RIVERSIDE STUDIOS ANNOUNCES FULL AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER THEATRE, COMEDY AND CABARET PROGRAMME

NEW PROGRAMME INCLUDES:

LIVE NEXT TO THE APOLLO (ONGOING, CELEBRATING TWO YEARS AT RIVERSIDE IN SEPTEMBER)

 THREE BILLION LETTERS (12 AUGUST-17 AUGUST),  COLLAPSE (6-31 AUGUST), YES I AM! (16 AUGUST-6 SEPTEMBER) A MANCHESTER ANTHEM (19 AUGUST-13 SEPTEMBER), OUR 1972 (21-24 AUGUST), INTERVIEW (23 AUGUST-22 SEPTEMBER), NOOK (23-24 AUGUST), A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DRINK (28-29 AUGUST) AND THE EMPIRE STRIPS BACK (RUNNING UNTIL 17 AUGUST), SHOTGUNNED (12-28 SEPTEMBER), BROWN GIRL NOISE (16-28 SEPTEMBER),  BLESSINGS (30 SEPTEMBER-26 OCTOBER)

TICKETS AND FURTHER INFORMATION AVAILABLE HERE

The whole team at Riverside Studios is delighted to announce the dynamic and diverse theatre, comedy and cabaret programme coming up this August and September, offering a mix of heartwarming comedy, cutting-edge theatre, and genre-defying new works for all ages at the iconic West London arts venue.

Live Next to the Apollo (27 June – 27 February) is Riverside Studios’ smash-hit stand-up night that’s been selling out since it launched two years ago. Founded by TV producer and compere Jonathan Stadlen, this warm, welcoming comedy night has built a loyal audience and become a key part of Riverside’s rich comedy legacy – following in the footsteps of legends like Lenny Henry, Lee Mack, and Bill Bailey. With over 100 shows and counting, and an Instagram following generating over a million views a month, the buzz is undeniable.

Tuesday nights are packed with up to six rising comedy stars, all for just £6.50. On Fridays, audiences can enjoy a Comedy Store-level lineup featuring the best comics on the circuit, along with favourite faces from the Tuesday shows and big-name headliners – for just £12. With every penny of profit going directly to the acts, Live Next to the Apollo is not just brilliant value, it’s also helping to support the next wave of UK comedy talent. This season's run includes appearances by Live AT The Apollo alumni Laura Smyth, Marcus Brigstocke, Esther Manito, Tom Ward and Paul Tonkinson – and the two-year anniversary show celebration lands on 26 September.

Three Billion Letters (12-17 August) is a dynamic theatrical performance created and produced by TAKDAJA, merging art and science. Created from the team’s personal DNA test results, the show mixes data and text to investigate how heritage defines us. The show asks the questions: how does knowing one’s DNA influence our current reality and the path forward as we continue to build a sense of our existence?

Press night 13 August at 7:45 pm. Press contact: Mimmi Bauer - info@takdaja.com 

Collapse (6-31 August) by Allison Moore is a sharp, dark comedy that looks at the life of Hannah in the wake of economic uncertainty, infertility, and work issues. When her rebellious sister arrives with a mysterious package, Hannah and her husband are thrust into a wild 12-hour journey that tests the limits of love, fear, and survival.

Press night 6 August.

SPID Theatre Company celebrates its 20^th anniversary with Yes I Am! (Saturday, 16, 23, 30 August and 6 September). It's taken two decades of housing activism to make this epic true-life story of hope sharing the history of social housing in an interactive performance Through film and collective action, it exposes the insidious horror of divide and rule and turns a spotlight on negligent landlords' managed decline of mental health.

The redemptive show is performed by SPID’s Artistic Director, Helena Thompson, who founded the award-winning charity in her youth to champion art that advocates housing justice. This is the uplifting, educational story of how she raised £4m to restore her council estate theatre, spear headed estate wide refurbishment and sued the landlord SPID shares with Grenfell. The performance has been developed over the course of SPID’s 7-year refurbishment, which began following the Grenfell Tower fire and completed this year. It marks the launch of SPID’s join justice campaign, having toured estates, museums, cinemas and theatres nationwide.

Press night 16 August; press contact Caroline Ansdell - caroline@capr.co.uk 

The sell-out Fringe hit A Manchester Anthem (19 August-13 September) is billed as ‘joyously uplifting’, telling the story of Tommy, a young working-class Mancunian who has been accepted into Oxford. He's the first in his family to go to uni – the first on his street in fact…Tommy takes on his last big night out in Manchester, as he gears up to leave the city he loves. The lights are bright, and the floors are sticky, but will the music stay loud enough to drown out the wedge dividing Tommy between old and new, here and there? The show was the winner of the Pleasance Pick of VAULT Festival Award, Show of the Week winner and Off Fest nominee.

