PUP PLAY: A QUEER PSEUDO-LECTURE (OF SORTS) Continues International Tour in 2025

Writer, director, and performer Noah Alfred Pantano will bring PUP PLAY: A QUEER PSEUDO-LECTURE (OF SORTS) to stages across Europe and beyond in 2025, following acclaimed performances at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival and Darklands Festival in Antwerp.

The production, developed as part of Pantano’s PhD research in Theatre Studies at the University of Essex, blends in-your-face comedy with sharp queer commentary and an unapologetically kinky theatrical sensibility.

The play features the fictional “Professor Handler David” delivering an increasingly chaotic lecture on dominant/submissive dynamics, which quickly devolves into a theatrical hybrid of introspection, erotic musical numbers, audience participation, and a homonormative puppet show. What begins as a comedic exploration of kink becomes a deeply personal and moving interrogation of queer identity and community resilience.

Strictly 18+ and staged with an ethos of care and empathy, PUP PLAY has raised over £1,000 for LGBTQ+ charities including WR1 Foundation, LGBT+ Health and Wellbeing Scotland, and the LGBTQ+ Students’ Union at the University of Essex. Music is contributed by Jake and the Nowhere, Alan Xtra, and Tungsten Lungs.

Pantano, who has received numerous accolades for his work including the George Wallace Scholarship at Orlando Fringe and the Mastermind Award from Essex Startups, originally developed PUP PLAY as the first in a trilogy of works exploring the staging of non-monogamy and fetish in contemporary queer theatre. The show has been presented in partnership with LGBTQ+ brands including Mr. Riegillio, Sent With Pride, BoboBear, MessyPup Gunge, and Essex Startups.

Despite facing homophobia throughout its run—including torn posters, community pushback, and warnings against public promotion due to safety concerns—PUP PLAY has continued to tour, driven by its message of queer joy, vulnerability, and resistance. As the production evolves, its comedic facade gives way to a heartfelt examination of queerness, trauma, and the importance of visibility and solidarity.

Pantano’s previous work STANDING ON A NAIL: A QUEER HORROR STORY was the best-selling play of Colchester Fringe and received critical acclaim.