A new monthly comedy event will launch at the Rosemary Branch Theatre on 20 November 2023.
Tall Tales and Cocktails will be an evening featuring up-and-coming comics, with 15-minute, largely anecdote-based sets, at the theatre above the Rosemary Branch Pub on Shepperton Road.
“You’re going to get different people’s insights into how their life has existed, and the comedy they’ve found in their life”, explained the event’s organiser Steven Mayne.
Steven said: “By giving them the 15-minute stage time”, the event is a “stepping stone for budding comics […] which is very hard to get in the open-mic circuit.” He said: “We’re trying to help people progress.”
Steven added that it’s important that comics get experience in a theatre. They can perform to an undistracted audience, unlike performing in a pub, and familiarise themselves with the theatre context, preparing those who aspire to perform in Live at the Apollo.
Giving comics opportunities to practise their jokes “means their art is going to get better.” Steven added: “I don’t know a joke is funny until I perform it.”
Poster for the version of the event starting at the Rosemary Branch
Laura Killeen, the theatre’s Artistic Director, feels hosting Tall Tales and Cocktails aligns well with the theatre’s mission. “The Rosemary Branch is all about great things starting here.”
Though Tall Tales and Cocktails has been running for two-and-a-half years in other locations, Steven said the Rosemary Branch was able to offer them a consistent, monthly slot, which he believes will give him “the platform to really grow.”
He hopes that eventually he can run several regular events across London, but he’s “got to build up to that.”
The event will run at 7:45pm on every third Thursday of the month. Tickets are £12, with concessions costing £8. See the website for tickets.
News reporter for Islington Now and freelancer across other outlets. ENO Responder 23/24. Ex-Editor-in-Chief at The Tab Cambridge.