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BOOK SHOWS HERE

Rite of Passage

26 & 27 July

by Akah Nnani, directed by Kenneth Uphopho

A Nigerian actor arrives in the UK for the first time — no prior visits, no preview — and writes down everything that surprises him. Thirty days. Thirty shocks. One man, one suitcase, and a very confusing bathroom light. Rite of Passage is a 75-minute solo theatre experience about the West African immigrant experience in Britain — funny, political, and deeply human. "There is a clear voice and a strong observational lens running through it." — Mojisola Kareem, Artistic Director, Utopia Theatre Sheffield.

EDINBURGH FRINGE PREVIEW

Heavy Petting, Heavier Blankets (WIP)

27 July

by Ben O'sullivan

Can you seduce someone, even if they know you sleep with a weighted blanket?
That’s the question we all ask, whilst laying alone under our "Silent Night Washable Weighted Blanket" with removable cover. Now available in grey. 
In his latest absurd outing, silly and surreal comedian Ben O’sullivan will try desperately to avoid talking about his intimacy issues, whilst allowing the full burden of his romantic failings to land on the, already heavy, weighted blanket. 
Similar to a bed at your nans house, this show consists of many incomprehensible layers. We find out if pigeons are underrated and consider the potential jeopardy of getting a piercing at 31. Could it be a cry for help? 
Together, we will finally uncover the truth hidden beneath the tog ratings. 
‘Ben reminds me of a young James Acaster and look what he achieved’
Everything theatre 

‘Side splittingly brilliant’
WeLoveBrighton

New Stagers Presents

Long Story Short

28 July

Written & directed by Veronica Montalbetti

Four short comedies about love, life, murder… and houseplants. From dating disasters to domestic dramas and a good old-fashioned whodunit, Long Story Short serves up four fast-paced plays.

• Two Sides: A couple replay their break up from both perspectives, because everyone has their own version.
• I Wrote a Play: A mum unveils her "masterpiece", with an unexpected twist.
• Hello Plant: A woman finds unlikely relationship advice from her house plant.
• 15 Minutes to Solve a Murder: A period face where everyone is desperate to solve Tubby's death. 

Four Plays. Plenty of laughs.

EDINBURGH FRINGE PREVIEW: Abandoman - Afterglow

29 July

Clapham Comedy Club bring you a work-in-progress / preview show from the unmissable & amazing Abandoman AKA Rob Broderick with his new show Afterglow.

Award-winning Irish improvised hip hop musical comedy meets the dance floor. Abandoman turns your suggestions into original bangers, live and unrepeatable every night. Razor-sharp wit, explosive crowd energy and electric atmosphere. “Relentlessly hilarious” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (The Times).

Hosted by your cheeky charming MC Sion James in the friendly intimate atmosphere of The Bread & Roses Fringe Theatre. Previous acts include: Micky Flanagan, Stephen Merchant, Sara Pascoe, Sindhu Vee, Jeff Innocent, Mark Thomas, Carl Donnelly, Milton Jones, Tom Houghton, Dylan Moran, Tom Davis, Suzi Ruffell, Nabil Abdulrashid, Rachel Galvo, Kyrah Gray & more.

Clapham Comedy Club – Upstairs at Bread & Roses Fringe Theatre, 68 Clapham Manor Street, Clapham Common SW4 6DZ.

EDINBURGH FRINGE PREVIEW: Carl Donnelly : Extra Show

29 July

Clapham Comedy Club bring you a work-in-progress / preview show from Tooting’s finest double Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and five-time Chortle Award nominee Carl Donnelly, now based in Australia, returning to South London to preview his new show for Edinburgh Fringe 2026.

After moving to Australia, having another child and buying a paddleboard, Carl is flying back to Edinburgh for one week to perform his fifteenth solo show about leaving the UK and more. “One of the finest stand-ups of his generation” (Rolling Stone). “Observational genius” (Guardian). As seen on Mock The Week and more.

All hosted by your cheeky charming MC Sion James in the friendly intimate atmosphere of The Bread & Roses Fringe Theatre.

