Award-winning writer-performer Daniel Bye returns to UK touring with his first new solo play in seven years. Imaginary Friends explores grief and authenticity in the contemporary media landscape and features cameos from hallucinated media figures, including Piers Morgan!
Written and performed by Daniel Bye, with lighting design by Katharine Williams and sound design by Ziad Jabero, the show comes to Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre on Tuesday, 13 May.
Bye’s character in the play is a floundering TV stand-up who suffers a tragic bereavement and takes comfort in the company of his imaginary friends. They’re terrible people, and he knows it. But their ideas for his failing TV show are terrific. He loses touch with his moral compass, and increasingly with reality.
Bye describes the show as “a comedy about comedy, or a satire on satire. It’s funny – up to a point. It’s also a surreal, disturbing and electrifying rollercoaster ride through the looking glass of the 21st-century media hellscape.” As befits a show about topical comedy, some sections of the show are rewritten night by night.
Imaginary Friends was originally commissioned by Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle, where it ran in March and April 2024. It is produced by Alphabetti with ARC Stockton.
Daniel Bye is a writer and theatre maker from the north east of England. His hit solo shows include Arthur, The Price of Everything, Instructions for Border Crossing and Going Viral, which won a Scotsman Fringe First in 2015. Ensemble work includes How to Occupy an Oil Rig and Tiny Heroes, and work for young audiences includes Error 404 and So Unfair! His work has toured extensively throughout the UK and internationally. Prior to working as a writer-performer, he was a successful director for companies including West Yorkshire Playhouse, Red Ladder and his own company, Silver Tongue Theatre.
Imaginary Friends can be seen at the SJT at 7.45pm on Tuesday, 13 May. Listings and ticket information can be found here.
