Belly Scratch

Belly Scratch nights will feature 4 artists, each performing or reading up to 20 minutes of a new piece of work. You, the audience, are encouraged to share your thoughts via a digital feedback form after each performance, providing invaluable feedback on the work that could influence its future direction.

This month’s performances:

Bear

Phoebe’s dad Steve has just jumped off the roof of Aldi in Watford, accidentally dressed like Paddington Bear. We follow Phoebe in the aftermath of this cataclysmic event that forces her to see her dad as a person rather than his parental role for the first time. It forces Phoebe to grow up, fast, and asks whether she can be honest with herself in the process. Bear is a dark-comedy piece of gig theatre which aims to unpick how depression can manifest within a parent-child relationship, and the messy, harsh and chaotic impacts of it. 

Artist bios: 

Lucy is an actor-writer with a background in comedy and physical theatre. She is a graduate of The University of Warwick and The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Lucy’s writing credits include ‘NewsRevue’ and ‘Phobe’ for Canal Cafe Theatre and ‘Bear’ for Wilton’s Music Hall’s Artists Residency Programme 2025.

Selwin is a director and theatremaker. He is Artistic Director of White Noise Theatre where he creates collaborative new writing with actor-writers. Recently, his production of ‘Squidge’ by Tiggy Bayley had a 5-star run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, received a Popcorn Writing Award nomination and had a sold out run at the Soho Theatre.

Breast Side Story

Breast Side Story is a darkly funny, deeply personal one-hour show set in real time during the final countdown before top surgery. As Jamie waits alone in a hospital room, he’s pulled back through memories of growing up with a chest that never matched who he knew himself to be. A hormone imbalance at puberty left him with awkwardness and shame.

Along the way, he meets other patients preparing for surgery, and their stories collide to form a chorus of shared anxieties, unexpected humour and above all, hope. While the show explores masculinity, body image and transformation, it’s also full of wit, warmth and comedy, finding laughs in the strange, liminal space between the body you’ve lived in and the one you’re finally choosing.

Artist bio:

Jamie Finn is a London-based actor, comedian and writer known for his critically acclaimed, sell-out Edinburgh Fringe show ‘Nobody’s Talking About Jamie’, which won Theatre Weekly’s Best Fringe Debut and earned five-star reviews for its engaging storytelling and sharp humour.

@jamiefinnstagram

Heimer

“All humans were once fish who traded their tails for legs.”

Heimer, who has loved sea voyages since childhood, believes the legend. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, his mind drifts back to the ocean. In his final journey, will Heimer hear the call of the sea or has he forgotten how to listen?

HEIMER is an original puppetry work adapted from real-life experiences, exploring themes of memory, family, and farewell. Using puppetry as the storytelling medium, the piece approaches the question of how we find the strength to move forward through loss in a gentle and imaginative way.

Artist bios:

Jeanzia Guan is a writer, puppetry artist, filmmaker and composer. She is drawn to creative writing and visual storytelling, and continually explores how different media can shape their own distinct narrative forms.

Izzy Jiang is a puppet designer and puppeteer based in London, with a background in stage lighting design. Her practice focuses on puppet making, material exploration, and visual storytelling, with a particular interest in mechanical movement and atmosphere on stage.

Yunshu Jiang is a stage and puppetry designer. Her practice centres on the structure and movement of puppets, using materials and mechanisms to shape how they move and are perceived on stage.

@jeanzia.lab
@jiang.izzy
@yunshu_theatre

Small Plates

Best friends for life…right? You don’t expect to wake up one day and realise that you are being ghosted by your best friend but unfortunately this is the case for Aaliyah and her best friend Yasmine. After months of unanswered messages and phone calls, Aaliyah’s desire for closure becomes more and more consuming. Determined to confront the silence between them, she concocts a plan to reunite them but when they finally come face to face their reunion takes an unexpected turn.

Artist bio:

Adna Ahmed is a London-based writer and director whose work spans theatre and film, with a focus on bold storytelling and underrepresented voices. Adna continues to develop new writing and theatre projects that blend humour, cultural critique, and intimate storytelling.

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