Previous acts include: Micky Flanagan, Stephen Merchant, Sara Pascoe, Sindhu Vee, Jeff Innocent, Mark Thomas, Carl Donnelly, Abandoman, Milton Jones, Tom Houghton, Dylan Moran, Tom Davis, Suzi Ruffell, Nabil Abdulrashid, Rachel Galvo, Kyrah Gray & more.

The SMALL Stuff (Work in Progress)

30 July

by Daniel Tizon

Daniel Tizon offers a forensic dissection of daily life’s minor agonies.

From the "social minefield" of a chatty new neighbour to the childhood realisation that dancing was a technical impossibility for his understated persona, the show explores the friction between a low-key existence and an extroverted world.

He explores, with equal scrutiny, the fraught etiquette of the adult education college urinal, specifically the moment a classmate you’ve never spoken to in class attempts to initiate the breakthrough conversation while positioned next to you at the trough. Of all the places to finally bond, the gents’ feels like a questionable choice.

The SMALL Stuff is a tribute to the understated persona in an

Edinburgh Fringe Preview

MTAO Productions Presents

A Traitors Pantomime

31 July

by Ella Barnett & Jo Wickham, directed by Ella Barnett

Follow a new traitors series, with all the melodrama that we know and love, plus some panto pizzazz. Our Dame, Claudia, and her fringe will guide us through the twists and turns of each roundtable. A devious trio of traitors, a comical set of faithfuls, and a Romeo-and-Juliet love story; this series will be unlike any other. Using the power of deduction and a predictable parody (or two), will good win out? Or will evil take all the money, money, money for itself? (Yes, that is an Abba reference). Come and find out!

NASH PRODUCTIONS present

UNLUCKY ME

2 - 3 August

Written by Shannon Stuart, Helen White & Kym Nash. Directed By Kym Nash & Cameron Bell.

Meet Lucky Flynn, a Guy who is facing a series of unfortunate events including the murder of his beloved Brother Toby. With the support of his sister Sarah & Girlfriend Sophie, Lucky must confront the mistakes he has made and the challenges in his life in order to find a way forward All while avoiding a Face From the Past.

Woodhouse&Roderick Presents

In His Words

4 - 8 August

by Heather Woodhouse, directed by TJ Roderick

‘I’m just taking a quick holiday into the past. I’m still all yours.’

What if your ex wrote a play about you? Would you demand your own say? Or would you let them scratch their side of the story into history forever?

When Esther gets the lead in a piece of new theatre, she is sure the play is about her… written by her ex. Despite her girlfriend’s objections, she insists that taking the role will be an exercise in autonomy and self-discovery. Obsession rears its head, however, and the rabbit warren of the past begins to twist and turn around them both.

A clock sticks. A bloody hand reaches from the dark. Waves crash against a cave by the sea. Reality slips from their grasps as the play launches into absurd action and memories, dreams, past and present tangle themselves into something new.

‘I want to be nothing. A lump.

Then why do you perform?

Because I will never be a lump.’

EDINBURGH FRINGE PREVIEWS

Max Prentice Presents

Mr Boy: The Beauty Contest for Boys

9 August

by Max Prentice

A one-man beauty contest in which I play all the parts and the audience pick the winner.

What is a boy meant to be? It’s a question on everyone’s lips, and one I intend to answer once and for all in the fairest way I can think of: a beauty pageant!

Mr Boy is a high-energy one-man show full of big silly characters. It's absurdist zany fun with something for everyone. I think you'd really get a kick out of it!

A comedy show written and performed by Max Prentice.

Shortlisted for the Komedia Award for Alternative Comedy at Brighton Fringe.

SICK DOG

11 -13 August

Written by Maariya Khalid and Directed by Lily Gilchrist

Winnie is dying (slowly – which is the worst way to go). She is despondent, miserable and fed up. She has isolated herself from her friends and family, but she is not alone. Eliza is the new top-model robot companion-carer, who looks after Winnie. Through God, pain, and Love Island, the two attempt to understand each other. These are two (sort of) beings who are desperate to love and be loved, in whatever form that takes. ‘Sick Dog’ asks questions about what it means to be
human, the acceptance of death in a world that fears it and our future as maybe not the only creatures with the capacity to love.

