You may be interested in helping the Storylines team create theatre from News on the first Friday of every month and if you are follow @ampersandmedia on twitter and get involved. The next Storylines is on 6th February.

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Stand Up Tragedy has been taking a break from our live shows but over on the podcast we’ve been producing  Selected Tragedy which are themed collections of highlights from three years of tragedy:

 

Our next live show will be Tragic Winter at the Hackney Attic on Saturday 28th February.

Stand Up Tragedy aims to make audiences laugh until they cry and cry until they laugh. It’s a regular live show and podcast where people stand up and tell tragedy. We make you sad; we make you think; we make you smile. Expect music, comedy, fiction, spoken word, true stories and more, all playing up to the tragic form but not always taking it too seriously. The night ends, not with a whimper, not with a bang, but with a cathartic sing-a-long.

At Stand Up Tragedy we combine established acts like Stewert Lee, Josie Long, Eddie Pepitone, Grace Petrie, Rob Auton, Sara Pascoe and Andy Zaltzman with new and upcoming acts in an evening of tragic variety based around a theme. Performers often write new material especially for the night and relish the opportunity to put a tragic spin on what they do. The nights are recorded and put out as a weekly podcast.

Call for Submissions:

Earlier this year we relaunched the SUT blog with an updated look and a new focus. Like its raucous live counterpart, the Stand Up Tragedy blog will be a place find the humour of hurt, the tickle of tragedy and mirth of misfortune. Selected work will posted each Friday beginning 1^st August and promoted via the Stand Up Tragedy London monthly events, the podcast and at the Edinburgh Fringe.

What: short stories (fiction and non-fiction), flash fiction, poetry, and experimental form (that can be digitally distributed) that fits with the theme of tragedy. Or tragicomedy. Or comitragedy.  Ideal length is 250-1000 words, though shorter pieces, and longer work that can be serialised, will be considered. Editorial support or feedback can be offered to those who request it.

Format: Word doc or docx – double spaced—name and title on every page and paginated, please.

Deadline: Rolling.

Please email to akshoosmith@gmail.com with “SUT Submission” in the subject line.

In the press:

“Laugh? I Nearly Died: The Rise of Stand-Up Tragedy” (Independent, July 2012)

“Stand-Up Tragedy” (London Word, January 2013)

One of the Guardian’s “Ten Great Storytelling Nights” (March 2014)

“Stand-up comedy with Sophocles and Justin Bieber during World Cup football” (John Fleming, June 2014)