Comedy Lab: Stand Up for Women from Muslim Backgrounds

Do you identify as femme, are you from Muslim heritage or currently practicing? Get ready to set your inner comic free. 

This 10-week Stand-Up Comedy Lab will help you find your comedic voice and hone your writing and performance skills. Over the course of this Lab you will create your own 5-minute comedy set which you will perform in front of a live and supportive audience at the end of term. 

This brand-new lab is run by Esther Manito, self-proclaimed “Essex Arab Girl Comedian”. Esther is a wildly acclaimed British-Lebanese comedian whom you might have seen on BBC’s Live at the Apollo, Dave’s Hypothetical, Comedy Central Live, ITV’s Celebrity Pointless, or from her own ITVX comedy special Crusade. Or maybe you’ve seen her live at Soho Theatre or on tour across the country, heard her on the News Quiz on Radio 4, or read her contributions to The Sunday Times Best Humour Book of the Year Don’t Panic I’m Islamic. Esther will be teaching you the fundamentals of stand up and guiding you through the process of creating your own material. There will also be a number of guest artists coming in and telling you about their approach to comedy.  

Soho Theatre have been running Comedy Lab: Stand Up courses for all for many years. This new iteration of the lab is in acknowledgement that women comedians from Muslim backgrounds are underrepresented in the industry, and that it can be fun and encouraging to learn among a community of peers with shared lived experience. We welcome all applicants who identify as femme and as coming from a Muslim background, whatever that means to you – absolutely no previous experience required!  

If the above isn’t you, don’t worry, we have plenty of other labs for all that you can find out more about here. 

The Comedy Lab: Stand Up for Women from Muslim Backgrounds group meet weekly on Saturdays, with a public sharing at the end which will take place on a Monday evening at Soho Theatre Walthamstow. We ask that participants commit to attending all 10 weeks. 

Course structure:  

Session 1 – Sat 30th May 11:00 – 13:30 

Session 2 – Sat 6th Jun 11:00 – 13:30 

Session 3 – Sat 13th Jun 11:00 – 13:30 

Session 5 – Sat 20th Jun 11:00 – 13:30 

Session 6 – Sat 27th Jun 11:00 – 13:30 

Session 7&8 – Sat 4th Jul 11:00 – 16:00 

Session 9 – Sat 11th Jul 11:00 – 13:30 

TECH – Sat 18th Jul 11:00 – 13:30 

SHOWCASE – Mon 20th Jul 17:00 – 21:30 (with showcase performance at 19:00 in Studio 1 of Soho Theatre Walthamstow) 

Please note the above is a rough outline and subject to change.  

Applications & Fees: 

£150 (partial and full bursaries are available to those on Universal Credit and other welfare benefits. However, if cost is a barrier to participating, contact us at engagement@sohotheatre.com and we can discuss payment options) 

Applications close 14th May at noon. 

Got questions? Check out our FAQs here