Kat Mokrynski

After a sellout run in Australia, Plied & Prejudice, written by Matthew Semple and directed by Dash Kruck, is ready to booze it up in London, taking the classic Jane Austen work and turning it into a comedy in which five actors desperately try to get through the story with a few modern twists.

Walking into the Soho Theatre Upstairs for What If They Ate The Baby feels a bit like entering an alternate universe that’s a strange mix between the 1950s and the modern day. Audience members are greeted by a set made to look like a kitchen, with checkered floors, table and chairs and a window frame that’s tilted - an indicator that not everything is as perfect as one might think at first glance.

Dulcé Sloan, a former senior correspondent for The Daily Show, is bringing her stand-up show to London at the Soho Theatre. Unlike most comedy shows at the venue, there really is no description for her show on the site, giving it a bit of an air of mystery as audience members head downstairs to the venue’s basement theatre.

After two sold-out runs at The Crypt in 2023, Sleepwalk Immersive’s Bacchanalia and the world of Thebes has returned to London, this time at Hoxton Hall. The show, directed by Sebastian Huang (Artistic Director for Sleepwalk Immersive), takes the story of The Bacchae by Euripedes and places it in the world of the 1960s, mixing Greek tragedy with a kaleidoscope of colours and the soundtrack reminding one of Hair. While the run at The Crypt was in a cramped and small space, the current run at Hoxton Hall allows the performers and audience members to explore four storeys of the Grade II-listed building, which has been transformed for this show.

Have you ever heard of a cargo cult? Pierre Novellie has, and he’s ready to tell the audience all about it. Pierre Novellie: Must We? is Novellie’s newest hour of comedy and takes a look at the fairness (or unfairness) and expectations of life, using his own as an example.

As one might guess from the title, the show delves into the anxiety that Barnes has faced over the years and how it has affected her life in both serious and funny moments. She also discusses other aspects of her personality, including how her synesthesia allows her to see abstract concepts as colours.

Derek Mitchell: Double Dutch begins in quite a Dutch way, with Mitchell emerging from behind the curtains in clogs and a Dutch bonnet, greetig everyone with a strong Dutch accent before launching into his show which, surprisingly, isn’t all about being Dutch (even though it does have a pretty Dutch catchphrase, the quote of this review).

A Whole New World of Alan Menken, a concert written and performed by Alan Menken (with additional material by Jennifer Lucy Cook and Richard Kraft), is an evening of stories and songs for fans of Menken’s work, whether they’ve heard it in Disney films or on stage on Broadway. Directed by Kraft, the show promises audiences the opportunity to hear all of the hits they know and love with some revealing anecdotes from Menken’s life.

Rachel Fairburn: Side Eye is, as one might expect from the title, a bit of a judgmental show. Walking into the Leicester Square Theatre, audience members are greeted by a table that is filled with seven brightly-painted mannequin heads, each with their own expression of judgment on their faces.

What do you do when you have mental health struggles? Do you take a day off from work and sleep it off? Do you go out for a fun night out with friends? Or do you book a flight to Thailand? If you chose the third option, you might find you have quite a lot in common with Kemah Bob, as her show, Kemah Bob: Miss Fortunate is about how Bob has dealt with their mental health, including a wild week-long trip in order to “find herself.”

Recently, we had the chance to speak with Park about their experiences over the past few months in the two plays. We discussed what it has been like working in London for the first time, working on two shows at once and even why they think Shakespeare is still popular, centuries after his death.

From the day she was born, Temi Wilkey has been destined to perform. This is made clear from her grand entrance into Soho Theatre Upstairs, dressed in a gorgeous and frilly red dressing gown that she slowly removes to reveal her bright pink outfit underneath as the audience cheers. Main Character Energy is “an autobiographical one woman show,” but it is also a “flamboyant parody” of the theatrical category at the same time. Being both writer and performer, Temi Wilkey truly becomes the main character of the night.

Marisha Wallace will be bringing her “biggest ever headline show” to the Adelphi Theatre for one-night only on 11 March. Recently, we had the chance to chat with Marisha Wallace about her upcoming concert. We discussed her journey from the States to the UK, her return to the Adelphi Theatre after she performed there in Waitress and even a bit about the creative process behind the show!

As someone with a love for musicals and comedy who grew up with an odd fascination around the Titanic and its tragic end, you can only imagine the excitement I felt seeing the press release for Jordan Brookes: Fontanelle. A comedy looking at the commodification of the Titanic that also has some musical aspects? It sounds too good to be true. Unfortunately, in quite a few ways, it is.

Airlock Theatre has returned to Soho Theatre with their “third big queer musical extravaganza” - Count Dykula. Written and performed by Eleanor Colville, Rosanna Suppa and Robbie Taylor Hunt, the show tells the story of the titular Count Dykula (Suppa), a butch vampire who simply wants to live her life in peace, terrorising children in the woods. However, Dykula’s loner way of life is no longer the norm for monsters, and she must go to the newly-established Scare University to figure out just whats happening to the classic monster way of life.

Ray O’Leary: Your Laughter Is Just Making Me Stronger is a classic kind of stand-up show with no real story throughout, but this also leads to several bits going on for too long as O’Leary appears to find his footing. Whether that’s a true struggle or if it's O’Leary simply putting on a show is for the audience to guess.

Written by and starring Aidan Pittman, Dr Dolittle Kills A Man (And Reads Extracts From His New Book) is set at an event where Dr Dolittle is, as one might guess, reading extracts from his new book, Dr John Dolittle: The Time of My Life. As the audience takes their seats, a number of slides appear on the screen with rules for the show. The show then starts with an introductory video that gives audiences an idea of what is to come in the next hour - jokes, references and visual gags that flash by at the speed of light.

Jin Hao Li: Swimming in a Submarine is the first stand-up show I have been to in which, before the show starts, the comedian goes around the audience, giving each person a thumbs-up and asking, “You good?” It’s a surprise, but a welcome one that makes something immediately clear - Jin Hao Li is not your average comedian.

Even before the show begins, Demi Adejuyigbe is Going To Do One (1) Backflip has me laughing with its preshow playlist, a fascinating tracklist of songs that have been turned into some absolutely wild mash-ups. From combining Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan to making a seamless transition from Kendrick Lamar to Fleetwood Mac, there are some surprisingly great ones - my particular favourite was ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” combined with Disturbed’s “Down with the Sickness!”

Glorious!, the musical about Florence Foster Jenkins, who is referred to by some as “the worst singer in the world,” is arriving at the Hope Mill Theatre later this month. Witten by Peter Quilter and directed by Kirk Jameson, the show aims to tell the true story of the American socialite, played in this production by Wendi Peters.