WHAT'S ON at THE LION AND UNICORN
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1816: The Year Without A Summer
30 September - 4 October
Trapped indoors by torrential rain, legendary writers Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley and their friends, Polidori and Claire search for inspiration by the gloomy Lake Geneva. Driven by a culmination of boredom and desire for escapism, they undertake the challenge of creating the best ghost story. Weeks of writer's block is overcome, as writing begins in a fervour.
But things fall apart the longer they are stuck together, with tensions slowly beginning to fester. Tormented by their drive and isolation, the group finally splinters, leaving each character to reflect on the heavy cost of their creative ambitions. Polidori’s diary is brought to life in the 1816: The Year Without A Summer musical.
It’s Byron and Shelley, as you've never seen them before in this Friends meets Frankenstein comedy-drama musical, brought to you by the same company that launched SIX: ‘1816’ is the ultimate origin story of the first modern vampire novel and Frankenstein, where a group of five Romantics get trapped for a summer they'd rather forget in their storm-swept villa by Lake Geneva...
The Time Machine
5 and 6 October
Proforca Theatre Company present "The Time Machine" - A Project from The Side Hustle for the Lion & Unicorn Theatre.
Our next new writing showcase brings you a brilliant suite of new pieces of writing at all stages of the construction process and is a fantastic opportunity to see writers, performers, directors and creatives of all kinds showcasing brand new work over two incredible nights of theatre.
Our Side Hustles are fun, busy, warm and generous evenings where the best emerging talent in London shares its new work with you, and is the perfect chance to see some incredible brand new work at the genesis of its new adventure.
Goodnight, Grace Channing
8 - 12 Oct
3:56am.
It’s late. Very late… And Grace Channing can’t sleep.
When a mysterious visitor appears in Grace’s room at night – claiming to be ‘The Sandman’, Grace is understandably concerned. What's more concerning is that the visitor seems just as shocked as Grace is. Though as the two of them talk – and the night passes by - they realise that, for the first time in a long time… Someone truly sees them.
Written by Ciarán Cross & Gee Cusk: ‘Goodnight, Grace Channing’ is an offbeat, Fantasy-Comedy about the complexities of loneliness, isolation and human connection. Combining live music, spoken word and poetry; with the heart-warming story of two invisible souls trying to feel seen.
“A show that belongs to the people who feel they don’t belong.”
– Audience Review
We'll burn that bridge when we get to it: and I guess that's now
14 - 18 Oct
"We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it: and I guess that’s now” is about the end of everything, metaphorically. Or literally. Or both. At the end of their time together, and time itself, Tophe asks El to join him in throwing every last piece of the universe into a bonfire. El agrees – knowing this is the final chance for the two of them to work through their turbulent history.
Not in the mood for quiche anymore
21 - 25 Oct
Becks wants a boyfriend. She meets her dream man on-line, yet the discovery of his criminal conviction rather complicates the matter. But just how bad can it be...?
Becks can’t believe it when she thinks she’s found her ideal partner to break her cycle of singledom, only there’s one small issue – his criminal record. After their first date she’s hooked, but as he reels her in, a question mark looms over who he really is. The closer Becks gets, the more she’s at risk of being caught in his net.
The Summoned
28 October - 1 November
A dark and twisted Halloween thriller, centred around a group of 5 very different people, who are lured to a ritual in an abandoned monastery. The longer the night goes on they realise their ritual master ‘Lucian’ is not just an actor playing a role, he is something much much darker.
Will they make it out alive, or will the ritual claim them forever?
The Summoned is an edge-of-your-seat, unpredictable, fast paced Halloween thriller, guaranteed to shake the foundations of what you know is real.
Join our group in a ritual which goes life changingly wrong.
Will they get out alive?
Are you ready to meet The Summoned?
Jamless 4 - 8 November
Ro shows up in the middle of the night like a bad memory — all Chelsea boots, borrowed poshness, and secrets she’s still not ready to tell. Ginny’s got a frying pan in one hand, a grudge in the other, and no patience left.
They haven’t seen each other in five years.
The attic’s full of dust, old boxes, and things better left alone. But when Ro starts digging — literally and emotionally — the past starts kicking up more than just cobwebs. There’s a shoebox Ginny swore she'd never open. A letter hid under a trunk. And a voice note from a man Ro’s running from.
Jamless is about two working-class sisters trying to make sense of a house they never felt safe in, a family that never made space for them, and the cost of surviving when no one teaches you how.
There’s no jam. But there’s toast. And tea. And truth.
Taylor-Made Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the B*dy 25 - 29 November
'Taylor-Made Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the B*dy' follows Grace, a trans woman who – in a final bid for validation – summons Elizabeth Taylor from the afterlife, only to trigger a cosmic crisis.
Set between London’s queer underworld and the celestial bureaucracy of Heaven, the play navigates gender, iconhood and the messy pursuit of self-acceptance with razor-sharp wit and heart.
TO PURCHASE TICKETS CLICK HERE
