After years of swiping, a permanently single, professionally neurotic stand-up finally meets Mr. Right – and then does everything wrong. Strap in for a delightfully dark journey through self-awareness and self-sabotage as he decides whether love is worth the price of a killer punchline. This darkly comedic one-man show delves into the anxieties of modern life with razor-sharp wit, tackling everything from the fear of intimacy to the terror of vulnerability.
Runtime: 75 minutes with no intermission.
Please note: late seating will be determined at the discretion of House Management.
In the interest of welcoming people with a wide range of needs and life experiences, Studio offers a bit of information on what you will encounter in the play. Use this information as it is helpful to you.
Marcelo Dos Santos is an award-winning Latinx British-Brazilian-Australian writer. His play Backstairs Billy received the 2023 Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright. He has been a writer on attachment at the National Theatre, the Bush Theatre, HighTide Festival Theatre, as well as the Royal Court Theatre. In 2014 he adapted the critically acclaimed best-selling Zizou Corder novel Lionboy for Complicité, which toured extensively in the UK and internationally, including to the New Victory Theater Off Broadway, where it was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. In 2022 Marcelo received a Scotsman Fringe First award for Excellence in New Writing for his monologue Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen directed by Matthew Xia, starring Tony and Olivier-nominated Samuel Barnett. Critics hailed the play as “A masterclass in comic delivery” (WhatsOnStage), “razor sharp” (Scotsman), and “Frank, funny and occasionally filthy… following in the footsteps of Fleabag” (The Independent). The production transferred to London’s Bush Theatre in November of 2023. Marcelo’s other theatre work includes Trigger Warning at Camden People’s Theatre; The End of History, a site-responsive play staged at St Giles In The Fields in Soho; Open Plan at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; Knights directed by Michael Longhurst at Tristan Bates Theatre; and New Labour directed by Richard Wilson at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and Lovers Walk at Southwark Playhouse. On social media @marcelo_dos_santos_p
Matthew Xia is the multi-award-winning Artistic Director of Actors Touring Company. He was previously the Associate Artistic Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, where he established Open Exchange, an artist development scheme for over 400 next generation theatre-makers; a Director-in-Residence at The Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse; and the Associate Director at Theatre Royal Stratford East. He was an Associate Artist at the Nottingham Playhouse alongside James Graham and Amanda Whittington. His directing credits include Small Island at Leeds Playhouse/Nottingham Playhouse/Birmingham Rep/Actors Touring Company [ATC]; Tender at Soho Theatre; The Harder They Come, Sleeping Beauty, and The Blacks at Theatre Royal Stratford East [TRSE]; Bodies of Water with ATC/Greenwich + Docklands International Festival [GDIF]; Skeleton Crew at Donmar Warehouse; The Architect with GDIF/ATC/Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation; Tambo & Bones with ATC/TRSE; the Olivier Award-winning Hey Duggee – The Live Theatre Show with Kenny Wax Family Entertainment/Cuffe & Taylor Productions; the Fringe First Award-winning Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen with Francesca Moody Productions/Bush Theatre; Rice with ATC/Orange Tree Theatre; The Wiz with Ameena Hamid Productions/Hope Mill Theatre/BBC Big Night of Musicals; Family Tree with GDIF/ATC/Belgrade Theatre/Brixton House; 846Live at TRSE/GDIF; Amsterdam at ATC/Orange Tree/Plymouth Theatre Royal; Blood Knot at Orange Tree Theatre; Eden at Hampstead Theatre; One Night In Miami… at Nottingham Playhouse/Bristol Old Vic/HOME; Into The Woods and Frankenstein at the Royal Exchange; Wish List at Royal Exchange/Royal Court; Shebeen at Nottingham Playhouse/TRSE; Dublin Carol at Sherman Theatre; Blue/Orange and The Sound of Yellow at the Young Vic; Sizwe Banzi is Dead at the Young Vic/Eclipse; and I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky (Co-Director) at TRSE/Barbican.
Steven Webb began his career starring as the titular character in Sam Mendes’s production of Oliver! (London Palladium). Since then, he has appeared in a wide range of film, television and theatre. Stevie most recently performed in the UK premiere of Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shucked at the Regent’s Open Air Theatre after previously performing in the tour of the Dolly Parton Musical Here You Come Again as ‘Kevin’. Prior to this he completed a long stint starring as ‘Elder McKinley’ in the West End run of The Book of Mormon. He’s also perhaps best known as ‘Posner’ in the second casting of The History Boys. Other theatre credits include I Want My Hat Back, On the Shore of the Wide World (National Theatre), As Is (Trafalgar Studios) as well as many productions at the Lyric Hammersmith including seven shows in Sean Holmes’ creative ensemble ‘Secret Theatre’. His many television credits include the upcoming BBC series Twenty Twenty Six, BBC's Miranda, E4’s The Inbetweeners, and ITV’s Believe Me. On social media at @mrsteviewebb
Sophie Drake is an award-winning theatre director and dramaturg, recipient of the 2024 Stage Debut Award for Best Director (The Bleeding Tree by Angus Cerini) and runner-up for the 2025 RTST Sir Peter Hall Award.
As Director:
Upcoming: Victoria: A Queen Unbound (Watermill Theatre)
Previous: Charley’s Aunt (Watermill Theatre); Burying Your Brother in The Pavement (Rose Bruford Final Year); The Bleeding Tree (Southwark Playhouse - winner of Best Director at Stage Debut Award’s 2024 and 5x Off-West-End award nominations including Best Director); Sea Wall (Turner Contemporary/ International Tour); The Society for New Cuisine (Dramaturg - Underbelly Edinburgh Fringe); I Lived for Art (The Guildhall, Salisbury); My Boys (Theatre503); Constellations (Hen & Chickens Theatre/ Banham Theatre).
