As we work towards the 2024 opening of our second London venue Soho Theatre Walthamstow, we were planning on a pared back programme for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023, but then who are we kidding?! Instead, we’re absolutely delighted to present a full Soho Theatre Ed Fringe programme of 16 comedy and theatre (and some somewhere in between) shows across seven venues from artists around the world.
New show premieres from critically acclaimed artists Ben Target, Frankie Thompson and Liv Ello, Lucy McCormick, Spencer Jones, playwright Miriam Battye and Artistic Director of Graeae Jenny Sealey
Ed Fringe premieres from acclaimed actor and writer Sudha Bhuchar, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Ed MacArthur
From America, debuts from cult comics Megan Stalter, Bill O’Neill (directed by Natalie Palamides) and the return of Patti Harrison
As UK’s leading producer of Indian comedy, working with artists of South Asian heritage from around the world, Soho Theatre with OML present Ed Fringe debuts by Sapan Verma, Urooj Ashfaq, Abishek and Nirmal, Suhani Shah and Biswa Kalyan Rath
LORENZO is a new show from critically acclaimed performance artist and multi-award-winning comedian Ben Target. In 2020 Ben became the live-in carer for an irascible octogenarian prankster, Lorenzo, who lived in London for over forty years as an extended part of Ben Target’s family. This life-affirming story about death features shadow puppetry, audience games, and live carpentry. Directed by Soho Theatre’s Associate Director Adam Brace (Haley McGee’s Age is a Feeling, Liz Kingsman’s One Woman Show, Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?!)
Following runs in London and on Audible, acclaimed actor and writer Sudha Bhuchar presents Evening Conversations, a warm-hearted, humorous and truthful storytelling show inspired by banter with her dual heritage (Hindu/Indian and Muslim/Pakistani), millennial sons who have grown up in leafy Wimbledon. Sudha invites her boys to ‘crack open a cold one’ and share their views on life. Will her fiercely British, mono- lingual sons see their background as a place of strength or an unwelcome inheritance?
The show is an Ed Fringe premiere.
Acclaimed performers and long-time collaborators Frankie Thompson and Liv Ello join forces for Body Show, exploring the meeting of dystopia, dysmorphia, and dysphoria in an eclectic and electric piece of unspoken- word. Thompson’s cat-tastic 2022 Fringe show CAttS was listed as one of the Top Five Comedy Shows by the Guardian and Top Fringe Shows by The Stage, while anarchist clown and theatre-maker Liv Ello, director of CAttS, won praise for their 2022 solo show, SWARM – ‘a scathing appraisal of Britain’s political parasites’ (The Guardian).
The show is a world premiere.
Lucy McCormick, known for her cross-genre interventions and extravaganza theatre shows, is back with her most ambitious medium-concept catastrophic show yet, Lucy & Friends. In this show, Lucy unveils her ensemble cabaret tent spectacular… Unfortunately, she has no friends, no money, and no tent. Still, there’ll be pole dancing, variety acts, strip routines, and some quick reworking of social policy. In a despairing world, lonely Lucy creates community, connection, and conversation the only way she knows how. Directed by Duckie associate artist and La Clique regular, Ursula Martinez (who is probably best known for pulling hankies out of her vagina).
The show is an Ed Fringe premiere.
The double Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Spencer Jones returns with a brand-new show about moving to a new area, people he has met and losing his mind. In Making Friends there will be aggressive chickens (not real ones, he’s not that weird), Devon based looped songs (whatever that is), cheap latex masks and a fair bit of Spencer talking. Jones can currently be seen in the smash hit Apple series, Ted Lasso, and is also known from playing the title role in the BBC’s Mister Winner and a regular role in Upstart Crow, also for the BBC. On top of this, Spencer created, wrote and starred in the BAFTA-nominated BBC Two series – The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk. He is also the co-creator, writer and director of Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, currently on ITVX.
The show is a UK premiere.
Following 2022’s sell-out Edinburgh run, cult comedy icon Patti Harrison returns with an hour of comedy that refuses to be categorized: My Huge Tits Huge Because They Are Infected NOT FAKE! One of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch 2019, Harrison – comedian, writer and star of numerous TV hits including the Hulu comedy drama, Shrill, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson and the raunchy Netflix coming of age animation Big Mouth – is one of a generation of young American comedians taking the UK by storm.
The show is a UK premiere.
Megan Stalter, star of whip-smart TV comedy show ‘Hacks’, makes her Edinburgh debut with An Evening of Mayhem with Megan Stalter, a surreal alt-comedy experience with an egocentric performer singing a few ridiculous songs, bantering with the crowd and telling stories about herself. But when she starts to take calls- with both good news and bad – on stage from her agent Charcoal Drawling, things start to spin out of control. Expect undeniable musical talent, magnetic audience work, and jokes so well written they will leave the audience gasping in awe. Stalter is that rare thing, a comic who prospered under lockdown: her online videos and live broadcasts went stratospheric and her YouTube special, Little Miss Ohio, brought her cringe- comedy portraits to a wider audience.
The show is an Ed Fringe premiere.
Mumbai based Urooj Ashfaq, a rising star in the Indian comedy scene, is making waves with her fresh brand of humour. The talented comedian first gained recognition as a finalist on the hit TLC show, ‘Queens of Comedy’. Since then, she has continued to captivate audiences with her witty observations on family, pet peeves, and personal passions. In her latest show, Oh No! Urooj delights audiences with her signature style and distinctive voice. Drawing on her background in psychology and her own experiences, she fearlessly explores a range of topics with honesty and humour.
