Direct from a critically acclaimed London season in its first presentation outside the UK comes Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen, playing 5 – 23 February 2025 at the Sydney Opera House, after a season at Arts Centre Melbourne. Developed by the Olivier Award-winning tour-de-force producers behind cultural sensations Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, this “razor sharp” (The Scotsman) one-person-show was the breakout success of the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, taking home a Scotsman Fringe First.
A permanently single, professionally neurotic stand-up comedian finally meets his Mr Right – and then does everything wrong. Is Mr Right quite what he seems? And just how far will the comedian go to get a laugh?
A laugh-out-loud exploration of intimacy, anxiety and ego, this fast-paced play is performed by two-time Tony Award nominee Samuel Barnett (The History Boys, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency), with his performance earning him The Stage Edinburgh Award in 2022. Written by Latinx British-Brazilian-Australian playwright and screenwriter Marcelo Dos Santos (Backstairs Billy) and directed by Olivier Award winner Matthew Xia (Hey Duggee: The Live Theatre Show), this bitingly funny hour perfectly embodies dark comedy.
Returning to Australia for the first time since the 2006 Sydney season of The History Boys, performer Samuel Barnett shared his excitement about the upcoming tour: “Performing a solo show is such a unique challenge – it’s exposing and intimate, and that’s what makes them so captivating. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this hilariously funny and sharp story full of humanity and vulnerability to Australian audiences for the first time.”
Sydney Opera House Head of Contemporary Performance, Ebony Bott, says: “Endlessly relatable and riveting from start to finish, this is a truly polished piece of theatre. This work is everything I long for in a one-person-show – expertly crafted and emotionally complex, it taps into the zeitgeist with nuance and resonance. We’re delighted to offer Australian audiences the chance to experience such masterful storytelling, up close and personal, before it becomes the next global sensation.”
The Sydney Opera House season of Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen features as part of the 2025 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival program.
