New show celebrating the joy and ridiculousness of being human heads to Leeds Playhouse

“Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.” 

 Baz Luhrmann, 1999

Look After Your Knees is a new show about the pain and beauty of growing older, of connecting and unravelling, of taking hold and letting go. Yorkshire audiences will get a preview performance on 26 July in the Bramall Rock Void at Leeds Playhouse before it heads up to Edinburgh Fringe.

This solo performance by theatre maker, performer and physical comedian Natalie Bellingham uses comedy, storytelling, movement and interaction to uncover some of the things in life that can be hard to talk about. 

“It’s a celebration of being human in all its banality, sprinkled with joy and ridiculousness,” she said. “It’s a visual and physical collage performed by a clown delving into the space inside us left behind by time. It’s about a person trying to unwrap a new version of themselves in a world they don’t recognise and a life they seem uncomfortably in charge of.

“This is a show about facing change when you didn’t see it coming. It’s about what comes next.”

Natalie was raised in Manchester and is now based in Yorkshire. She was co-founder of Uncanny Theatre and toured original work for a decade to theatres and festivals throughout the UK, including HOME Manchester, The Lowry, Transform, A Nation’s Theatre, Incoming Festival & Gateshead International Festival of Theatre.

She was a Funny Women Finalist in 2021 and most recently toured the UK with The Polar Bear (Is Dead), a show made in collaboration with Italian theatre maker Daniele Pennati about loss, climate change and the Spice Girls, which came to the Playhouse in 2023.

This Edinburgh Fringe Preview of Look After Your Knees is being presented with the support of Furnace, the Playhouse’s artist development engine.

The creative team includes: Performer and Co-creator Natalie Bellingham; Director and Co-creator Jamie Wood; Sound Jack Sibley; Design Hannah Sibai; Lighting Martin Smith; Technician Steve Watling; Photography Matt Rogers; and Producer SJ Watkinson, Outer Circle Arts.

Look After Your Knees plays Leeds Playhouse on 26 July. Tickets can be purchased through leedsplayhouse.org.uk or box office: 0113 213 7700