The show is a UK premiere.
India’s stand-up star Sapan Verma makes his Edinburgh debut with Shame On Me. A veteran of shows across the globe, Sapan’s killer observations and hilarious storytelling have seen him open for Coldplay and Jay-Z at India’s Global Citizen Festival, headline the first ever Indian comedy showcase at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and train celebrities to perform comedy on two sensational seasons of his show One Mic Stand (Amazon Prime).
The show is a UK premiere.
Stars of India’s favourite improv crowd work double act, Abishek Kumar and Nirmal Pillai of The Reel to Real – Crowd Work Tour make their Ed Fringe debut with their fun and interactive show. Having made a name for themselves in the realms of reels, reality shows, feature films, and web series, the duo has garnered some impressive accolades, including being listed on Instagram’s official roster of 25 Under 25 Influencers for 2021 and ranking #5 on Forbes’ 100 Digital Stars for 2022.
The show is an Ed Fringe premiere.
Suhani Shah, the world’s first and most famous female mind reader, is bringing her hit show Spellbound to Edinburgh. The pioneering superstar of South Asian descent was once a child prodigy, and is now a social media sensation, the highest subscribed mentalist globally. Shah will share her incredible life story from kickstarting her career as an illusionist at the age of seven to performing across the globe.
The show is an Ed Fringe premiere.
Biswa Kalyan Rath, one of the most established comedians in India, brings his trademark observational comedy to the Edinburgh Fringe for the very first time. Biswa’s unique perspective and angry rant-style delivery turns every topic he touches into comedic gold. As seen on the hugely popular YouTube series, Pretentious Movie Reviews alongside Kanan Gill.
The show is a UK premiere.
The Amazing Banana Brothers follows two daredevil brothers attempting the impossible—slip on 1000 banana peels. Through a surreal exploration of loss, failure, masculinity and death-defying pratfalls, the show challenges the limits of the human body and spirit–one banana peel at a time. The show marks the highly anticipated Edinburgh debut of horseplay artist / teehee-professional, Bill O’Neill, who has been wowing audiences on the Los Angeles comedy scene since 2013. Directed by multi-talented comedic performer and Edinburgh favourite, Natalie Palamides, winner of the 2017 Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer award for Laid and the 2018 Total Theatre Award for Innovation for her one-person show, and Netflix hit Nate.
The show is a UK premiere.
Following acclaimed sell-out runs at Soho Theatre, Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Ghosts, Taskmaster, Stath Lets Flats) and Ed MacArthur (Bad Education, Dreamland, The Now Show), star in the Edinburgh debut of String V SPITTA, a musical comedy about two rival children’s entertainers from opposite sides of the tracks, who will do anything to be number one. There’s Sylvester ‘Silly’ String, a charming classical virtuoso and topdog in the lucrative West London kids’ parties market, versus SPITTA, a Grime-obsessed maverick from East London who’s shaken up the scene and quickly become the talk of the Kensington playgrounds. Think Amadeus meets Flight of the Conchords, with musical numbers directed by Dizzee Rascal.
The show is an Ed Fringe premiere.
Acclaimed Manchester playwright Miriam Battye’s new piece Strategic Love Play comes to the Paines Plough’s Roundabout at Summerhall this Fringe. This thought-provoking production takes a scalpel to modern romance, interrogating what we really talk about when we talk about love with acid wit and unrelenting frankness. Miriam Battye’s impressive resume includes recent productions such as little scratch at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, directed by Katie Mitchell, and Scenes with girls at the Royal Court. She also served as a story editor for Season 4 of the hit TV series Succession.
The show is a world premiere.
Self-Raising is a true-life story about growing up Deaf in a family with a secret. Award-winning Artistic Director of disabled-led Theatre Company, Graeae, Jenny Sealey has spent a lifetime championing stories by Deaf and disabled artists. In Self-Raising, presented by Graeae in association with Soho Theatre and Theatr Iolo, she takes to the stage to tell her own…
Blisteringly honest, always reflective, and often laugh-out-loud funny, this one-woman show promises to break your heart and put it back together again.
The show is a world premiere.
Soho Theatre is London’s most vibrant producer for new theatre, comedy and cabaret. Opened in 2000, bang in the creative heart of London, it is one of the country’s busiest venues with a buzzing bar and a year- round festival programme with a queer, punk, counter-culture flavour. Work extends far beyond its home with a UK and international touring programme and connections; presenting shows and scouting talent at Edinburgh Festival Fringe plus close links with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Soho Theatre is UK’s leading presenter of Indian comedians from the burgeoning scene there and have partnerships and a Soho Theatre Comedy Producer based in Mumbai.
Soho Theatre is working towards the 2024 opening of an exciting new second London venue, Soho Theatre Walthamstow. A culmination of many years of Soho’s work, in collaboration with a grassroots local campaign, to save a glorious, 1930’s art deco venue with an incredible heritage reinvented as a 1,000- capacity venue for world-class comedy, panto, performance and participation – a ‘local theatre with a national profile’.
Soho Theatre’s 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme is supported by Isobel and Michael Holland.
For further information: please contact Anna Arthur or Kelly Fogarty press@sohotheatre.com
Notes to Editors: Adam Brace, Associate Director at Soho Theatre, and Ben Target had been working closely together to develop LORENZO since autumn 2022. Adam Brace died in April this year, but the production will be completed and staged based on their shared vision.