Emma Zadow's SWANS ARE ARSEHOLES is Coming to Criterion Theatre

Acclaimed BBC NC writer and performer Emma Zadow will make her West End debut on 7th November at 2pm with a new dark comedy Swans Are Arseholes, staged at the historic Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus.

Produced by BS* Productions, the company founded by actor-producer Benjamin Sumrie, this one-off performance promises to provoke, entertain, and challenge audiences with its razor-sharp look at identity, AI, and online chaos.
 

About the Play

In this surreal, absurdly funny and unsettling new play, Sarah just wants a normal relationship. But when an AI-generated sex tape of her with a swan goes viral, her life begins to fall apart — in public, online, and in her own mind. A dark comedy that explores deepfake porn, identity theft, and digital selfhood, this is storytelling for the algorithm age: absurd, alarming, and painfully human.

The play is directed by Freja Gift, co-writer of the upcoming sitcom Mother of Dog and creator of promotional content for British comedy legend Helen Lederer. Gift previously directed excerpts of this piece — under the title Swans Are Arseholes — at Pleasance Theatre, London, with the same cast, earning early praise for its sharp tone and fearless originality. It has been developed on the prestigious Criterion Theatre Writers Group 

The cast includes: Mary Tillett (National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse); Michael Bendib (Jurassic World: Dominion); Benjamin Sumrie (The Night Manager, BBC); Emma Zadow, known for her BBC short Jigging (streaming on BBC iPlayer) and Fringe Encore Award-winning performance at Soho Playhouse, New York.

Produced by BS* Productions, Zadow and Sumrie’s creative partnership platforming new writing with bite, subversion, and a strong sense of voice. This marks the company’s first West End staging.

About Emma Zadow

Emma Zadow is an actor and writer whose work spans theatre, film, and television. She is an alumna of Soho Writers Lab, Mercury Theatre Writers, Menagerie Young Writers, and the Criterion Theatre Writers Group led by Greg Mosse. Her stage work includes Fridge (Hope Theatre), Hamotzi (Theatre503), and Black Hills (Pleasance), published by Renard Press. Zadow has been nominated for the Tony Craze Award, ETPEP Award, and Vault Five Award, and her award-winning short film Jigging, created through BBC New Creatives and Screen South, is currently streaming on BBC iPlayer. Her screenplay Fridge was runner-up for Best Unproduced Screenplay at the British Independent Film Festival 2024. An ITV Creative Access Mentee, Zadow’s work often explores themes of class, gender, technology, and identity. She trained at Rose Bruford College and this month, had her TV Thriller pilot script selected by Tall Story Pictures in their recent callout for new work.
A Breakout Moment on the West End

With Swans Are Arseholes, Zadow joins the ranks of new British playwrights making a vital mark on the West End stage. Following in the footsteps of recent debut successes, this play not only promises laughter and discomfort in equal measure, but also opens urgent conversations about how we are seen, manipulated, and sometimes erased by the technologies we interact with daily.