Dan Bishop returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with Target Audience, a sharp new dark comedy debuting at Pleasance Courtyard. Following the success of Brainsluts, Bishop brings a bold and thought-provoking new work to 2026’s festival.
Set in the near future, Target Audience explores the uneasy relationship between media, government and technology, blending biting satire with high-stakes drama. The play examines how culture, power and global conflict are increasingly intertwined.
Target Audience runs at Pleasance Courtyard (Above) from 5–30 August (excluding 17 August) at 16:50. Tickets can be booked here.
You’re the writer and director of Target Audience at Pleasance Courtyard, what can you tell us about the show?
Target Audience is a new comedy play about a TV production company which is owned by a tech company with links to a weapons manufacturer.
In an attempt to sanitise the image of the defence sector, the producers are tasked with developing a ‘pro-weapons sitcom’.
Fact and fiction then start to blur when everyone gets an emergency alert on their phones telling them they are under attack.
The show is a satire on big tech companies that seem to have infiltrated all aspects of our lives, particularly our media landscapes and our defence sectors.
Take Amazon, for example. It is simultaneously a huge movie studio while also owning a platform that hosts AI software used in drone warfare. I find all of this bizarre and quite bleak, to be honest.
The play explores the relationship between media, government and technology in a near-future setting. What inspired you to tackle these themes now?
Hugely profitable companies have always shaped policy and media narratives to some extent, but I think what is specific about the moment we are currently living in is that the biggest companies are giant tech firms.
They seem to be far more far-reaching and effective in the way they seep into these spaces.
Target Audience blends dark comedy with elements of satire and even a locked-room thriller. How did you approach balancing those tones?
I think dark comedy and satire often go hand in hand.
The locked-room thriller element was more difficult to incorporate. In fact, I only added it in a few drafts down the line after realising that the lack of a high-stakes situation rendered the satire a bit toothless.
It all started coming together when I raised the stakes.
Your previous show Brainsluts was a big success at the Fringe. How has that experience shaped your approach to this new production?
We were very lucky last year with Brainsluts. We packed it out, got really nice reviews and secured a London transfer.
However, the venue where we performed our London run subsequently went into liquidation, meaning we lost about £6,500.
I suppose the experience taught me that even if things go well, you can still end up losing thousands of pounds.
In terms of shaping my approach this year, my main goal is to do everything in my power not to lose thousands and thousands of pounds.
The play raises questions about morality, influence and survival under pressure. What do you hope audiences take away after watching it?
I don’t really have one specific thing that I want audiences to take away, mainly because I don’t think I have a particularly rigid point of view on many of these issues myself.
One idea I keep returning to is that it is really hard to exist in the world right now without being complicit in terrible things.
That doesn’t mean we should give up — we should definitely try not to be complicit — but when huge corporations seem to own everything, it becomes difficult to know what to buy or who to work for.
That decision is only made harder if you are in any kind of financially precarious position.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Target Audience?
You should definitely come and see the show because I 100% guarantee that it will make you feel either less scared or more scared about everything that is happening in the world right now, depending on your perspective.
Also, the cast are very talented and very funny.
