aces and Eights
What would you do with an extra limb? Mary’s answer comes in the form of a semi-improvised flute/comedy show, fulfilling the niche we’ve all been waiting for. Through live music, experimental sounds, and a healthy dose of nostalgia, Mary explores her relationship through time and space with all of her body parts, including her extra limb, the flute. She delves into her teenage brain by reliving old diary entries and music of time gone by. As if you need any more encouragement to see the show, here are some (very real) reviews: “I liked the bit when she spoke about me” - my mum “I implore you to watch this show” - my producer
Wherefore Art Thou, Woman-Hater?
The Libra Theatre Cafe
Written anonymously and first staged in the Renaissance, Swetnam The Woman-Hater is where the word misogyny comes from. Star crossed lovers, swordfights and sexism in the sixteenth century, it has it all. But how could that possibly be relevant today? Come and judge for yourself... The second show brought to you by Cumbrian production company Acting Speaks Louder, creators of Disco, Baby? “Outstanding” (FringeReview). Created and produced by three up and coming artists working across music and theatre, if they don’t take the Fringe by storm, at least there will be plenty of rain when they get home!