Watching a man on stage with a microphone stand and stool, I have to remind myself a few times this isn’t a stand-up comedy gig.

Samuel Barnett is certainly funny in Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen, but he’s an actor playing a comedian. Written by Marcelo Dos Santos and directed by Matthew Xia, this monologue suggests the unnamed protagonist is working up a new confessional-style routine, complete with real-time edits including tweaked details.

For all of The Comedian’s assertions that “this is true” (as real comedians often do, to the point of insincerity), these edits and tweaks create an air of doubt about what is true. Which is perfect for a show about a neurotic, fatalistic man riddled with self-doubt.

Samuel Barnett in Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen. Photo © Mark Gambino

Premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022, this 70-minute play is from the UK producers of hit TV shows Flea Bag and Baby Reindeer’s theatrical progenitors. Comparisons between these three darkly comic one-handers about flawed yet lovable Brits are inevitable.

Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen reveals...