Today Soho Theatre announces its 2025 theatre season, with the world premiere of LITTLE BROTHER by Eoin McAndrew, winner of the 2024 Verity Bargate Award, this October. Tickets are now on sale.
Brigid’s brother Niall calls her unexpectedly in the middle of the night. After he ends up in hospital, Niall moves back in with Brigid to get his life back on track. LITTLE BROTHER is a compelling exploration of a sibling relationship set in modern-day Belfast directed by Emma Jordan, award-winning Artistic Director of Prime Cut Productions. It is produced by Soho Theatre.
LITTLE BROTHER was selected from 1,700 entries to the Verity Bargate Award, Soho Theatre’s prestigious new writing award sponsored by Character 7, the producers of The Night Manager and Culprits. The award’s main prize is an £8,000 prize and a fully staged production at Soho Theatre. The judging panel, chaired by Character 7’s Stephen Garett, was composed of industry experts: Moira Buffini, Anupama Chandrasekhar, Alan Cumming, Anthony Lau and Rebecca Lucy Taylor AKA Self Esteem.
Earlier this month, Sam Grabiner’s Boys on the Verge of Tears, winner of the 2022 Verity Bargate Award, in a production directed by James Macdonald, was nominated for an Olivier Award in the Best New Production in Affiliate Theatre category following a critically acclaimed run at Soho Theatre last year. “Wild, thrilling, brutally honest and beautifully tender. This is a truly extraordinary new play.” – Lucy Kirkwood
Soho Theatre’s new theatre season sees the end of WEATHER GIRL’s sold out run on 5 April, and will also feature previously announced THIS BITTER EARTH by Harrison David Rivers, directed by Billy Porter and starring Omari Douglas and Alexander Lincoln, as well as New York cabaret artist Salty Brine with THESE ARE THE CONTENTS OF MY HEAD (THE ANNIE LENNOX SHOW), 2024 Edinburgh fringe hit PLAYFIGHT by Julia Grogan, Naomi Denny’s ALL THE HAPPY THINGS developed on Soho Theatre’s Writers’ Lab, the return of Australian cabaret star MEOW MEOW, comedian Ivo Graham’s CAROUSEL: A THEATRE SHOW, improvised performance DAVID ELMS DESCRIBES A ROOM, PAPER SWANS by Flabbergast, the return of BROWN GIRLS DO IT TOO: MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME, Access All Areas and The Lowry’s A SMALL ENCLOSED ROOM WITH ALFIE MURPHY, BUBBLE SCHMEISIS written and performed by Nick Cassenbaum, IMAGINARY FRIENDS written and performed by Daniel Bye, and Yolanda Mercy’s FAILURE PROJECT. Listings available below.
Soho Theatre Walthamstow’s upcoming theatre programme includes Natalie Palamides’ WEER, BROWN GIRLS DO IT TOO: MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME, Bryony Kimmings’ BOG WITCH, and the pantomime ALADDIN & THE MAGIC LAMP written and directed by Susie McKenna.
Praise for Eoin McAndrew’s LITTLE BROTHER
Anupama Chandrasekhar: “Little Brother is a masterfully crafted, heart-wrenching play…a rare gem”
Moira Buffini: “Little Brother has great theatricality, humour and compassion. It stayed with me long after I had finished reading.”
For further information, interviews, images…: press@sohotheatre.com
Augustin Wecxsteen / Communications Manager: Press & PR / augustin@sohotheatre.com / 07891012214
-ENDS-
LISTINGS
Francesca Moody Productions and Dianne Roberts present:
WEATHER GIRL
By Brian Watkins
Wed 5 Mar – Sat 5 Apr 25
7.00pm and 2.00pm
Soho Theatre – Dean Street
From £12
Following a multi-award winning run at the Edinburgh Festival this blistering dark comedy transfers to Soho. Stacey is a California weather girl. An oversexed and underpaid harbinger of our dying planet. But today, her regular routine of wildfires, prosecco and teeth whitening descends into a scorched earth catastrophe.
★★★★★ Skinny, ★★★★ Telegraph, ★★★★ Times
Worklight Theatre presents
IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID!
by Joe Sellman-Leava, with Dylan Howells
Mon 10 – Sat 15 Mar 25
6.30pm and 3.00pm
Soho Upstairs – Dean Street
From £13
Joe Sellman-Leava and Dylan Howells uncover how the economy wins elections, dominates our lives, and why it’s so bloody complicated! Joe and Dylan combine a true story of a family caught up in a recession, with the economic forces that led the world from post-war boom to housing and cost-of-living crises.
