Comedy scripts to be showcased at Soho Theatre
- The Soho Theatre has announced a new 'Comedy Project' season
- Eight comedy scripts will be performed on stage during March
- Writers include Pippa Evans, William Andrews, Lilah Vandenburgh and Toby Williams
Pilot comedy scripts are to be performed at London's Soho Theatre in a series of performances dubbed 'The Comedy Project'.
Uncle co-writer Lilah Vandenburgh, and writer-performers William Andrews, Eleanor Morton, Pippa Evans, Ruth Bratt and Lucy Porter will be amongst those showcasing their work across Mondays in March.
Rosalind Adler launched The Comedy Project in the late 1990s, born from the highly successful Comedy Rep, which the Soho Theatre had hosted for several years. Previous contributors include Mathew Horne, Felicity Montagu, Jeremy Swift, Cariad Lloyd and John Kearns.
The theatre explains: "The Comedy Project offers audiences the unique chance to see new work from well-established writers performed alongside material from the best in up-and-coming comedy talent. It has changed shape and structure many times but has always been committed to giving audiences, both industry and others, the chance to be the first to see new comedy writing on its feet. Two pieces will be presented each night with the content ranging from off-book sitcom pilots to on-book radio episodes, from stand-up shows to sketches and short films."
They add: "Since 2015 Hollie Ebdon has been co-producing with Adler and both are over the moon with the scripts, writers and cast for this year's season."
One of the scripts, Evie, by Evelyn Mok, has already been picked up by a production company. Me & You Productions, the award-winning producers behind shows such as Hoff The Record is backing the script.
They say: "We love Evelyn's distinctive comedy voice as a romantically dysfunctional woman in the world of academia. She has captured the zeitgeist of being an anxiety riddled millennial, through a unique ensemble of characters who haven't got their shit together."
The projects are:
Albert, Grace And All Her Lovers (6th March)
A story by William Andrews about two authors and the letters they write to one another. Two very different people whose careers couldn't be further apart but whose friendship keeps them close.
Andrews will be joined on stage by Shenoah Allen, Tom Golding and Yasmine Akram.
Family Outing (6th March)
Sitcom script by Eleanor Morton about siblings Steven and Emma who must navigate the world of adulthood, sexuality, rivalry, and their weird Scottish parents.
Judgement Day (13th March)
"Life on our planet is over, so in Heaven it's Judgement Day for the 100 billion-plus people who've ever walked the Earth. Where to begin? And who will run the trials?" A script by Rosalind Adler.
The Change (13th March)
Sally is enjoying a post-separation second adolescence while Sophie, her twenty-something daughter, is struggling to cope with her parents' split and the responsibilities of 'adulting'. The two women find themselves fatefully juxtaposed whilst trying to coexist under the same roof.
This sitcom by Sian Goff is directed by Derek and Desmond's producer Charlie Hanson.
Forty Eelephants (20th March)
A script jointly written and performed by comedy stars Pippa Evans, Ruth Bratt and Lucy Porter.
It is described as "The beginnings of a show about South London's first girl gang - who had a penchant for fur, diamonds and good elocution."
The PI's Apprentice (20th March)
Talented graduate and all round good egg Michael Hock is in a tight spot with his landlord and takes the first job he can get - assistant to a Private Investigator. But the world of a real PI is far removed from what Michael, or anyone else, would imagine and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why nobody else wanted the job. The PI's Apprentice is based on the experiences of writer Toby Williams, who worked as a Private Investigator in his 20s.
Williams will be joined on stage by Tom Rosenthal, Louisa Connolly-Burnham and Nathaniel Tapley.
Evie (27th March)
25-year-old PHD-student Evie is apathetic in the dating department. Guided by her fearless best friend Sue and screwball brother Bobby, she sets out on a yes-man year of sexscapades to turn it around and get laid. A script by by Evelyn Mok.
Nightshift (27th March)
A new comedy by Uncle co-writer Lilah Vandenburgh. Banished to an unpopular technology blog, an old-school print journalist is forced to work the night shift with an American hacker/conspiracy nut in a basement computer lab containing a haunted portal to the Internet.
The showcase performances start at 7:15pm (7pm on 27th March). Tickets, priced £10, are now available from sohotheatre.com