Karl's Head

14 - 16 August

written & directed by Dino Squara

"Some ghosts are better left buried. Others end up in your living room."

Will wakes up with the hangover from hell and a singular problem: the skull of Karl Marx is sitting on his coffee table. He doesn't remember taking it, and he certainly doesn't want to keep it. But as he tries to treat the relic with a sense of misplaced humanity, those around him begin to see something else entirely.

In this sharp absurdist comedy, the line between historical icon and biological debris blurs. As tensions escalate and a psychological rot sets in, the characters must face a terrifying question: Is the weight of history a gift, a curse, or just a very heavy object that won't go away?

Gordon Steggall Presents

Where have these Guys Been?

17 August

Written by Will Franken and Gordon Steggall, Directed by Gordon Steggall

A Stand-Up show like no other! Join them for an evening of relentless laughter! Will Franken a high-speed, quick change character comedian and the most trusted man in satire, returns after a five-year hiatus. As the New York Times was stated – “What elevates Mr. Franken above your garden-variety comedian is an erudite wit and a highly developed sense of the absurd”. 

Gordon Steggall is known for his energetic delivery, observational humour, one-liners and monologues. Promoting his ‘Gordon’s Pop-Up Comedy Clubs’ across the UK and performing with several immersive theatre companies – hard working and loving every second of it! 

Between them they have entertained across the entire globe, performing every week as comedians, actors, musicians and hosts. 

Watch Gordon and Will perform their own brand of comedy always delivering laughter! A new show every time they perform… Why then do people still say – “Where have these Guys been?”

best wishes, kind regards

18 - 22 August

written and directed by Rhiannon Ella Tomes

Two people who refuse to say what they think. Two inner wolves who definitely will.

Within the silences of what’s left unsaid, 'best wishes, kind regards' explores the slow, inevitable dissolution of a romantic relationship.

Not through one dramatic rupture, but through accumulation.

Small silences. Non-sentences. Deflections. The things we rehearse in our heads but never say aloud.

At the centre are Him and Her. A couple who, from the outset, are doomed to separate. Not because they do not love one another, but because they cannot communicate what truly matters. Alongside them lurk His and Her Wolf; the thoughts, fears, desires and emotional truths that remain buried beneath everyday conversation.

Blending text and movement, 'best wishes, kind regards' unfolds as a series of fragmented memories, capturing the way relationships are lived, remembered, and ultimately lost.

Screwed Productions Presents

Screwed

23 August

written by Juliet Cooper, co-writer Lilli Wenzel
co-directed by Juliet Cooper & Lilli Wenzel

A rat on the loose. A reunion. A group of old university friends meet for their annual dinner party. As relationships fall, and new ones blossom, these friends truly are screwed.

Audience Reviews: 
Laugh out loud funny, great writing, great directing and fantastic performances.

Such a well crafted show - amazing range of well rounded characters who all had their own personalities and amazing comedic rhythms. 

Ratastic! An absolutely amazing show, brilliant acting and lots of laughs!

Troubadour Stageworks Productions Presents

The Iliad: The Ghost of Achilles

3 - 5 September

Written and Directed by Mingma Hughes (via Homer and Alexander Pope)

Odysseus has returned home: the suitors are slain, Penelope and Telemachus restored, peace seemingly won. Yet the ghost of Achilles is not so easily laid to rest.

On his father’s threshold he stands, for the first time in twenty years, not as a hero or king but a son asking the question no victory can answer: “Father, I am returned in body, but how does one return in mind?”

This evocative retelling of The Iliad, acting as a sequel to last year's Odyssey, brings to life the eternal struggles between soldiers and veterans, rage and compassion, pride and peace.

A haunting, human story of homecoming and healing - Odysseus as you’ve never seen him before