‘Smart, sharp writing…deftly blends the personal with the political’ ★★★★ Stage
SH Productions presents:
ALL THE HAPPY THINGS
by Naomi Denny
Tue 8 – Sat 26 Apr 25
6.45pm and 3.00pm
Soho Upstairs – Dean Street
From £13
Sienna is trying to deal with her grief by clinging on tightly to what she knows – in short, she’s seeing her dead sister everywhere she goes. All The Happy Things is a dark comedy about the power of sisterhood and grief, told through a Global Majority lens. It was nominated for Soho Theatre’s Tony Craze Award in 2020.
Grace Dickson Productions and Theatre Uncut presents:
PLAYFIGHT
Written by Julia Grogan. Directed by Emma Callander
Tue 8 – Sat 26 Apr 25
7.00pm and 2.30pm
Soho Theatre – Dean Street
From £11
Three friends grow up under an ancient tree. They’re filthy, brutal and full of hope. By turns hysterical and poignant, Playfight is a searing probe of their inner lives as they hunt for love. Proper, ugly love. As their roots sink deeper, the branches stretch higher… so they decide to climb.
‘[A] marvellous jewel of a play… an extraordinary thrill.’ ★★★★★ Times, ★★★★★ Observer
PBJ Management and Celia Dugua present
DAVID ELMS DESCRIBES A ROOM
Mon 31 Mar – Fri 4 Apr 25
6.45pm
Soho Upstairs – Dean Street
From £15
Come and take part in this hilarious and unexpected one-of-a-kind theatrical experience by helping David describe the objects in the room, the stories behind those objects, and the people behind those stories. Then come back the next night and do it all over again.
‘Funny, original and different every time’ – Tim Key
The Living Record Collection and Soho Theatre present:
SALTY BRINE: THESE ARE THE CONTENTS OF MY HEAD (The Annie Lennox Show)
Fri 11 – Sat 26 Apr 25
9.15pm
Soho Theatre – Dean Street
From £18
Following a critically-acclaimed run at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, darling of the New York cabaret scene Salty Brine returns to Soho Theatre with his latest sensational show. Annie Lennox’s transcendent solo album DIVA stands at the centre of this story about strong, defiant women and the little gay boy who loves them.
‘Astounding’ ★★★★★ Stage
PAPER SWANS
Written by Vyte Garriga
Mon 28 Apr – Sat 3 May 25
6.45pm and 3.00pm
Soho Upstairs – Dean Street
From £13
Paper Swans draws on absurdist theatre, visual symbolism and the playwright’s personal experience, as a woman from a post-Soviet country coming to the UK. In this one act play set in a closed park at night, a security guard finds a young woman in a ballet dress sitting on a bench making paper swans.
‘thought-provoking and compelling, intelligent and complicated’ ★★★★ Ed Fest Mag
Soho Theatre presents
NATALIE PALAMIDES: WEER
Fri 2 – Sat 10 May 25
8.00pm
Auditorium – Walthamstow
From £25
Following its smash-hit sell-out runs in Edinburgh and at Soho Theatre, Natalie Palamides’ tour-de-force comes to Soho Theatre Walthamstow for a strictly limited run.New Year’s Eve 1999. Star-crossed lovers. A quarrel at the strike of midnight. Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner Natalie Palamides (Nate, Netflix) presents an achingly tender 90s rom-drom (romantic dramedy) which asks you to look at every argument from two sides.
★★★★★ Telegraph, ★★★★★ List, ★★★★ Times
Nick Cassenbaum presents:
BUBBLE SCHMEISS
Written by Nick Cassenbaum
Tue 6 – Sat 10 May 25
6.45pm and 3.00pm
Soho Upstairs – Dean Street
From £17
Nick Cassenbaum invites you into the warmth of the Canning Town Schvitz. Amongst the steam, live klezmer and ritual Nick will take you on a journey to find the place he belongs. Bubble Schmeisis is full of intimate and personal true stories about identity, home and getting schmeised (washed) by old men.
‘Bubble Schmeisis offers a friendly, gently provocative perspective on Jewish experience.’ ★★★★ List
Meow Meow Revolution in association with Tim Whitehead and Impatient Productions presents
MEOW MEOW: IT’S COME TO THIS
Tue 6 – Sat 25 May 25
7.00pm and 3.00pm
Soho Theatre – Dean Street
From £23
The beloved crowd-surfing queen of song and tragi-comedienne dazzles anew with her unique brand of kamikaze performance that has hypnotised, inspired and terrified audiences worldwide. Music. Politics. Mayhem. Magnificence.
‘No one now does it better than Meow’. ★★★★★ Evening Standard
Access All Areas and The Lowry presents:
A SMALL ENCLOSED ROOM WITH ALFIE MURPHY
Tue 13 – Sat 17 May 25
6.30pm and 2.30pm
Soho Upstairs – Dean Street
From £13
Renowned autistic artists Cian Binchy (‘The Level’ ITV) and Anna Constable (‘Imposter 22’, Royal Court) bend the lines of fantasy, reality and masking, as they try to figure out how to be in the world. In a darkly comic universe, with shark chases, a rap about Devon, and some lovely cardboard cut-outs, they ask: When the person you show to the world is just a mask, what’s underneath?
