An Ode to the Casting Director – Sophie Fisher  4.5****

Sophie Fisher’s ‘An Ode to the Casting Director’ is a captivating solo performance that brilliantly captures the surreal highs and crushing lows of life as an aspiring actor. In a sold-out, intimate venue at the Gilded Balloon’s Patter House, … Read More

Troubled – Suzy Crothers 4.5****

You’re welcomed into Troubled, not just with a warm smile, but with a cup of tea and a Tunnock’s Tea Cake, and this immediately sets the tone for the hour ahead: intimate, generous, and deeply human. Suzy Crothers holds the room in her … Read More

The Lolita Apologies 4****

In the small Hill Street venue, a young woman named Alex energetically bursts onto stage, determined for retribution for a collection of cultural misunderstandings of a classic novel. ‘The Lolita Apologies’ is a one-act play in which Alex reckons … Read More

Sam Blythe – Method in My Madness (A One-Man Hamlet) 4****

An excellent one-man Hamlet that’s part homage, part breakdown. Sam Blythe walks in silently and begins the tightrope between tribute and psychodrama, offering a stripped-back, emotionally textured, and slightly surreal take on Hamlet. It opens in near silence — a … Read More

Julia. 1984 – 4.5****

Julia 1984 is a bold reimagining of George Orwell’s 1984, with themes of surveillance, power, and personal betrayal. Set against a sparse but meticulously designed backdrop—a shadowy room split by slatted lighting and an ever-watching eye projected onto a … Read More

Delusions and Grandeur – 4.5****

Karen Hall’s Delusions and Grandeur is an unflinchingly honest and darkly comic take on the complex, often invisible cost to one’s existence as a professional artist. Before a note is played or a line delivered, Hall welcomes the audience with … Read More

Sluts With Consoles 3***

Are you a gamer? Is there a gamer in your life? Do you know what they get up to?  Sluts With Consoles digs deep into the world of gaming and how it’s changed over the years.

From harmless hand held … Read More

Hold the Line  4****

Hold The Line is a sharply written two-hander, an unflinching look at the emotional strain of working on the NHS 111 frontline. Performed in the brick-vaulted confines of Bunker 2 at the Pleasance, with the audience gathered tightly around, … Read More

Consumed  4****

Consumed is a pitch-black comedy by Karis Kelly that brings four generations of Northern Irish women together in a domestic kitchen for matriarch Eileen’s 90th birthday. Her daughter Gillian hosts the gathering in her home, where she also cares … Read More

How To Become A Movie Star? – 4****

Sarah Jane Lafferty is the writer and performer of this brand new one woman show. She is a born raconteur, and her conversational tone draws you in right from the start.  As a rather precocious child in Ireland, she … Read More