The Lambeth Fringe Competition has unveiled its 2025 programme, confirming a landmark version that celebrates its tenth anniversary with greater than 200 occasions scheduled throughout the borough between 25 September and 25 October.
Now firmly rooted in South London’s cultural panorama, the pageant—previously often called the Clapham Fringe—has grown from a modest fringe showcase into one of many capital’s most dynamic platforms for rising and underrepresented voices. This 12 months’s anniversary version can also be its largest thus far, bolstered by help from Arts Council England for the primary time in its historical past.
Programming features a vibrant mixture of theatre, comedy, cabaret, music and household performances, delivered throughout 25 venues that replicate the range and creativity of Lambeth. New companion places comparable to Arch 555 at Foolish Towers, Vauxhall Metropolis Farm, Vaulty Towers and Morley Faculty be a part of returning venues in a borough-wide takeover that champions accessibility and inventive innovation.
Competition co-directors Velenzia Spearpoint and Rebecca Pryle described the 2025 version as a “main milestone,” including: “We’re thrilled to current our greatest and most bold programme thus far… the spirit of the Fringe has all the time been about creativity, accessibility and grassroots vitality and in 2025, that spirit is stronger than ever.”
Among the many headline acts is “The Final Bubble Present” (3–4 Oct), a household spectacle from Guinness World Report-holder Ray Bubbles, providing bubble volcanoes, ghosts and tornadoes in a surreal stay expertise. Audiences also can stay up for “Willy Witches” (8–10 Oct), a sharp-edged comedic tackle 4 ladies preventing to outlive the English witch hunts, and “MJ Hibbet: Knowledge and Dr Doom” (11 Oct), a one-man musical lecture arguing why Marvel’s iconic villain surpasses Batman—backed by statistical fashions and stratified sampling.
Additionally within the line-up is “CatGPT – Feline & Ferall” (26–27 Sept), the true, absurdist story of a person who makes use of AI to convey his cat again from the useless, and “Bathroom Physique” (25 Sept & 20 Oct), a solo forensic thriller a few cursed corpse found in a peat bathroom.
From satirical burlesque like “BINCELS” (26 Sept), which parodies web misogyny by way of musical drag, to political storytelling in “Mom Is aware of Finest” (18–19 Oct)—a cross-generational examination of home life below oppression in Russia, South Africa and Israel—the pageant continues its dedication to platforming marginalised narratives.
New initiatives launched this 12 months embrace the Lambeth Fringe Bursary, created in partnership with Morley Faculty, which can donate all ticket proceeds from its pageant programme to help college students dealing with monetary boundaries to increased schooling. The pageant can also be increasing its deal with artist wellbeing, formalising a partnership with Wellbeing within the Arts and introducing The Glitch Awards to highlight standout inventive contributions.
This 12 months’s choices vary from political satire and surrealist efficiency to interactive kids’s theatre and AI-infused comedy, underscoring the pageant’s extensive remit and its continued dedication to experimental, community-driven programming. For youthful audiences, mythological romp “Myths, Maps & Monsters: Zeus’ Birthday Bash!” (27–28 Sept) provides an interactive journey to defeat Medusa and restore order to Historic Greece. Elsewhere, exhibits like “A Noise Annoys” (4 Oct) discover the sonic quirks of language, and head bucket mattress (13 Oct) makes use of dance-theatre to deconstruct the connection between our bodies and their materials setting.
Now in its tenth 12 months, the Lambeth Fringe, produced by the Bread and Roses Theatre, has developed nicely past its origins above a Clapham pub, carving out a fame for risk-taking and inclusion. Its ethos stays rooted in championing equality, range and inventive benefit, welcoming each native performers and touring corporations.
Tickets for the 2025 Lambeth Fringe vary from £5 to £16, with occasions working day by day throughout Lambeth between 25 September and 25 October. With its expanded attain, landmark programming, and a renewed dedication to social influence, the Fringe enters its second decade as a daring and important fixture of London’s unbiased efficiency scene.
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