Press night 20 August; press contact Liv Gadner - liv@katemorleypr.com 

After a sell-out London premiere, Springbok Production Houses’ Our 1972 returns to the Riverside Studios (21-24 August). Set at a seismic moment in queer British history, Our 1972 follows Andy and Benjamin - two university students who fall in love, fall into protest and help build the first ever Gay Pride march in London. As Thatcherism stirs and the first shadows of the AIDS crisis emerge, two young men try to hold on to each other, Our 1972 is a love letter to queer resistance - and to those who came before.

More details on press performances will follow. Please contact springbokproductionhouse@gmail.com for more information. 

Interview (Studio 2, 23 August-27 September) is a seductive psychological thriller about truth, persona, and power. Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard (Dead Poets Society; House; London: Our Town, To Kill a Mocking Bird; Broadway: Sunday In The Park With George, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Invention of Love (Tony Award)) and Paten Hughes (A View From the Bridge; Stolen Girl; Heirloom) star in this world premiere new stage adaptation of Interview, which is seductive two-handed psychological thriller about truth, persona, and gender power. It plays at Riverside Studios for an exclusive limited engagement.

Interivew starring Robert Sean Leonard

Katya (Paten Hughes,) a fiercely intelligent influencer turned movie star, is sick of being underestimated, objectified...and misrepresented by journalists...especially the male ones. When the fading political journalist Pierre Peters (Robert Sean Leonard) is assigned to interview her, he's bitter and dismissive, but Katya has her own reasons for agreeing to the encounter.  A tense evening in her New York apartment swiftly spirals into a volatile game of confession, confrontation, and manipulation. In an era where every screenshot can go viral, nothing is off the record. Adapted for the stage and directed by Teunkie Van Der Sluijs, this provocative play is adapted from the screenplay by Theodor Holman and the 2003 film by Theo van Gogh and reimagined for a world of influencer culture, media distrust, and gender power plays. 

Press night 28 August; press contact Didi Ralph from Emma Holland PR didi@emmahollandpr.com 

Nook (23-24 August) follows four estranged children who meet at the family home to hear the reading of their mother’s will, and who consequently battle out their wants for the future as their mother plays one final game with them. A black comedy that explores family tensions, trauma, foster care, adoption, domestic and sexual violence, the play explores the lengths we go to protect the false memories that allow us to be normal.

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream gets a modern, chaotic makeover in A Midsummer Night’s Drink (28-29 August). Taking the classic tale and adding a high energy re-imaging, this show is set against the beats of 2000s club music, with love triangles and mistaken identities, mixed with magical mischief through a contemporary lens of queer love, desire to impress, and friendship.  The production promises an evening of laughter, awkward dad-dancing, and hilariously drunken performances.

Empire Strips Back (running until 17 August) continues to transport audiences to a galaxy far, far away, to a world of burlesque fantasy, of menacing and sexy dance, of dangerous seduction, of hilarious parody, and even the droids you're looking for. The legacy’s favourite characters are scantily clad, seriously sultry and live on stage in this parody production.

Shotgunned (12-28 September) is Kangaroo Court’s debut theatrical production. Written and directed by Matt Anderson, it tells the story of Dylan and Roz, a couple who unexpectedly fall out of love. Described as equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, Shotgunned is a new, intimate piece of theatre centred around the people we lose that shape who we become. It is a deeply relatable tale of joy, loss, and reconciliation, and has been met with great acclaim throughout the UK in 2024  – including a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Press night 15 September.

Brown Girl Noise (16-18 September) is back - bigger, better, and noisier! After a successful sold-out run at The Hope Theatre and then the Glitch Theatre, the show is set for a two-week run at Riverside Studios, and is a fierce, funny, and deeply human celebration of South Asian womanhood in all its complexity. Created by and starring South Asian women, this is a show about finding your feet on British streets and learning to make noise through skits, stories, and spoken word. A LPT Standing Ovation award finalist and ‘A MUST SEE SHOW!’ Brown Girl Noise is as bold as it is heartfelt: a protest and a party all at once. Proudly partnered with The South Asian Beauty Collective and L’Oreal Paris.

Press night 17 September 7.45; press contact Kaya at browngirlnoise@outlook.com

Blessings (30 September-26 October) is set in a small English town in the 1960s, where formidable matriarch Dorie Deacon is determined to keep her Catholic family respectable while Frank, her husband, maintains a silence that suggests he sees more than he’s ever let on. But as their children return home to celebrate their traditional family Easter, their carefully constructed image begins to crack. Full of plenty of unspoken truths lying under the surface, the household is a pressure cooker ready to blow.  As secrets inch toward the surface and confessions are avoided, tension mounts towards a devastating and unforgettable climax.

The full cast includes:  Gary Webster (Minder, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks), Freddie Webster, Jane Slavin (Call the Midwife), Emily Lane (Frozen, Les Miserables, Hello Dolly), Hannah Traylen (Boiling Point, Educating Rita) and Milly Roberts.

Press night 2 October; press contact: Alison Duguid - alison@aduguidpr.co.uk.

Head of Programming, Rhys Williamson said: “Riverside Studios continues to offer an unparalleled variety of theatrical experiences, celebrating both emerging artists and established talent in an intimate, innovative and culturally historic setting.”