1. Soho Theatre entrance (Heloise Bergman / Time Out)
    Heloise Bergman / Time Out
  2. Soho Theatre sign (Andrew Brackenbury / Time Out)
    Andrew Brackenbury / Time Out
  3. Soho Theatre performace (Andrew Brackenbury / Time Out
)
    Andrew Brackenbury / Time Out

  4. Soho Theatre performace (Heloise Bergman / Time Out)
    Heloise Bergman / Time Out
  5. Soho Theatre exterior (Heloise Bergman  / Time Out)
    Heloise Bergman / Time Out

Soho Theatre

This neon-lit Soho venue is a megastore for the best comedy and fringe shows in town
  • Theatre | Off-West End
  • Soho
  • Recommended
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Time Out says

Its cool blue neon lights, front-of-house café and occasional late-night shows may blend it into the Soho landscape, but since taking up residence on Dean Street in 2000 Soho Theatre has made quite a name for itself.

Across three studio spaces, it puts on an eclectic line-up of work from some of the biggest names in comedy, spoken word, and cabaret, and hosts at least six different shows a night. If ever there were a place in London to get a year-round taste of the Edinburgh Fringe it's here, with its eclectic programming, late shows and ever-buzzing bar. Just don't expect to find deep-fried haggis on the menu - teas, coffees, and wine are the order of the day at Soho Theatre's chic cafe/bar, which is reliably packed out after 6pm.

It has to be said that Soho excels in almost every area apart from the production of good in-house theatre shows, something it's consistently struggled with (though it has many fine co-productions). But this barely impacts on anybody's good time, and it's hard to hold it against the most fun theatre in central London.

Details

Address
21 Dean St
London
W1D 3NE
Transport:
Tube: Tottenham Court Rd
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What’s on

Sh!t Theatre: Or What’s Left of Us

5 out of 5 stars
‘It is possible to be desperately sad and have fun at the same time’ declare Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole in Sh!t Theatre’s Or What’s Left of Us, and what a mantra that proves to be.  Their first Fringe show is since the pandemic is the wilfully shambolic alt theatre duo’s ‘Nebraska’ or ‘On the Beach’ – a stripped back, folk-inflected work made in response to heartache that is, nonetheless, an essential part of their peerless back catalogue.  At several points, they reference the title – which is best read as Sh!t Theatre (Or What’s Left of Us) – in saying that this isn’t ‘true’ Sh!t Theatre, because things have changed. But when your oeuvre takes in a show about Dolly Parton and mortality (DollyWould), a show about expat culture and state-sanctioned killings in Malta (Sh!t Theatre Drink Run with Expats) and most recently one about Eva Perron and the duo’s doubt about their future (Evita Too) then their latest’s blend of folk music and grief is hardly a stretch.  Indeed, superficially it’s classic Sh!ts, featuring the duo in costume – sort of mediaeval peasant garb with occasional ‘Wicker Man’-style animal heads – and singing songs while regaling us with some recent japes they had (that inevitably take on a deeper meaning as the show wears on).  In this case, they were sad so they really got into folk: much of the show is based around their account of a visit to a legendary Yorkshire folk club, plus various spin off events from their ‘folk revival period’: going...
  • Experimental

Joe Kent-Walters Is Frankie Monroe: Live!!!

4 out of 5 stars
This review is from the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The big word-of-mouth comedy hit at the 2024 Fringe is this outlandish yet perversely enjoyable late night gem from newcomer Huddersfield comic Joe Kent-Waters. Kind of like the degenerate, basement-raised offspring of ‘Phoenix Nights’ and ‘League of Gentlemen’ - not to mention Marlowe’s ‘Doctor Faustus’ - the nominal premise is that 24 years ago, Rotherham working men’s club owner Frankie made a pact with infernal powers: they offered him a wish and he asked that they preserve his club exactly how it was - immune to the outside world - until such time as they would return to drag him into hell. I would say that one hundred percent explains what happens in this show, but that’s kind of beside the point. Lumbering on in thick white face makeup that dissolves throughout the sweaty set, Monroe seems part infernal himself. Acting as emcee, he presides over a series of bizarre games, guest acts (all played by Kent-Waters) and audience interactions that do not in any way feel like they would have seemed current in the late ‘90s, or probably the early ’70s.  I was, er, delighted to find myself the participant in one of the interactions: early on Kent-Waters/Frankie – who is a pretty big lad it has to be said – demanded I hand over my wallet. Throughout the remainder of the night I was given a series of absurd, rigged opportunities to win it back – like guessing which marigold glove was filled with scampi fries. That sort of...
  • Character

Julia Masli: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

5 out of 5 stars
  You have a nagging problem in your life, who are you turning to? Your friends? Your therapist? What about your favourite agony aunt? Ultimately, the concept is flawed because it’s impossible to expect some celebrity journalist to sort your life out. Getting a clown to do it makes just as much sense, really.  Julia Masli’s widely acclaimed live agony aunt show was a runaway hit at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. On its opening night at Soho Theatre, the Estonian comedian comes out in a kind of deconstructed pantomime gown, bowling shoes and on her left arm, a full-sized mannequin leg with a microphone at the end. Beaming a light from the bike helmet on her head like a kind of ‘X-Files’ alien, she approaches audience members with laser-focus, asking, ‘Problem?’. The idea behind this wonderfully odd setup is that a problem shared is a problem halved.  A clown by trade, Masli’s 2022 show ‘Choosh’ traced a migrant’s journey from Eastern Europe to the US through Chaplin-style slapstick. This nonsensical humour underpins her style of stunt comedy, yet you can’t escape the sense of real earnestness coming from our hipster host. She plays the part of an innocent, otherworldly naif with aplomb.  The show is part-meditation (our host enters to the slow voiceover of ‘ha, ha, ha,’), part-group therapy session. And the direction of it is completely determined by the audience. Tonight, the issues range from the mundane ‘my dog barks at foxes’ to the all too relatable ‘my boss is...
  • Character

Adam Riches and John Kearns ARE ‘Ball & Boe’

Leftfield comics Riches and Kearns both are and aren’t keeping their cards close to their chests for this oddball seasonal extravganza. On the one hand we know exactly what it’s about: the duo will play Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, the actor-singers who are superstars in their own right and have done serious business as a double act. On the other hand they’re being deliberately opaque about what they actually have planned, even down to who is playing who. Neither Riches nor Kearns are noted for their singing voices; they are renowned for extreme commitment to the bit, no matter how absurd – in Riches’ case it borders on method. Whatever the hell happens, you’re unlikely to forget it in a hurry.
  • Character

Le Gateau Chocolat: Musicals Mayhem

The rumbling-voiced avatar of the cabaret spirit that is Le Gateau Chocolate returns for Christmas with a show in which he promises to cram ‘every single musical you know’ into one joyous jukebox hour. That seems likely to be a slight exaggeration, but look out for songs from Follies, Frozen, The Sound of Music, The Snowman and more besides.
  • Musicals
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