Fiona Allen announces first Stand Up Tour

Fiona Allen, the star and co-writer of Emmy and Bafta award winning TV series ‘Smack The Pony’, has announced her first stand-up tour starting this Autumn. This follows her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her show ‘On The Run’. The initial dates announced start on Friday 15^TH September at Hemel Hempstead’s Old Town Hall and culminates on Friday 8^th December at Banbury’s Mill Arts Centre before starting again in 2024.

‘On The Run’ follows Fiona’s warm, engaging and very funny and recent journey to the stand-up stage, her thoughts on family, marriage, sex robots, passive aggressive school Mum’s and supermarket dress codes.

Fiona is a woman born with itchy feet. As a teenager, she left her hometown of Bury for the bright lights of Manchester and became part of the Tony Wilson empire of the Hacienda Nightclub and Factory Records. When she decided to become an actor, she came to London and in next to no time had won 2 Emmy’s as the star and co-writer of the hugely influential all female Sketch show ‘Smack the Pony’.

She met and married Mike, the son of Sir Michael Parkinson, and had 3 kids in 5 years, so the last few years have been a whirlwind of work and kids, kids and work with a small bit of husband thrown in with a large dollop of a mad Cockapoo. The kids and the other two are sort of housetrained so now it’s a good time to take a breather and decide what Fiona would like to do for herself. The only problem is her chronic itchy feet and an attention span that would put her behind a goldfish in a list of possible contestants on The Chase. So, in true Fiona style she decided to go On the Run…

As a working Mum with kids she can’t remember the last time she did anything for herself. The problem is finding what that ‘thing’ is, particularly when your spirit animal is a sloth and people generally annoy you. It basically came down to a choice between cage fighting or stand up. She chose the latter and has spent the last couple of years perfecting her style in the UK’s clubs. Now, she is ready to share her experiences of being on the road, the glamour of motorway services, the challenge of finding a parking spot in a town centre and her random thoughts that arise whilst driving from place to place.

She muses on being a Mum, raising her kids in a world full of parenting theories and passive aggressive school mums. She shares the stress of being a wife to a man who still can’t operate the washing machine, introduces you to her Northern Dad, her hilarious Spanish Mum, and her older sister who she really irritates just by breathing.

Why was stand up her only road to freedom? And not yoga, swimming, or the gym?! Why are nights under canvas or weekends away are not a good idea for someone whom other people are generally annoying? And why not being very good in groups tends to limit your options of finding an enjoyable hobby? ‘On the Run’ is a show for everyone and has no agenda other than to prove to Fiona that she can actually concentrate on one thing and stay in the same place for an hour.

Fiona’s many other screen credits are extensive and include Dalziel & Pascoe, Coronation Street, Poirot, Eastenders, Casualty, Shameless, In Deep, Happiness, Skins (as wife to Bill Bailey’s character), Waterloo Road, Mock The Week, Alan Partridge’s Scissored Isle, Death In Paradise and 8 Out of 10 Cats. She has also appeared in numerous films including 24 Hour Party People, Fat Slags and Gladiatress.

The dates so far are as follows:

SEPTEMBER

Fri 15^th HEMEL HEMSTEAD – Old Town Hall

Sat 16^th STAFFORD – Gate House Theatre

Thurs 21^st BATH – Rondo Theatre

Sat 23^rd STOURBRIDGE – Crown Centre

Thurs 28^th GUILDFORD – Electric Theatre

Sat 30^th SOUTHAMPTON – Stage Door

OCTOBER

Thurs 12^th HUDDERSFIELD – Lawrence Batley Theatre

Fri 13^th SALISBURY – Arts Centre

Wed 18^th SWINDON – Wyvern Theatre