World Premiere of Disaster Plan's AUNTIE EMPIRE Comes to Manipulate Festival

The hilarious dark comedy, Auntie Empire, will premiere at Summerhall Arts in February as part of Manipulate Festival 2026. The latest work from Scotland's form-defying theatre company, Disaster Plan - the formal identity for the long term collaboration between multi-award winning theatremakers Julia Taudevin and Kieran Hurley - Auntie Empire is an outrageous contemporary satire on Britannia and the grotesque absurdity of her imperial self-regard.

Auntie Empire makes her splendiferous entrance to the stage at Manipulate Festival 2026, before transferring to Glasgow's Tron Theatre, with previews at Dundee Rep and CatStrand, New Galloway; having first conquered the screen in a short film of the same name, directed by Julia Taudevin and Niamh McKeown (BBC and Hulu's Dinosaur), before making sneak peek appearances as part of Manipulate Festival 2025's Snapshots and Summerhall Arts' pop-up performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025.

An absurd and rambunctious solo show blending bouffon comedy, satire and audience interaction, Auntie Empire is a bloody, messy, hilarious and timely lampoon of the myths of nationhood.

Led by multi-award-winning playwright, director and performer Julia Taudevin, Auntie Empire boasts an incredible creative team made up of some of Scotland's finest theatremakers, including bouffon director Tim Licata (Plutôt la Vie theatre company), puppetry, effects, and costumes from Fergus Dunnet (Tenterhooks theatre company) and Gretchen Maynard-Hahn (War Horse), and dramaturgy by Sara Sharaawi and Kieran Hurley.

Auntie Empire is supported by Creative Scotland and Summerhall Arts. It was originally developed through a Summerhall Lab, an IASH creative fellowship, a Traverse Theatre commission, and in association with Jordan & Skinner with direction from Caitlin Skinner and Melanie Jordan, and with Paisley Arts Centre and One Ren. The character can also be seen in the short film, Auntie Empire, directed by Niamh McKeown and Julia Taudevin.