THE LAST AUDITION to Make UK Premiere at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Paul Shearman's solo show, directed by David St John, will play theSpace on the Mile.
Paul Shearman and Banjo & Bongo Productions will present the UK Premiere of The Last Audition. Dementia and memory loss are explored through an ageing Shakespearean actor forgetting the language that forms his identity. Performances will run at theSpace on the Mile, Space 3, 7 – 29 Aug 2026.
Inspired by personal family experiences of dementia parallelled with themes of ageing in King Lear, writer and performer Paul Shearman confronts the devastating prospect of a Shakespearean actor losing the language that defines him. Following a once-celebrated actor as he prepares for what may be his final role, his rehearsal on an empty stage turns into a reckoning as his memory falters, words slip away, his grasp on time starts to blur and his past collides with the present. Created to represent dementia not as an isolated experience but as a shared journey, The Last Auditionblends humour, vulnerability, and storytelling with classic Shakespeare, to examine identity and the quiet courage requiredto keep going when everything familiar begins to fade.
Writer and performer Paul Shearman said, “The Last Audition grew out of watching dementia affect people I love, and from wondering what it would mean for an actor to lose not only memory, but language itself. Shakespeare has been central to my life as an artist, so the idea of losing those words felt both deeply personal and genuinely frightening. The play asks what remains of us when the roles, memories, and lines we have carried begin to disappear.”
Paul Shearman is an actor, writer, and producer whose work spans the USA, China, and international festival stages. Paul's television work includes Signs of Your Heart (HBO) and Lies My Babysitter Told (Lifetime). His debut solo piece, The Last Audition has toured throughout 2026 to Beijing, Adelaide, New York (where it received the NYC Fringe Extension Award) and will make its UK premiere at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
David St John is an award-winning writer and director of short play competitions. Based in Beijing, he has worked as the stage manager and technical director for shows presented by Bejing theatre company, Middle Kingdom Creatives and has won the ‘Best Play' award (2025) in the 48 Hour Film Project in China and South Korea. He was previously president of the Gwangju Performance Project, one of South Korea's largest and longest-running theatre groups that also won multiple awards in ‘Best Production' (2016, Pen in Ten) and ‘Audience Favourite' (2018, Pen in Ten).
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