The Falmouth Cringe who's on and how to buy tickets

The Falmouth Cringe is a brand new bespoke comedy festival, running from June 30 to July 3 and is the first of its kind in the South West of England.

Working closely with six local, independent venues in Falmouth, the festival is bringing 25 comedy performances to the town to showcase talent from across the country and nurture and champion homegrown comedians.

The festival will give audiences in Cornwall the opportunity to enjoy high quality comedy with a new fringe-style comedy festival to match others across the UK for the first time, with four headline gigs taking place during the weekend alongside a variety of new and exciting acts.

Tim Key

Tim Key (Alan Partridge, The Witchfinder, Tim Key’s Late Night Poetry Programme) will open the festival with his five-star reviewed one-man show, Mulberry, hailed as "The greatest stand-up response to Lockdown so far" by The Times.

The Poly will host a surprise gig on Saturday, July 2. Audiences can buy a ticket to see a mystery headline act, which the festival promises will be a big name on the comedy circuit.

Two children's comedy shows will also take place during the afternoons of Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2. On Saturday, the Suitcase Storytelling Company are performing their acclaimed family show 'The Girl and the Dragon' at Solskinn - The Church, bringing a fantastical storytelling show to Falmouth that follows hero Toral on the adventure of a lifetime.

Solskinn - The Church is in the old Methodist church on Killigrew Street was which was recently acquired by Harry James-Mills (the owner of Wesup and Solskinn, two cocktail bars in Falmouth) and is about to open again as a brand new community hub in Falmouth. With a capacity of 300, opening and closing nights will be hosted at The Church – which will help establish it as a new status as a cultural venue.

On Sunday, the five-star reviewed family friendly improvisational comedy 'Shaken Not Stirred: The Improvised James Bond Film' comes to The Cornish Bank. Armed only with suggestions from the audience, Alexander Fox, Dom O’Keefe and Scott Oswald take on mission impossible in the style of the world’s favourite spy.

Maisie Adam will close the festival

Fresh from Live at The Apollo, Mock The Week, and The Last Leg, Best Newcomer nominee Maisie Adam will close the Falmouth Cringe Festival with a work in progress of her brand new show for 2022, ‘Buzzed’.

Explaining why she decided to set up the festival co-director Franciska Earle, who owns and runs both The Chintz Bar and Underland in the Old Brewery Yard which will be the hub of the festival, said: “Running a performance space in Falmouth for the last five years has shown me that Cornwall is increasingly left out of the loop when it comes to live comedy.

“There is so much talent in this county who struggle to make their voices heard outside of the Westcountry, and the Cornish audience rarely get to see top quality acts without having to travel miles to do so.

“Our aim for the festival was to be able to connect audiences with the amazing talent this county has to offer whilst placing Cornwall on the comedy map.”

Falmouth Cringe

Her Co-director Johanna Brooks, who has five years experience producing festivals and cultural events, including the London Short Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival while said: “We've been truly humbled by how many local businesses and individuals have offered their time and support to make this happen.

"It feels like the entire community in Falmouth is behind the festival and is just as excited as we are to be launching today. We can't wait to see how successful it becomes.

“There’s no reason that Cornwall can’t have something that might rival the Edinburgh Fringe one day!”

Richard Wilcox, Manager of the Falmouth BID, part of Falmouth Council and Falmouth Cringe Festival sponsor, said: “We’re really pleased to see The Falmouth Cringe being added to Falmouth’s incredible events calendar. It’s a great idea that will grow and develop, one which I’m sure, will appeal to many different audiences.

“The Cringe is one of a number of new creative happenings this year, all of which are being supported and nurtured by the BID through Falmouth Creates, a new strategic group we’ve set up, that aims to firmly put Falmouth back on the creative events map.”