‘A riotous upending of audiences’ preconceptions’ – Guardian on Access All Area’s Not F**kin Sorry
Daniel Bye, ARC Stockton & Alphabetti Theatre presents:
IMAGINARY FRIENDS
By Daniel Bye
Mon 19 – Sat 24 May 25
6.30pm
Soho Upstairs – Dean Street
From £13
After a personal tragedy, a failing comedian starts listening to the wrong voices in his head. Hilarious, mind-bending storytelling theatre from Daniel Bye. His moral compass is getting derailed. He kind of knows it. But all these ideas for his new show are brilliant. Is it ok to go too far so long as you’re on the right side of history?
Off the Kerb presents
CAROUSEL: A THEATRE SHOW BY IVO GRAHAM
Wed 28 May – Sat 7 Jun 25
7.00pm
Soho Theatre – Dean Street
From £19
Ivo Graham steps away from the frivolity of his stand-up and invites you onto his own carousel: around and around, backwards and forwards, to the places he aches to go again. A searingly direct, exquisitely soundtracked story of a life: good luck at your next meeting.
‘A beautiful, exquisitely judged confessional… Graham at his absolute best.’ ★★★★ Times
Tilted in association with Soho Theatre present:
BROWN GIRLS DO IT TOO: MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME (Previews)
Tue 10 – Sat 14 Jun 25
7.00pm
Soho Theatre – Dean Street
From £25
Fierce, funny and wonderfully frank, Poppy and Rubina have sex and they aren’t ashamed to talk about it. Join them for these limited run WORK IN PROGRESS evenings as they try out some new sketches and ideas and ask for your input, ahead of their run at Soho Walthamstow in September. They’ll explore messy realities, heartbreak, fantasies, sexpectations and navigating life and relationships as British Asian women.
‘As life enhancing as it is entertaining.’ ★★★★ Evening Standard
Thomas Hopkins
Jana Robbins, Craig Haffner & Sherry Wright
Alex Deacon, Jonthan Kaldor & Kohl Beck
In Association with John Rogerson and Sarig Peker
Present
THIS BITTER EARTH
Directed by Billy Porter. Written by Harrison David Rivers.
Wed 18 Jun – Sat 26 Jul
7.00pm , 2.30pm Saturday matinees
Soho Theatre – Dean Street
From £13
Love. Unconditionally.
A deep love is challenged by divisive political realities. Jesse, an introspective Black playwright, finds his choices challenged when his boyfriend, Neil, a white Black Lives Matter activist, calls him out for his political apathy. As passions and priorities collide, this couple is forced to reckon with issues of race, class and the bravery it takes to love out loud.
The 2.30 performance on Wed 9 July will be performed by Luke Striffler and Stanton Plummer-Cambridge
Tilted in association with Soho Theatre present:
BROWN GIRLS DO IT TOO: MAMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME
Tue 9 – Sat 13 Sep 25
8.00pm
Auditorium – Walthamstow
From £25
Award-winning and groundbreaking BBC Sounds podcast and Dean Street favourites Brown Girls Do It Too will be bringing their trademark honesty, quick wit and infectious personalities to Walthamstow in September. Poppy and Rubina reflect on what it means to be Brown British women and explore the seminal moments from their lives from first orgasms and loves to racism and family politics. With songs, sketches and some very graphic content, this is a celebration of brown British women, genital warts and all. ★★★★ Evening Standard
Avalon, Tellus Studio and Mark Gordon Pictures presents:
BOG WITCH
by Bryony Kimmings
Thu 9 – Sat 25 Oct 25
7.30pm and 3.00pm
Auditorium – Walthamstow
From £24
Bryony Kimmings was wrangled enough. Single mum, sick kid, slammed with work, terrible anxiety barely keeping it together…she didn’t have time to think about the planet, thanks. But then she fell in love with an eco-warrior and all hell broke loose. In Kimmings’ first show for nearly half a decade, Bog Witch is a show about uncertain times and finding new ways to be happy, commissioned and created to celebrate the opening of Soho Theatre Walthamstow. Previously at Soho Theatre, Bryony Kimmings award-winning and critically acclaimed shows Fake it ’til You Make It, Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model, Seven Day Drunk and Sex Idiot. ★★★★★ Guardian
Soho Theatre presents
LITTLE BROTHER
By Eoin McAndrew
Thu 16 Oct – Sat 22 Nov
7pm, 2.30pm Saturday matinees
Soho Theatre – Dean Street
Verity Bargate award-winning production from Eoin McAndrew, directed by Emma Jordan
“I’d like you to promise me that you’re not going to try and set yourself on fire again. That way I’ll know that everything is completely fine now.”
