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NEWSREVUE
It's the most wonderful time of the year here at Canal Café Theatre. Introducing the 2025 NewsRevue Christmas cast! Catch these fa-la-la-la-fabulous performers.
Current NewsRevue Team – Christmas 2025!
Director: Sophie Lynch-Furtado
Musical Director: Zara Harris
Cast: Dión Di Maio, Fraser Adams, Miles Blanch & Liberty Ashford
“Satirically brilliant” – The Guardian – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Preposterously talented” – Broadway Baby – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Utterly magnificent from start to finish” – LondonTheatre1 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
NewsRevue Season Pass!
For just £99, the pass is designed so that you can come and see each run of the year (7 standard runs, our Edinburgh Previews and our Christmas run), and make major savings compared to buying individual tickets!
For more information and to book, head to our
website

Blondie Blue Eyes
4, 9, 10 November
Asian person does white woman drag.
A part of the Voila! Festival
“There is no point
in national pride
When the nation I’m from
is lost to me.”
Against the backdrop of an upbeat comedy, BLONDIE BLUE EYES is a tragedy rooted in the horror of breaking down one’s sense of self to fit a social norm stemming from a post-colonial culture of white supremacy. Combining elements of slapstick, movement and drag artistry, the play follows the turmoil of titular character Blondie, who so desperately desires to be the epitome of the White ideal that she herself becomes a caricature of it. From an implication of the audience at the very beginning of the performance, it is a reminder of our role in perpetuating social norms and upholding Eurocentric beauty standards–whether consciously or unconsciously–through consuming media.
With concepts like gentrification, whitewashing and representation being tossed a big zeitgeist tumble dryer, BLONDIE BLUE EYES is a piece surrounding the literal erasure of culture in the pursuit of perfection. Throughout the piece, Blondie exists in a cyclical hell loop where she keeps breaking out of her façade but always ends up pushed back into the ‘perfect’ presentation she initially shows herself as. Will she break free of her shackles? Or will she succumb to the immovable force of ‘the norm’? Stay tuned to find out.
P.S.: audience participation is strictly mandatory.
21 Days
6 & 7 November
A heartbroken man spirals into addiction until an enigmatic flatmate forces him to confront whether logic can tame the chaos of human emotion in a technology-driven 2030.
A part of Voila! Festival
The year is 2030.
After a painful break-up, Jay hits the reset button on his life—but instead of healing, he spirals into a cycle of rage, isolation, and alcohol dependency. In a world increasingly disconnected by technology, his search for meaningful connection is overshadowed by his own self-destructive habits.
Enter May: a strange and enigmatic new flatmate whose unexpected presence begins to challenge Jay’s worldview. As their uneasy cohabitation unfolds, truths are confronted and emotions unravel.
21 Days is a bold new work exploring how we cope with heartbreak, addiction, and emotional suppression in a world where we humans face the unpredictability of technology. It asks: can logic ever explain the chaos of human emotion?
Stuffed
8, 11, & 15 November
Confessions of a Market Researcher
A part of Voila! Festival
Hi, I’m Chiara. My father was a hippie, my mother an avid consumer. I guess I wound up working in market research to see what the fuss was about. Or maybe to pick a side. Twenty years later, I am still in that job, and still ambivalent about what -and how much- we buy. As the world gallops towards an uncertain future, it may well be time to rethink the role of ‘stuff’ in our lives, before it stuffs us.
This play tells the story of my years growing up in 80s Italy and later working with ‘consumers’ across the world. Through a recollection of my most memorable work moments (riding trucks when eight months pregnant, getting my hair done in India, and more) and personal events (immigration, estrangement, motherhood), Stuffed wants to show the complex, subtle pull of consumerism, and wonders how best to handle it now that there is no Planet B. Hungry for an authentic, sustainable coexistence with Things- and with the people in my life- I ponder on the good, the bad and the ugly of ownership. I venture that possessions can be imbued with salience, and wonder what we are really seeking through the acquisition of things.
Cocaine
13 & 14 November
A gripping, 80s drama that follows a man’s descent into cocaine addiction alongside a lady’s emotional struggle with love, helplessness, and frustration, delivering a raw, unflinching exploration of dependency, desire, and self-destruction.
