one-person show

Last Rites, Shoreditch Town Hall and touring

by Laura Kressly

Even if our relationships with our parents aren’t fraught, they’re often complicated. In the case of the unnamed character in this solo show, his father never accepted his deafness and refused to learn sign language. He rehashes and reckons with this resentment as he ritually washes his father’s body, but other memories show he and his father loved each other. Using movement, creative captioning and projections, the production dives deep into the emotional landscape of a parent’s death to immensely moving effect.

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Cassie Workman: Aberdeen, Soho Theatre

by Zahid Fayyaz

Fresh from a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe, Cassie Workman brings her lyrical 55-minute poem to the intimate upstairs space at the Soho Theatre. A spoken-word performance of uncommon intensity, it tells the fictional and fantastical story of the narrator traveling back in time to try to save Kurt Cobain from committing suicide. It touches on additional, more universal themes and issues however, so it isn’t just for the Kurt Cobain fans to enjoy.

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Boy Parts, Soho Theatre

by Zahid Fayyaz

This is the premiere of an adaptation of the popular 2020 Eliza Clark novel, Boy Parts. A comic thriller, this is the story of Irina. She is a Newcastle-based photographer of young men, and is either a violent killer or a damaged fantasist. It’s never clear which one is the correct interpretation of the main character. This makes the show more fascinating, as it leaves the audience and reader without a sure footing.

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Ben Target: Lorenzo, Soho Theatre

by Zahid Fayyaz

Fresh from a sold-out month at the Edinburgh Fringe, Ben Target, former Perrier comedy award nominee, comes to London with a run of his highly acclaimed solo show. A return to the stage after spending the last few years collaborating with other artists, this is a brave and startling work.

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Oh My Heart Oh My Home, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

by an anonymous guest critic

Casey Jay Andrews is a regular fixture at the Fringe. She is a purveyor of small, touching stories and beautifully constructed set designs. For this piece, she tells the story of Freddie, born during a meteor storm, who returns to her family home in the woods now inhabited only by her grandad and his Scottie dog. The meteor storm has returned 33 years on, and she and her grandad go out to watch the shooting stars. Meanwhile, her grandad has a secret he has not shared with her. 

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Lightening Ridge, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

by an anonymous guest critic

Lightning Ridge is a playfully-told family show about a rural Australian mining community. The trouble starts when Kelly-Ann’s two imaginary friends go missing, and the whole village has to come together to find them.

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Nan, Me, and Barbara Previ, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

by an anonymous guest critic

Hannah Maxwell is back at the Fringe with her second show after 2019’s charming I, AmDram. This one is similar. It’s about what happened next for Hannah – moving back to Luton to care for her recently bereaved grandma. A show about 30-something angst, obsession and stalking should not be charming, but Maxwell manages to make it so. 

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When We Died, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

by an anonymous guest critic

Working in a funeral home is no fun, but it’s even worse when you encounter somebody you knew while at work. For Rachel, it is the body of a man who sexually assaulted her 11 months ago – a nightmare scenario if ever there was one. Rachel is more calm and professional than anybody could believably expect in these circumstances. As she begins the process of embalming, she recounts the story to the audience whilst working through her feelings of anger, guilt and frustration, and of how she drove her family away and retreated from the world.

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Paines Plough Roundabout, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

by Laura Kressly

After several hard years, Paines Plough’s popup theatre’s programme seems to know that our fractured, individualistic society needs some love and care. Six of this year’s shows reflect this: characters feeling lost, adrift or unfulfilled are desperately searching for someone or something to cling onto and give them purpose, or to help them feel less alone.

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