A SMALL TOWN NORTHERN TALE Comes to Edinburgh Fringe

Inspired by his experiences growing up mixed heritage in Manchester and relocating to a small working-class Northern town in the early 2000s, Nathan Jonathan writes and performs a nostalgic love letter to working-class life and cultural identity. The story follows David, a 13-year-old boy whose mother uproots their family from Manchester to escape his violent, drug-dealing father. In the small Northern town, David struggles to fit in as a Jamaican-English kid navigating a predominantly white community. As he contends with dodgy noughties fashion, Myspace, and Nokia phones, he slowly begins to lose touch with his Jamaican heritage. A Small Town Northern Tale is a high energy, solo-comedy that explores identity, belonging and cultural erasure, all told with humour and poignancy.

In this young, Black-British story, Nathan performs all the characters himself, celebrating the nostalgia of Y2K culture while interrogating how we remember these so-called “simpler times.” At its heart, this coming-of-age tale—shaped by domestic abuse and life in a country wrestling with race, class, and regional inequality—follows a mixed-race boy searching for his place in a world where he never quite fits in.

Writer and performer Nathan Jonathan said, “This play is my love letter to the working-class North, the 2000s, and anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t quite fit in their hometown. It’s about growing up, and it’s about identity. It’s loud, it’s funny, it’s heartbreaking and honest — the kind of story I wish had existed when I was a lost mixed-race kid.”

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