A part of Voila! Festival
Cocaine by Pendleton King is a one-act play, originally published in 1917, that delves into the psychological and emotional turmoil caused by drug addiction. The story has been adapted for the 80s decade, and centres on the character of a former boxer, Joe, once full of potential, whose life spirals downward as he becomes consumed by his addiction to cocaine. He struggles with the overwhelming cravings and the need to escape from reality. Also, caught in the turmoil of growing cocaine addiction is Nora, who wrestles with feelings of love, helplessness, and frustration.
Through these characters, King explores themes of dependency, self-destruction, and the impact of addiction on relationships. King’s writing is poignant in its portrayal of the human psyche, and the work is rich in themes of self-deception, moral decay, and the conflict between desire and consequence, making it a powerful commentary on the broader societal issue of drug addiction.
Casanova
17 & 18 November
Casanova: lover, hero, clown! Hilarious physical comedy from award-winning clown Jon Tilley
A part of Voila! Festival
A man who relies entirely on his wits – and his incredibly alluring face and body. Join award-winning physical comedian Jon Tilley (“Magnetic” The Scotsman) for a hilarious ride through the ridiculous and the sublime, in an anarchic, comic retelling of the myth of real-life ultimate lover and original rom com leading man, Casanova!
Following smash-hot fringe favourites ‘The Bakers’ (Fringe World Comedy Weekly Award Winner 2020), Scotland! (★★★★★ Fringefeed), Attenborough and his Animals (★★★★★ Adelaide Advertiser), and Strictly Barking (Fringe World Children’s Event Award Overall Winner 2023), Jon Tilley won the Prague Fringe Comedy Award for his first solo show ‘Old Man’. Now he’s back with his new creation.
‘Casanova’ was created by Jon Tilley, with creative input from Norwegian clown Peder Skjemstad and British dramaturg and performer Caitlin Campbell, with support from the Astronef Theatre Marseille and Theatre de la Noue Montreuil. The show toured to Australia in early 2026, and then to finland where it won the Finfringe Baltic Nordic Fringe Network Award.
“It is evident immediately that Tilley is a master clown” ★★★★ Binge Fringe
It’s Curtains
20 - 22 November
Absurdist physical comedy about curtains, performed by curtains – “the ideal clowning experience” (Chortle).
A part of Voila! Festival
Everything starts and ends with curtains.
Formidably stupid, physical comedy from Gaulier-trained clown couple Julie Nesher (Offie-Nominated) and Tom Curzon (Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality). ‘It’s Curtains’ is an absurd visual spectacle inspired by curtains, about curtains, performed by curtains. You will not leave the show uncertain about what was in the show because the material is consistently 100% curtains and may be understood by anyone who has ever touched a curtain or curtains.
Ridiculous, brave and important theatre which dares to ask what others avoid asking. Should we be making shows about curtains?
“Wonderfully surreal” – Reviewshub
“Simple, wonderful visual gags… with the animate personality of the Pixar lamp… the ideal clowning experience” – Chortle
Devised and Performed by Julie Nesher and Tom Curzon
A Christmas Carol II
28 & 29 November
It’s Christmas Carol meets Die Hard – can Scrooge save Christmas..?
You’ve seen A Christmas Carol! And if not, where have you been for the last 183 years? But did you know about its long-lost sequel? Hidden in a discarded desk, gathering dust all this time. It has finally been discovered!
Now, have you seen Die Hard? And you agree it’s a Christmas film? Brilliant! But did you know, Die Hard is actually a rip off of the planned Dickens sequel?
That’s right! It’s Christmas Carol meets Die Hard, meets the budget of Fringe theatre!
Christmas Carol 2!
One year on from the events of the original, Ebenezer Scrooge has given away to every charitable cause he could find. Unfortunately, he’s now penniless.
In a desperate attempt not to fall back into his miserable ways of old, he tries to rekindle his relationship with his ex-wife, Belle, at the Fezziwig Plaza Christmas Party. But his plans are put in jeopardy by the arrival of some very Christmassy terrorists.
Can Ebenezer defeat the terrorists, win back his beloved and actually make a legacy sequel work?
Featuring all the beloved characters from the original, and a few new ones to boot, come and join us at the Canal Café Theatre on the 28th and 29th November.








