james allen

writer. director. performer. producer.

Creative specialising in comedy for stage and screen

About

JAMES ALLEN

Writer/Director/Performer/

Producer/Comedian

James Allen is a creative with bases in Manchester and West London. He studied English at the University of Cambridge where he won the Collinssplatt Drama Prize and was the President of the famous sketch comedy troupe, the Cambridge Footlights. He now works as a freelance creative, specialising in comedy for stage and screen.

Allen has most recently completed writing and performing in the Footlights Tour Show: Prize Cow for my Best Son (Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe) and is currently directing Isaac Tompkinson's stand-up hour, Imfallible (ADC Theatre). He has just completed a course in directing and facilitating at the Kneehigh Barns with Kneehigh and Complicité, working under Mike Shepherd and Catherine Alexander.

He began his career working as an actor, with selected credits including Husbands and Sons (Royal Exchange, in association with National Theatre) Hamlet (Royal Exchange Theatre), A Doll's House (BBC Radio) and Elf the Musical (UK Tour). He was a member of the Royal Exchange Young Company and the National Youth Theatre.

As a writer, he was a part of the Royal Exchange Young Writers Group, before making his first professional writing credit in 2022, co-writing Who Cares? (Enact Solutions), a comedy production for primary-school aged children. He wrote and directed the surreal comedy play, Attachment: The Leech Show (theSpaceUK and Greenside @ Ed Fringe, 2022-2023), which earned an OffFest nomination and was praised by The Guardian and Broadway Baby. He has written for the alt-comedy magazine, Chaff, and has written for numerous comedy productions as part of his time in Footlights, including Footlights Tour 2024.

As a director, he directed a European Tour of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors with the European Theatre Group in 2025, travelling to Antwerp, Leuven, Bern and Montreux. He has directed several stand-up comedy hours, including Frankie Browne's Lonely Stupid Violent (Corpus Playroom, 'a masterpiece' - The Tab), Miranda Evans' To Be Frank (Corpus Playroom) and co-directed Rhys Griffiths' Pragga Wagga Cowboy (ADC Theatre). Whilst with Footlights, Allen directed Footlights Spring Revue 2025: Chaos Theory (ADC Theatre) and co-directed Footlights Tour Show 2024: This Time We Have a Dog (Pleasance, Edinburgh).

He has been a stand-up comedian for over three years, performing at venues such as the Frog and Bucket and Top Secret Comedy Club and reaching the semi-final of the Chortle Student Comedy Award. He is the host of alt-comedy night, Pigs.

He is an award-winning filmmaker, having won the BFI DIY Challenge for the Romance category, and placing runner-up in four other categories

He is an experienced sound designer, designing almost all of his own work as well as designing for other productions, most recently for Katie Norris. He is a member of the surreal sketch troupe, Lukewarm Goo, with whom he has performed in two sketch shows and an audio comedy. He is an experienced musician as well, often incorporating this into his work.

Productions

01

The Comedy of Errors -- European Theatre Group

Directed a touring production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors in Antwerp, Leuven, Bern and Montreux, managing a large cast and crew on an extended international tour.

Founded in 1957 by a group of students that included Derek Jacobi and Trevor Nunn, the European Theatre Group is an entirely student-run society that tours a Shakespeare play across Europe every year. ETG travels by coach with professional technical equipment and an adaptable set, whilst also leading educational workshops for school children.

Allen stepped in to play Dromio of Syracuse due to cast illness.

One of Shakespeare’s most fascinating and hilarious works, The Comedy of Errors is a full-blown farce, set in the mysterious and enchanting coastal town of Ephesus; it chronicles the story of two sets of twins, separated when young, who cause mayhem when they find themselves in the same city many years later.

This interpretation of the hilarious romp brings out the punky, youthful, rebellious and subversive nature of Shakespeare. With energetic costumes, thrilling fights and troublesome seagulls, this production strips back the restriction of the theatrical space, and invites the audience to share in the delight of one of Shakespeare's most electrifying comedies.

****1/2 -- Varsity
**** - Broadway Baby
**** - Per Capita Media

02

Attachment: The Leech Show -- Edinburgh Fringe 2022 + 2023

Directed, wrote, performed in and produced 'Attachment: The Leech Show', a surreal comedy play, with theatre company, Kitsch Theatre.

'Are all theatre critics bloodsucking parasites? This one is. Meet Bob the Leech. Join three actors as they desperately attempt to gain a five star review from the most distinguished (and slimy) theatre critic on the planet. Expect craziness and plenty of blood in this wacky satire about the journey to success in theatre.'

