Linus Karp Was Hit With an Umbrella – Underbelly Bristo Sq

Linus Karp has put his own name very prominently on the poster this time. After Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story and Gwyneth Goes Skiing, perhaps this is someone increasingly comfortable with the limelight. More importantly, however, this is his own story.

Shortly before the 2024 Fringe, Karp was walking through Soho with his partner Joseph Martin when he was subjected to a homophobic attack and struck across the head with an umbrella. Karp specifically points out that the couple weren’t holding hands, kissing or even touching at the time. From that distinctly unfunny starting point, he has somehow constructed a surprisingly funny, thoughtful piece of theatre.

This is recognisably an Awkward Prods show. Two monitors flank the stage, providing locations, news reports, interviews and assorted visual interruptions, while an impressively precise soundtrack of music, voices and comic noises punctuates Karp’s storytelling. There is some very clever electronic work here, and Karp has developed a theatrical language which is increasingly recognisably his own.

Friesian at Underbelly Bristo Square is an odd room, extremely wide but comparatively shallow, with a central seating block and wings spreading to either side of a thrust-like performance area. It isn’t an entirely comfortable geometry for intimate storytelling, although the screens help Karp reach across its considerable width.

Less successful is the audience participation. Selected audience members are handed cards and asked to provide occasional pieces of dialogue, similar to Every Brilliant Thing, where that device becomes fundamental to the relationship between performer and audience.

Here, I couldn’t see the justification for it.

Karp is an engaging enough storyteller to carry these additional voices himself, and the intervention of audience members interrupts rather than strengthens the rhythm. With such a carefully constructed multimedia vocabulary already available to him, I’m surprised at this misstep.

However, what certainly does work is the balance Karp finds between something deeply personal and his instinct for theatrical absurdity and storytelling. The electronics, visual material and tightly coordinated sound allow him to examine a serious event without making the evening oppressively solemn.

Not every theatrical device earns its place, but Karp himself certainly does. This is an assured storyteller taking the distinctive style he has developed through his previous shows and applying it to something considerably closer to home.

Playing until August 30th 2026, https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/2026LINUSKA

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 19th August 2026

North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating: