WHAT'S ON at THE LION AND UNICORN
At a glance listings
Doomsday
29 September - 3 October
After 104 interviews, Oscar has finally landed a job: Threat Analyst at the dysfunctional office behind the Doomsday Clock, the bulletin that measures how close humanity is to the end of the world. As global tensions spiral over the course of his increasingly ridiculous first day on the job, the office receives a classified government secret that sends his colleagues into panic, completely and utterly collapsing under the pressure. With the clock edging ever closer to midnight, can Oscar step up and prevent catastrophe?
Unfortunately, there's one small problem.
Oscar isn't Oscar. He's Ethan. And with absolutely zero qualifications, he's somehow stumbled into a high-paying job assessing the threat of nuclear war... on the day the bombs fall.
The debut play from George Evans & Wilf Walsworth, DOOMSDAY is a darkly comic play about imposter syndrome, unrealistic expectations, and the baffling peculiarity of employment. Blending rip-roaring comedy with genuine heart, it asks what happens when ordinary people are expected to solve extraordinary problems - and whether a world that seems determined to destroy itself is even worth saving.
God Save Us! [HERE | FOR]
6 - 10 October
It's 1066. The French have invaded England, no one understands the new tax laws or the Latin church services, and Joan has a plan (that may or may not include livestock).
When Joan convinces her local priest to let her write and direct a morality play for the village, she accidentally starts something she can’t finish, unknowingly falls into the middle of a land dispute, and discovers that the Bible is considerably more exciting than anyone let on. God Save Us! is a medieval comedy about what happens when the people who control information forget that the people who don't are paying attention.
Think Horrible Histories meets The Office politics, set in a medieval village where nobody understands the church services, the tax laws have just changed for the worse, and Joan has a plan.
Seventy-five minutes. No interval. One very large pig.
Uncle Monty's Antique Shop [HERE FOR]
13 - 17 October
Opening soon in a town near you! Step inside Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop — a strange little place filled with forgotten objects, each carrying traces of the lives left behind. After all... every story has a price.
Violence, control, memory and power are brought to life by a core ensemble cast performing across four chilling psychological shorts, woven together by one uncanny setting. Blurring the line between the ordinary and the unusual, Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop invites audiences into a world where every item has a history… and some histories refuse to stay buried.
Darkly atmospheric, unnervingly intimate and quietly haunting, this is horror that lingers long after the lights go down. Monty only has one last question... what would you like to leave behind?
The Other Room [HERE | FOR 2026]
20 - 24 October
Grace’s husband, Chris, is dying. One day her carefully constructed world is disrupted when Themba, a professional end-of-life carer, secretly hired by Chris, arrives to help.
Initially resistant, Grace gradually forms an unexpected and complicated bond with Themba. As Chris’s condition deteriorates, Themba becomes both a practical support and an emotional confidant, allowing Grace to confront the exhaustion, fear and loneliness she has been hiding. In turn, Grace encourages Themba to reconsider the dreams he has put on hold. Their growing intimacy creates a tension between love, grief and the possibility of a life beyond caregiving.
With plenty of humour alongside the heartbreak, The Other Room explores what happens when death takes over the house, but life, inconveniently, keeps getting in the way.
Funny, frank and ultimately very human, it is a story about death that is really about how we carry on living, and how our dreams don’t have to die with the people we love.
Big Love [HERE FOR]
27 October - 7 November
“The problem with making a big entrance is that there’s always someone left to clear it up later.”
He believes in love.
Big songs. Big feelings. Big entrances. The kind of love that comes with a key change, a confetti cannon and absolutely no sense of self-awareness.
He believes love is probably somewhere else. Somewhere warmer. Somewhere louder. Somewhere with better lighting.
Edith Piaf. Strobe lights. Strangers. Perfect nights. Bad decisions. The one that got away. The one that might still be out there.
He believes in loving everyone to bits and throwing it all in the air for the world to see.
Most of all, he believes in looking the truth right in the eye and running away.
Because love should be extraordinary, shouldn’t it?
It should be cinematic. Transcendent. Life-changing.
It should feel like dancing in the moonlight with the whole world falling away.
But what if it isn’t?
What if it’s been somewhere much closer all along?
And somewhere there’s a big red phone that won’t stop ringing.
From tiny gestures scrawled on sticky notes to 1,001 dancefloors, from the songs that made us believe in a thing called love to the quiet moments in between, Big Love is a brand new solo show about belief, desire, avoidance and the people we choose to give it all up for in the end.
Part party, part confession, part love letter to all of life’s best bits, Big Love is a funny, generous and quietly devastating new piece of fringe theatre about chasing extraordinary moments, the people we love to bits, and finally having to answer a call that won’t go away.
And that’s a lot of love to cram into one little theatre in Kentish Town.
DAUNTLESS: Grace O'Malley, Pirate Queen
10 - 14 November
The Lion & Unicorn Theatre
Award winning international storyteller Debs Newbold joyfully delivers the fiery, shocking and inspirational story of her hero: Ireland's female pirate Grace O’Malley - legendary clan chief and queen of the sea.
Stowing away aboard her father’s ship aged 8, Grace became a 16th century force of nature. A multilingual, seafaring weapons expert, leader of 2000 men, rebel, politician, kingmaker and slayer, prodigious lover, avenging hero and notorious pirate. Best of all, she was real.
From the west of Ireland to the court of Elizabeth I, from wild youth to even wilder old age, Dauntless is an epic celebration of uproarious stand-up storytelling, high drama and one fascinating 16th century feminist. No knights in shining armour need apply.
Happy In Vain 17 - 21 November
In 2026, Thomas is no stranger to a stranger’s bed. Week after week, he parties. Hard. But after a hookup and on the advice of his best friend, he tests positive for HIV. In a wave of guilt and shame, he is invited to be the first person to take part in a new drug trial to combat the virus.
In 1986, Fred can’t go a day without a pint at the Watson’s Arms. Always with a drink in hand and a scoop of Brylcreem in his hair, he lives for the party. But when his girlfriend calls with the news of his mum’s hospitalisation, the cracks start to show. What she doesn’t know is that Fred has been meeting another man. Despite his prejudices, he continues these acts of curiosity and self-destruction, doubting everything he believes in.
Science has progressed, but the stigmas remain. Two young men, forty years apart yet both terrified of what the future holds, encounter loss, guilt and brief yet life-changing decisions.
Three's A Crowd 24 - 28 November
How is it possible to have a threesome on autopilot? Commenting on the extremities women will go to to be able to ask themselves the question “maybe she’s more than a friend.” ‘Three’s A Crowd’ is a fast paced one act play that follows two best friends Ava and TJ on a night out. As the drinks flow and the club lights flash we watch the girl's curiosity grow and guards collapse when it comes to the boundaries one may set on a friendship. Unlike any coming out story you’ve seen before, ‘Three’s A Crowd’ is a subdued commentary on compulsory heterosexuality and the space it takes in society today.
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