**** - Broadway Baby
**** - The Derek Awards
'a merry romp' -- The Guardian

03

Lonely Stupid Violent -- Corpus Playroom, Cambridge

Directed a solo comedy-horror stand-up hour, performed by Frankie Browne, dealing with difficult topics such as mental illness and loneliness.

'Standup. Making Friends. Nothing Else.'

***** 'a masterpiece' -- The Tab

04

Footlights Tour Show 2024 -- 'This Time We Have a Dog'

Co-directed and wrote for the Cambridge Footlights Tour Show 2024, whilst a first year at Cambridge. Allen was also the Education Officer of the tour show, leading workshops in state schools in Bristol, London and Manchester, including a school that specifically catered for SEN students. The show toured Cambridge, London, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, Belfast, Dublin, Berlin and the Edinburgh Fringe at the Pleasance.

''The most renowned sketch troupe of them all' (Independent) embark on their annual international tour once again! The Cambridge Footlights are back with six of Cambridge's best student comedians putting on a brand new show featuring their funniest sketches, and this time they've brought a dog!'

**** -- EdFringe Review

05

Cambridge Footlights Spring Revue 2025 'Chaos Theory' -- ADC Theatre, Cambridge

Directed a two-hour long sketch show, featuring a cast of 15 all written from scratch in three months.

'The Footlights Spring Revue showcases the talent of the current Footlights members, highlighting the unique strengths that each brings to the stage. The Spring Revue is a celebration of everything that makes Footlights unique: smart, punchy comedy and fearless performances from the best in Cambridge. From big, bold laughs to clever surprises, our members pull out all the stops to give you a night you won’t forget.'

06

Pragga Wagga Cowboy -- ADC Theatre, Cambridge

Co-directed Rhys Griffiths' solo-stand-up hour, 'Pragga Wagga Cowboy', which featured a smaller puppet version of himself called 'Little Rhys'.

In this original stand-up special, bright-eyed drifter, Rhys Griffiths (Cambridge Footlight) invites you around the campfire to partake in some tall tales of the wild west: Wales! Join Rhys on his rootin' tootin' solo stand-up show debut as he meditates on engaging observations about the romance of greasy spoons, his personal failures as a carpenter, pigeons and much more delivered with "perfect charisma" (Varsity).

07

Lukewarm Goo

Co-founded the surreal sketch troupe, Lukewarm Goo, with which Allen has performed and written in two sketch shows, Lukewarm Goo: The Goo Debut and Lukewarm Goo: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Zoo. They have also written and performed in a radio comedy, produced by Allen, called Toad Chendy. They were quarter-finalists in the 2025 Leicester Square Sketch Off.

Performance Showreel

Directing Showreel

Reviews

‘This might be the most I have laughed at a Cambridge show. It was so unexpected, so wonderfully weird, so unbelievably odd. Let’s just say, I wasn’t expecting to see a guy suck off a microphone on a random Tuesday night, and yet I did. [...] This is a masterpiece.’

The Tab

for Lonely Stupid Violent, director.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Cambridge University’s European Theatre Group, under the direction of James Allen, delivers The Comedy of Errors with pace, humour and physicality at the ADC Theatre.’

Broadway Baby

for The Comedy of Errors, director.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Attachment: The Leech Show is great fun. The cast is talented, funny and enthusiastic. [...] This is an emerging and talented company, with a comedy written by 18-year-old James Allen.’

Broadway Baby

for Attachment: The Leech Show, director/writer/performer.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

'flawless [...] utterly hysterical'

Varsity

for The Comedy of Errors, director.

⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

‘how desperate artists are to make themselves heard above the fringe cacophony [...] is an idea Stockport’s Kitsch theatre has taken to the next level. Attachment: The Leech Show is a merry romp'

The Guardian

for Attachment: The Leech Show, director/writer/performer

'Every actor remains present whilst they are on stage, even if they are playing a minor role. Director James Allen should be congratulated on this account: the chemistry between his cast is impressively natural'

Varsity

for The Comedy of Errors, director.

⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

'incredibly good fun'

Per Capita Media

for The Comedy of Errors, director.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

'entertaining farce [...] a lot of fun.

Mark Shenton

for Attachment: The Leech Show, director/writer/performer

'a talented comedian in his own right'

Varsity

CONTACT

DIRECTOR // WRITER // PRODUCER // PERFORMER