When Brigid gets a call from her brother Niall in the middle of the night, she knows something’s wrong. After he ends up in hospital, Niall moves in with Brigid as she helps him piece his life back together. Little Brother is a compelling exploration of a sibling relationship set in modern-day Belfast directed by Emma Jordan, award-winning Artistic Director of Prime Cut Productions.
Eoin McAndrew’s darkly comic and beautifully observed new play shines a light on the crisis of care in Northern Ireland, the strength of a brother-sister bond and the unpredictable journey towards recovery. Sometimes being there for the people you love is very very very difficult.
Soho Theatre Walthamstow
ALADDIN & THE MAGIC LAMP
Written & Directed by Susie McKenna
Sat 6 Dec 25 – Sun 4 Jan 26
2.30pm, 7.00pm, 10.30am, 1.00pm, 2.00pm, 6.00pm, 3.00pm, 1.30pm, 11.00am and 4.00pm
Auditorium – Walthamstow
From £10
Soho Theatre presents the first ever annual pantomime at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, Aladdin & The Magic Lamp. This modern retelling of the pantomime you know and love, set in the Walthamstow you know and love, with all the mayhem and magic, wise-cracking genies, mischievous monkeys, soul funk music and heroic adventure your heart’s desire! Written and directed by the award-winning actor, director, writer and Panto legend Susie McKenna.
SOHO THEATRE is London’s most vibrant producer for new theatre, comedy and cabaret. Our central London venue is established as one of UK’s busiest with a buzzing bar, lively audiences and diverse year-round festival programme with a queer, punk, counter-culture flavour. In 2025 our second venue Soho Theatre Walthamstow opens. Work extends beyond our venues with a full touring programme and strong international connections with New York, Melbourne and Mumbai. Edinburgh Fringe is a huge part of our year, we present many shows and scout hundreds more and we are UK’s leading presenter of Indian comedians. Our filmed comedy specials can be seen on international airlines and Soho Theatre Player. And our artist development and participation programmes are as important as the work on our stages. Soho Theatre is a charity and social enterprise.
EOIN MCANDREW is a Northern Irish writer for stage and screen. His debut play, The Girl Who Was Very Good At Lying, ran at Jermyn Street Theatre, Omnibus Theatre, and Summerhall at the Edinburgh Fringe. His short play Internet Boy (1999 – Present) was produced by the Royal Court Theatre as part of their Living Newspaper, and his play Russell was performed at the RSC as one of their 37 Plays initiative. Eoin was part of the 2021 BBC Comedy Writers Room, and has been longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize twice, in 2019 and 2022.
EMMA JORDAN is Artistic Director of Prime Cut Productions and has directed a strong body of critically acclaimed work, most recently Aurora – A Modern Myth by Dominic Montague, The Pillowman and The Beauty Queen Of Leenane by Martin McDonagh at the Lyric Belfast (2023) Darren Murphy’s X’ntigone for The MAC and The Abbey 2022, The Border Game by Michael Patrick and Oisin Kearney for The Lyric 2021 and touring 2022, Fionnuala Kennedy’s Removed at Young At Art Belfast Children’s Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival Baboro and IPAY Ireland Showcase 2019-20, East Belfast Boy (Edgefest at The MAC, Edinburgh Fringe and Island of Ireland Tour) 2018-19, Red by John Logan a Prime Cut -Lyric co-production (Winner of 4 Awards at the 2017 Irish Times Theatre Awards including Best Director and Best Production. Nominated for Best Director 2017 UK Theatre Awards), Stacey Gregg’s Scorch (winner of 7 international awards including a Scotsman Fringe First, Adelaide Fringe Best Theatre Award and the 2015 Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play) Belfast, island of Ireland and UK Tour, the Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Sweden and Germany tours. Directing credits also include After Miss Julie [Patrick Marber], The God Of Carnage (Yasmina Reza), The Conquest of Happiness (Co-created & directed with Haris Pasovic) I Am My Own Wife [Doug Wright], Blackbird (David Harrower), Shoot The Crow (Owen McCafferty), Scarborough (Fiona Evans), Woman and Scarecrow (Marina Carr), After The End (Denis Kelly).
In 2014 Emma was the recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Cultural Entrepreneurship Breakthrough Award and the Spirit of Festival Award at the Belfast International Arts Festival 2015. She won the Best Director Award for Red at the 2017 Irish Times Irish Theatre Award and has been nominated consecutively for Best Director at the UK Theatre Awards for Red and Lovers (2017-18). She has been nominated for Best Director Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2020 for Removed and A Streetcar Named Desire.