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 July, Belly Scratch excerpts from the following:

Naija Snow White
An autobiographical one-woman tragicomedy exploring the experience of being a third-culture kid, mixed-race, carrying multiple heritages—Danish, Nigerian, and Italian—yet never fully belonging to any one of them. 

At its heart, Naija Snow White is a coming-of-age story about how mixed identity permeates every aspect of life: familial, platonic, and romantic. It examines how the search for belonging can manifest as limerence, how a mother tongue can begin to feel foreign, and how simply existing in the world can feel awkward and laced with doubt. It delves into what it means to be the only “Oyibo” – a Nigerian term for a white person – in a Nigerian family, and how that difference shapes one’s upbringing. It reflects on life lived across Denmark, Nigeria, and the UK, and the distinct ways each place understands, questions, or complicates identity. 

Equal parts confession, cultural critique, and absurd inner monologue, this is a story about in-betweenness, the loneliness of it, the absurdity of it, and sometimes the discomfort of it. It’s for those shaped by more than one culture — belonging to all and none.

Interlink is a London-based theatre company creating participatory and devised work that explores identity, belonging, and cultural hybridity. Through intercultural dialogue, multimedia storytelling, and community engagement, we create theatre that invites audiences to reflect, connect, and imagine new ways of understanding one another.

The company is led by Sunny Jie Liu, a theatre maker, producer, director, performer, and workshop facilitator. Endorsed by Arts Council England under the UK Global Talent route for her work in Theatre Producing and Performance, Sunny is also an Associate Researcher with the Department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her practice centres on participatory arts, critical pedagogy, and intercultural exchange.

Collaborator Isabell Friis is a writer, performer, and Associate Researcher at Goldsmiths. Her work explores autobiographical theatre, cultural heritage, and trauma-informed storytelling. Her solo show Naija Snow White was selected for Theatre Royal Stratford East’s 2025 Scratch Night from more than 100 applications and has since been presented at festivals and scratch platforms across London.

---

The Skin Show
Our skin renews itself every twenty-seven days, yet it still carries traces of the lives we have lived. What if we could shed those skins and step inside them once more?

The Skin Show is a dark comedy folk-horror séance exploring identity, burnout and queer transformation. Through drag, hand-drawn animation, projection and live performance, Joss rummages through the wardrobe of their former selves, asking whether becoming yourself means finding one true identity, or learning to carry every version of yourself forward.

Blending ritual with digital technology, the show celebrates a life spent constantly growing, stumbling, changing and discovering new selves to carry into the future.

“What must be Fringe’s most engaging use of video.”
— Polly Bishop, The Reviews Hub (Brighton)

Joss Affleck (they/them) is a queer animator, performer and storyteller from Somerset, now based in Bristol. Working under the name Mister Llaneous, they create immersive performances that combine animation, folklore, ritual, digital technology and dark comedy.

After seven years working as a graphic designer and animator, including five years as part of a BAFTA-winning design team, Joss shifted into independent performance-making.

Since then, their work has been presented at Soho Theatre, Brighton Fringe and other festivals, establishing them as a distinctive voice in multimedia theatre. In 2026 they were selected for Fringe Futures at Totnes Fringe, were runner-up for the Luke Rollason Memorial Bursary, and became a resident at Watershed’s Pervasive Media Studio.

---

Toast F**K
A play about monogamy, class, and what happens when you get married too young and aren’t sure what to do next.

Grace has bought a new toaster, and Lewis isn’t happy about it. With the imminent arrival of some new friends who could change their relationship forever, our Geordie couple need to come together to embrace this new experience — or risk losing each other for good.

Tom Machell is an actor and writer from Newcastle upon Tyne, known for TV roles in Vera, Daddy Issues, Emmerdale, and Hullraisers, plus sketch work on The Emily Atack Show and Every Blank Ever. He is an award-winning writer-performer, nominated for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2026 for Best Comedy Performance for his BBC Radio 4 sitcom Tom and Lauren Are Going OOT. Tom’s first play, Ticker, was published by Playdead Press and ran to critical acclaim.

Alice Stokoe is an actress from Newcastle upon Tyne. She most recently appeared in The Play That Goes Wrong in the West End. Previous credits include Mamma Mia! and American Idiot (both West End), Sorry, You’re Not a Winner (Paines Plough UK tour), and Sister Act (UK tour).

Tessa Walker is a director and dramaturg. She has directed numerous productions by a wide variety of playwrights and theatre makers, and has been an Associate Director at Hampstead Theatre and Birmingham Rep, and a Literary Associate at the National Theatre of Scotland.

---

X. VIDEOS
Riley is an actor. Riley got naked on screen. Big deal, sex on screen is part of it. 

Sex on screen is great! Sex on screen isn’t awkward at all! We’re all adults here. 

Riley didn’t expect her boobs to now be on porn hub, though. 

(Except they’re not hers. they’re her body doubles. Riley can’t remember her body double’s name. that’s not important, we’re getting sidetracked.)

Anyway, the body double’s boobies that are technically now Riley’s boobies to the public are now being clicked and shared on the boobie site instead of on iPlayer. 

Not a great start to a Tuesday. 

X. VIDEOS is a one person show dancing between the grey areas of simulated sex scenes and image-based sexual abuse.

Bouncing between audition rooms, bleak side hustles, the Northern Line, and social media feeds, we journey with Riley in her pursuit of success and body autonomy. 

Directed by Poppy Waxman.

Kc is an actor and writer from London. A Central Saint Martins graduate and Bush Theatre Young Company founding member, she has previously performed at The Bush Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Southbank Centre, Somerset House, Royal Opera House, Duke of York’s Theatre, Theatre503 and Rose Theatre, Kingston. 

In 2024, Kc was Camden People’s Theatre Seed Commissioned Artist. She has written for The Almeida and Boundless Theatre.

Notify Me