Published: Thu 4 Jan 24

Soho Theatre brings the award-winning Olga back to India

This January, the award-winning comedian Olga Koch brings her hit one-woman stand-up comedy show Prawn Cocktail to Mumbai and Bengaluru, for the first time.

Olga turned 30, got a master’s degree, went on an adult gap year, got salmonella, lost herself, found herself and washed it all down with a delicious prawn cocktail. Think less Eat Pray Love, and more Shake Scream Cry.

The ‘shamelessly funny hour’ premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last summer to rave reviews, followed by a sell-out London run at Soho Theatre. It is directed by Jet Vevers.

Prawn Cocktail follows Olga’s Mumbai debut in 2023, with Olga Koch: Top Of The Kochs.

Her return to India is part of Soho Theatre’s cultural exchange – bringing some of the best Indian comedy to the UK, and UK and international comedy to India. This has included Mumbai runs for Shaparak Khorsandi, Nina Conti, Lauren Pattison, and Ahir Shah.

Over the years the venue has also hosted a huge range of Indian performers at Soho Theatre, at other iconic London venues, and across the UK. In 2023 alone, comedians included Zakir Khan at the Royal Albert Hall, Vir Das at the Eventim Apollo and Urooj Ashfaq at the Edinburgh Fringe, who won the prestigious Best Newcomer award and returns to the UK this January and February for her debut UK tour.

Olga performs at The Habitat, Mumbai on Friday 19 & Saturday 20 January, and at Just BLR Comedy Club, Bengaluru on Sunday 21 January.

Tickets are on sale now. 

About Olga Koch

Olga is an award-winning stand-up comedian and writer. Born in Russia, based in the UK via Germany and the US, she’s a truly international comedian. In 2022 she won a Writers’ Guild Award for her show, Fight. She’s also been nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018 and longlisted for Best Standup Show at the National Comedy Awards in 2021. Olga also co-created and starred in the multi-award-nominated Radio 4 show OK Computer. On TV, Olga has appeared on Mock the Week, QI, Live At The Apollo, Late Night Mash, and her very own Amazon Prime Special, Soho Theatre Live produced by Soho Theatre.

Soho Theatre and Olga first met in 2015 when she applied to take part in Soho Theatre Labs – its artist and talent development programme. Starting with the Stand-Up Lab, this was followed by the Sketch Lab, Plus Lab and Edinburgh Lab. Her first performance at the Dean Street venue was in 2016 as part of the Soho Rising Mixed Bill Gala. Since then, Olga has performed all five of her solo shows at Soho Theatre including Homecoming, which was also filmed for Soho Theatre Live, and is available on Amazon Prime UK. In 2019, Soho Theatre co-presented the Comedy Fortress Festival in Croatia, a three-day festival which took place in a medieval fortress in Šibenik, in which Olga was part of the line-up including Nish Kumar, Rose Matafeo and Dylan Moran.

“I’m delighted to be coming back, as my time in India last year was undoubtedly the highlight of my year. I'm eager to meet more new audiences, see more fantastic acts, and stay up late on Marine Drive.” 
Olga Koch