STAND UP IF YOU'RE HERE TONIGHT to Make UK Premiere at Edinburgh Fringe
Broadway actor Jim Ortlieb stars in the Huntington production at Underbelly Bristo Square.
Rocking Chair Test Productions will present the UK premiere of John Kolvenbach's Stand Up If You're Here Tonight at the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Running August 5-31 (excluding August 18) at Underbelly Bristo Square, the interactive solo play explores loneliness, human connection, and what it means to come together in a shared space following the isolation of the pandemic.
Written by Olivier Award nominee John Kolvenbach, whose credits include Love Song, On an Average Day, and Stand Up If You're Here Tonight, the play follows a man desperately searching for connection with the audience seated before him. Through gentle audience participation, the production transforms the audience into an essential character, creating a unique theatrical experience that changes each performance.
Inspired by the collective isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the play examines the modern search for belonging through humor, intimacy, and shared vulnerability.
Broadway actor Jim Ortlieb stars in the production. His stage credits include Of Mice and Men alongside James Franco and Chris O'Dowd, Guys and Dolls with Oliver Platt and Tituss Burgess, Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention, and the first U.S. national tour of Billy Elliot the Musical.
Following acclaimed productions in Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, and Boston's Huntington Theatre, Stand Up If You're Here Tonight arrives in Edinburgh after a successful run at The Huntington. Reviewing the Boston production, The Boston Globe praised Ortlieb's "hard-to-bottle gift for conjuring an aura of intimacy in a roomful of strangers," adding that the production "defies definition, and that's a very good thing," while delivering "the exhilaration of watching a writer taking a big swing and delivering."
Performance Information
Stand Up If You're Here Tonight runs August 5-31, excluding August 18, at Underbelly Bristo Square (Dairy Room). Performances begin daily at 4:40 p.m. and run approximately 55 minutes.
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