Lambeth Fringe Festival has announced its first wave of more than 200 shows taking part this year, with new venues added to the ever-growing celebration and championing of emerging and underrepresented artists. Running through September and October, the programme features theatre, comedy, cabaret, music and family events showcases the vibrant culture and community of Lambeth. Some highlights include How To Direct A Funeral, a theatre show opening at Bread & Roses Theatre (2 Oct before returning to & 23 Oct at St Stephen’s Chapel West Norwood Cemetery 23 Oct,) the stand-up set Double Fantasy: A Stand Up Comedy Show (1 Oct at Sparrowhawk & 22 Oct at Effra Social) from a Ukrainian comedian and a comedian from up North, spoken word piece The World at 15mph… ish (17 Oct at Bread & Roses Pub John Burns Room & 18 Oct at Great North Wood) details how Naomi cycled 20,000 miles around the world with a man she’d only met three times, and music in comforting, feel-good cabaret Happy Heart – The Songs of Andy Williams (17 Oct) at Toulouse Lautrec.
More venues have joined the festival, with events taking place in theatre, comedy venues, libraries, music venues and accessible community spaces. New venues this year include South London Theatre, music venues Off the Cuff and Toulouse Lautrec, and a new partnership formed with Lambeth Libraries.
Programme highlights include:
Week 1, 24 – 27 Sept: The international production Los años maravillosos: Archive, Image and Collapse (24 Sept) is a solo performance exploring the construction and collapse of identity through image, memory and archival material. Over at House of NEON in 梦人 Dreammaker (24 Sept), audiences are invited to wander through different dreams, memories and pauses, align with the absurdity, vulnerability and courage of dreaming. Dance fans can also catch Mekhala & Ramasura: The Jewel of Light and the Storm (25 Sept), journeying through Thai mythology, and Obit (26 Sept) – which combines poetry, ballet and shadow visuals to honour lives – both at The Bread & Roses Theatre. For artists looking to improve their creative problem solving, workshop Theatre Makers’ Secret Weapon (26 Sept) takes place at the Bread & Roses Pub John Burns Room. Wrapping up the weekend, music lovers can see singer and acoustic guitar player Floë Brown (27 Sept) at Off the Cuff, while family and comedy fans can catch professor of incredibly stupid magic KIZZA – COMEDY MAGIC SHOW (27 Sept) at Vaulty Towers.
Week 2, 28 Sept – 4 Oct: Opening the week, spoken word show No Photos (28 & 29 Sept) is a raw and funny telling of a socially anxious man who avoids the camera at Vaulty Towers. Interactive performance Love vs Fear (…and my mother’s prayers) (30 Sept & 1 Oct) at The Bread & Roses Theatre sees a young woman trying to follow her heart despite pressures from her religious mother and cultural differences as a Nigerian in diaspora. At The Glitch, Sex, Drugs and DnB (3 Oct) reflects on years of illegal raves and drug addiction from the views of Bea, now four years sober, while the Bureau of Silly Ideas hosts both surreal romp in pursuit of love If You Like Piña Coladas with Bum Notes (3 Oct) and scott manley hadley: Seventeen Songs About Lonely Vampires (3 Oct). For families, The Untold Fable of Fritz (3 & 4 Oct) is inspired by Philip Pullman’s short story Clockwork and comes to The Bread & Roses Theatre, followed by the musical stylings of Bow & Reed (4 Oct) at Off the Cuff.
Week 3, 5 – 11 Oct: Mid-week comedy returns with NHS doctors performing in GP Receptionist Appreciation Society (6 Oct) at The Bread & Roses Theatre, alongside spoken word show that responds to audience suggestions, Ben Macpherson Does Poems at Adults (6 Oct), at Vaulty Towers. Podcast afficionados can catch the live recording of Martin Corrigan Holds Court & The Big Bald Book Club (8 Oct). For family audiences, International Bubbleologise and World Record Holder Ray Bubbles brings The Ultimate Bubble Show (9 Oct) to Longfield Hall, and interactive parody 70s game show Cornershop Showdown (9 Oct) comes to Teahouse Theatre. Finally, The Big Cheese (10 & 11 Oct) brings comedy – and possibly some nibbles – to the Golden Goose Theatre.
Week 4, 12 – 18 Oct: Further NHS comedy is supplied (this time in drag) by Sister Brandy Bex: Progress In Work (16 Oct) at The Glitch, alongside magic show Wish (16 Oct) at Teahouse Theatre. On Saturday, kids can enjoy Humdinger Words for Whippersnappers and Guttersnipes (17 Oct) at West Norwood Library with highly unusual and entertaining supply teacher with a hypnotist past ‘Mr Dali’, while those looking for satirical comedy can see what might happen if work spreadsheets and policies met with explosive consequences in HR at the Bomb Factory (17 Oct) at Calder Bookshop & Theatre. The weekend also features character comedy Chair Woman (17 & 18 Oct), a tightly-choreographed conspiracy thriller about the intense world of upholstery at The Bread & Roses.
Week 5, 19 – 25 Oct: The final week of the festival features a packed theatrical lineup with Tall Tails (19 – 21 Oct) about five mermaids having a quarter-life crisis at Golden Goose Theatre, character comedy returns to the workplace, this time a recruitment consultant in Clots (21 & 22 Oct) at The Bread & Roses Theatre. Stand-up comedy Bad Indian (21 & 22 Oct) explores identity, masculinity, family pressure, and belonging through the lens of the British South Asian experience at Bread and Roses Pub John Burns Room. In the music programme, TESSELLATUM (21 Oct) is ‘ambient music for short attention spans’ performed on viola at Central Film School. Moving into the weekend, A Heart in Two Places (22 – 23 Oct) at Central Film School is theatre that asks what makes you human if you can be cloned, and The Unexpected Depth of Grief felt by Goats (23 – 24 Oct) explores the different guises of grief through the lens of two men inheriting a funeral home at Golden Goose Theatre. Lastly, short film screening Thank God It’s Doomsday (23 Oct) sees a man wake up in a deserted pub on humanity’s final day at Central Film School, and comedy LOTR (the condensed version) (23 – 24 Oct) is at Teahouse Theatre.
Festival directors Velenzia Spearpoint and Rebecca Pryle said, “We’re thrilled to see the Lambeth Fringe continue to grow in its third year under its new name, with 28 venues and over 200 different events bringing creativity and live performance to communities across Lambeth. This year’s application process was one of our strongest yet, which made curating the programme both incredibly exciting and a real challenge, as there was so much brilliant work to choose from. We’re proud to be supporting such a diverse range of artists and companies, from emerging voices to established performers and to continue creating opportunities for innovative and accessible work to reach new audiences. The Lambeth Fringe is all about celebrating the incredible creativity that exists across the borough and beyond and we can’t wait to share this year’s programme.”
Lambeth Fringe is produced by the team behind the award-winning Bread & Roses Theatre, a 50-seat fringe venue above The Bread & Roses Pub. Committed to championing diverse voices and outstanding new work, the theatre presents a year-round programme of in-house and visiting productions. Following the award of Lambeth Council’s RE:Purpose Grant in January 2026, the venue underwent a major regeneration, reinforcing its long-term commitment to supporting artists, growing culture across Lambeth, and providing a thriving home for independent theatre.