Championing bold new work with roots in Croydon, Croydonites Festival of New Theatre returns for its 12th year in November with its most ambitious programme to date.
Hot off the heels ofthe highly successful Croydonites Fringe Festival in July 2026 and bringing together award-winning Edinburgh hits, theatre, comedy, new writing and film alongside homegrown talent from across the borough, the festival continues its mission to nurture local artists while bringing some of the most exciting new performances from across the UK to Croydon audiences.
The festival will open with Hannah Maxwell’s 2026 Fringe First award-winning Turn Your F*cking Phones Off, a timely exploration of human connection in the information age.
Other theatre highlights include the critically acclaimed Man or Bear, inspired by the viral question to
shine a light on female survival in an increasingly dangerous world.
Fringe legend VictoriaMelody will join the festival for the first time with her crucial show about food poverty, Trouble Struggle Bubble and Squeak while Edinburgh stalwart James Rowland returns with Fringe hit
Team Viking.
Frauke Requardt and Vivienne Franzmann’s offbeat Anatomy of Survival brings together 22 very
different eyewitness accounts of a single everyday altercation, while Simone French’s celebrated solo show A Suffocating Choking Feeling dives into the toxic world of fake influencers.
Among the festival’s more unusual offerings is Bestie Award-winning Rosa Garland’s gorgeously gross Primal Bog, which uses lesbian slime wrestling and live tattooing in a journey into the desires we hide away.
Vincent Gambini’s Close-Up offers audiences an altogether different experience: a unique one-on-one participatory magic show.
Comedy highlights include Ollie Horn’s absurd cult hit The Most Toast and the return of comedy line-up show Dick’s Picks, showcasing big-name comedians alongside cult characters including Sam Eley as Basil Crumbwick and Katie Norris.
Croydon itself takes centre stage in a major new film project premiering at this year’s festival.
Richard DeDomenici’s Redux: Heads of State is an exclusive film commission from Croydonites which will see local participants recreate scenes from the high-octane action movie Heads of State, in the original Croydon locations used for filming.
This will sit alongside a ‘Crollywood’ walking tour of famous Croydon film locations featured in Batman, The Da Vinci Code, Criminal, Black Mirror and Taylor Swift’s Opalite.
The programme also includes showcases from the Croydonites’ commissioning pathways, designed to give local creatives the opportunity to develop an idea from its earliest stages.
CroydonBites offers small commissions for local artists to test new ideas; selected projects can then receive further development through Croydon Builds, before progressing to Croydon Beyond, which supports full-length work ready to reach audiences beyond the borough.
Anna Arthur, founder and director of The Croydonites Festival comments: “We are grateful that
we can continue to nurture local artists and bring high-quality performance work from around the UK to Croydon. This is our 12th year and our loyal audiences continue to show up for something a little bit different! Our thanks to Croydon Council and Arts Council England for their support.
The festival was founded by Anna Arthur in 2015 after she recognised the lack of theatre and performance being presented in Croydon in comparison to London as a whole. She was joined by theatre maker Katie Hurley in 2021 and performance producer Sophie Eustace in 2023,
making the team complete.
Twelve years later, the Croydonites Festival has grown significantly in scale, presenting almost 150 artists and 270 shows to date while continuing to champion
adventurous new work and creative talent from the borough.
Date Wednesday 4th November – Saturday 21st November 2026
Box Office: https://www.ticketsource.com/croydonites
Wednesday 4th November 2026 – Hannah Maxwell: Turn Your F*cking Phones Off
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Thursday 5th November 2026 Rosa Garland: Primal Bog
The Society Room, Stanley Arts, 12 South Norwood Hill,
London, SE25 6AB
Friday 6th November 2026 – Victoria Melody and Mark Thomas present: Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Saturday 7th November 2026 – Vincent Gambini: Close-up
The Clocktower Cafe, 9 Katharine Street, Croydon, CR9
1ET
Saturday 7th November 2026 – Mitra Djalili: Wife Support
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Saturday 7th November 2026 -Kat McGarr
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Saturday 7th November 2026 – Comedy Night: Dick’s Picks
The Society Room, Stanley Arts, 12 South Norwood Hill,
London, SE25 6AB
Wednesday 11th November 2026 – Katie Hurley & Sarah Hehir: Man or Bear
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Thursday 12th November 2026 – James Rowland: Team Viking
The Society Room, Stanley Arts, 12 South Norwood Hill,
London, SE25 6AB
Friday 13th November 2026 – Ollie Horn: The Most Toast
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Saturday 14th November 2026 – Richard Dedomenici: Heads of State: Redux and Crollywood Tour
At various central Croydon locations and the David Lean
Cinema, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, Croydon,
CR9 1ET
Saturday 14th November 2026 – Frauke Requardt & Vivienne Franzmann: Anatomy of Survival
The Main Hall, Stanley Arts, 12 South Norwood Hill,
London, SE25 6AB
Wednesday 18th November 2026 – TomYumSim: Simone French / A Suffocating Choking Feeling
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Thursday 19th November 2026 – CroydonBites
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Saturday 21st November 2026 – Vincent Gambini: Close-up
The Clocktower Cafe, 9 Katharine Street, Croydon, CR9
1ET
Saturday 21st November 2026 – Comedy Night: Dick’s Picks
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Saturday 21st November 2026 – CroydonBuilds
The Front Room, 37–39 St George’s Walk, CR0 1YL
Social Media:
Instagram @croydonitesfestival
X @croydonites
Website – https://www.croydonites.com/