As Assistant and Associate Director: Mrs Warren’s Profession (Garrick Theatre); Hamlet (RSC); The Hunt (St. Ann’s Warehouse); Patriots (Almeida Theatre/ West End/ Broadway); Backstairs Billy (Duke of York’s Theatre); Doctor Who: Time Fracture (Immersive Everywhere); Hamlet; The Cherry Orchard; The Chalk Garden (Theatre Royal Windsor); God’s Dice (Soho Theatre); The Weatherman (Park Theatre); Maggie May (Finborough Theatre); In Lipstick (Pleasance Theatre); A Sticky Season (Tristan Bates Theatre); Homos, or Everyone in America (Finborough Theatre).
Film includes: Hamlet (BKL- Ian McKellen)
Kat Heath’s theatre and opera credits include Madama Butterfly at the Irish National Opera/Scottish Opera/Bord Gáis; Dixon and Daughters at Clean Break/National Theatre; Typical Girls at Clean Break/Sheffield Crucible; Albert Herring at Scottish Opera; An Ideal Husband and The New Electric Ballroom at The Gate Theatre Dublin; Il tabarro at the Copenhagen Opera Festival; EXXY with Dan Daw Creative Projects, International Tour; The Importance Of Being Earnest and The Two Worlds Of Charlie F at Theatre Royal Haymarket; Punk Alley at Moxie Brawl/Southbank Centre; The Secret Garden at The Egg Theatre, Bath; Our Man In Havana at the Watermill Theatre; and The Ancient Oak Of Baldor, The Bar At The Edge Of Time, 2065, Night Out In Nature, Fire Songs, and The Isle Of Brimsker with Frozen Light Theatre, UK Touring.
Elliot Griggs trained at RADA. Theatre credits include Man and Boy at the National Theatre; Eureka Day at Nottingham Playhouse; Blue Mist, all of it, A Fight Against... (Una Lucha Contra), On Bear Ridge, and Yen at Royal Court; English at Kiln Theatre/Royal Shakespeare Company; Jitney at the Old Vic Theatre/Headlong; The Lonely Londoners at Kiln Theatre/Jermyn Street; Something Old, Something New at Sheffield Theatres; O Island! and Ivy Tiller: Vicar’s Daughter, Squirrel Killer at the Royal Shakespeare Company; The Big Life and Beautiful Thing at Theatre Royal Stratford East; Sweat, No Pay? No Way!, Queens of the Coal Age, and The Night Watch at Royal Exchange; Amélie the Musical at Criterion Theatre/UK Tour; The Wild Duck at Almeida Theatre; The Lover/The Collection at The Harold Pinter Theatre; Fleabag at Wyndham’s Theatre/International Tour; and An Octoroon at National Theatre/Orange Tree Theatre.
Max Pappenheim’s theatre work includes The Forsyte Saga Part 1 & 2 at the Royal Shakespeare Company/Park Theatre; Christmas Day at the Almeida Theatre; Noughts & Crosses and Twelfth Night at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre; A Raisin in the Sun at Headlong Theatre; The Night of the Iguana at Noel Coward Theatre; The School for Scandal and Crooked Dances at the Royal Shakespeare Company; Cruise at Apollo Theatre/Duchess Theatre; Coram Boy, and Macbeth at the Chichester Festival Theatre; Shed: Exploded View at the Royal Exchange Theatre; A Doll’s House, Part 2 and The Way of the World at The Donmar Warehouse; The Cardinal, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Usagi Yojimbo, Johnny Got His Gun, and Teddy at Southwark Playhouse; and Personal Values, The Habits, The Invention of Love, King James, Nineteen Gardens, Blackout Songs, Linck and Mülhahn, and Labyrinth at Hampstead Theatre.
Madison Bahr (she/her)’s Studio Theatre productions include John Proctor is the Villain, White Pearl, Queen of Basel, Murder Ballad, and Torch Song Trilogy. Other regional credits include Cabaret at Olney Theatre Center; Daphne’s Dive, Gun & Powder, and Billy Elliot: The Musical at Signature Theatre (DC); The Little Mermaid at Imagination Stage; Kiss and Guards at the Taj at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; Becoming Dr. Ruth at Theater J; and Next Fall and Glengarry Glen Ross at Round House Theatre. Madison holds a BA in Theatre with a focus in Stage Management from the University of Maryland (College Park). Madison is very excited to finally be back at Studio–where she also served as the Assistant Production Manager–after leaving to join the team at Theater J as the Director of Production.
FMP is an Olivier Award-winning, Tony-nominated production company whose work in theatre has originated two of the most globally successful television shows of the last decade: Fleabag and Baby Reindeer. They make original theatre, television, film and audio, with a focus on finding the right home for the right story and growing it over time—from tiny fringe theatres to the West-End, to the next big Amazon television series and beyond. Recent work has ranged from West End musical Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! to Olivier-nominated solo play Weather Girl, as well as international productions in the USA, France, and Australia and pop-up venue Shedinburgh, which showcases the best of the Fringe scene. FMP work with leading writers and nurtures new talent to produce bold, award-winning shows with huge potential and something to say—be it drama, comedy, horror, or musicals, their work is itch-scratching, big-swinging and full of heart.
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