The Kindness of Strangers

Black Bat Productions

Black Bat Productions specialises in fast-paced, elegant, darkly funny and socially critical plays. Since our first production as part of the Free Fringe in 2017, Black Bat has brought work to the Edinburgh Fringe every year of the Festival, including two sell-out runs in 2021 - “Fear of Roses” at the Assembly Roxy, which welcomed guests like Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Sam Mendes in our audience, and “Press” at Pleasance Courtyard, which has enjoyed critical acclaim, multiple transfers to London and a returning Fringe run with Pleasance in 2022.

Stemming from his mixed-race, Black, dual-national and Jewish background, founder and artistic director Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller strives to create work with the Black Bat team that reflects and explores multifaceted identities, perspectives, and dynamics. We aim to play with our audiences’ expectations of right and wrong, sympathetic and unsympathetic, protagonist and antagonist - while also crafting snappy and aesthetically rich shows that harken back to retro aesthetics of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and satirically question how much has really changed in the contemporary world.

Press & Reviews

Praise for Previous Work

★★★★★ "Genius… pleasurably wicked.” - Broadway Baby
 
★★★★★ "Fringe theatre does not get much better than this." - The Violet Curtain
 
★★★★½ "Hilarious… some of the loudest laughs of this year’s Fringe.” - Theatre Scotland
 
★★★★ "A fantastically entertaining and thoughtful play with real social bite… an outstanding piece of theatre” - The Wee Review
 
★★★★ “Contains as many genuine laughs as anything you will see this year… thoroughly impressive… an unqualified hit.” - AllEdinburgh Theatre
 
★★★★ “A masterclass in character development… a profundity that I have rarely witnessed in a fringe show.” - The Violet Curtain
 
★★★★ ”Anyone who has seen one of their previous productions will recognise several of the elements on display in the first of them – a noirish sheen, taut and snappy dialogue, a clever script with well engineered twists, an almost miraculous cool.” - AllEdinburgh Theatre
 
★★★★ “A punchy, effective ride… an impressively staged piece from its opening moments” - Culture Fix
 
★★★★ “A show you can bank on to entertain… Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller is certainly one to watch.” - EdFringe Review
 
★★★★ “An inventive new take on a familiar genre.” - Broadway Baby
 
★★★★ “Delicious tinges of a 1940s film noir” - One4Review
 
★★★★★ “The most intelligent piece of theatre I have seen at the Fringe… I would give it more stars if I could… far more quotable lines than I can put down here.” - EdFringe Review
 
★★★★★ “Captivating, shocking and brutal in its honesty… an utter triumph… a masterpiece of theatre that I wanted to go back and wa

Cast & Creative Team Writer/Co-Director/Pierce Mitchell: NATHANIEL BRIMMER-BELLER
Co-Director: MICHAEL ZWIAUER
Producer: MADELEINE CHISHOLM-SCOTT

Candace "Candie" Woodley: ESMÉE COOK
Lea Celeste: ANDREA GATCHALIAN