Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright is a black comedy horror play by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, based on the BBC black comedy anthology series Inside No. 9. The play has a run time of 2 hours 20 minutes including a 20 minute interval, and features references to the TV series, including a performance of the episode "Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room" as well as new characters and storyline.
The play opened at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End from 18 January 2025 for a limited run until 5 April, directed by Simon Evans. Tickets for the 85 shows were released on 8 May 2024. Each performance featured a celebrity guest star, which included Lee Mack, Ian McKellen, David Tennant and Bob Mortimer. The show also toured the UK during autumn 2025, before returning to London for a final run at the Hammersmith Apollo in January 2026.
Synopsis
Act One The show begins with a cold open in which an on-stage audience are being seated before a performance of Hamlet. As Charles (Reece Shearsmith) begins to watch the performance, the members around him Angus (Steve Pemberton), Antonia and Daddy become too distracting causing Charles to comedically kill each of them before addressing the audience "Ladies and gentlemen, may I please remind you that you are in a theatre. No coughing, no eating and no mobile phones."
Shearsmith and Pemberton step in front of the red curtain to introduce Stage/Fright and explain that the theatre the show is playing is haunted as the cold open was based on an incident that happened a number of years ago where Mr Dowling was in such a state of grieving for his wife that he killed three audience members. They explain about a Grand Guignol play called La Terreur de L'aisle or "Terror at the Asylum" was performed however its lead actress Madame Belle Catron was killed during a scene that went wrong and her ghost has since haunted the theatre called Bloody Belle. Suggesting that Mr Dowling might have seen Bloody Belle's ghost or the ghost of his late wife, they ask “For what is a ghost but a memory? A way of keeping a loved one’s memory alive? Maybe every ghost story is really just a love story.” They also explain the tradition of the ghost light before Pemberton sceptically encourages the audience to summon Bloody Belle by saying her name three times.
In the next scene, the episode "Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room" is performed. Thomas "Tommy" Shelby (Shearsmith) arrives on an empty stage with props and a ghost light to meet his former "Cheese N Crackers" double act partner Len Drake (Pemberton) to attempt practising their old routines. Shelby has moved on from showbusiness while Drake is enthusiastic about starting again. Tommy reminds Len that he owes him £25 for "Bernie Clifton's dressing room" in which Len doesn't recall what he means.
As Len goes out for a cigarette, Tommy reads a script that he has written about two burglars Eddie and Ray (played by Pemberton and Shearsmith respectively, reprising their roles from the episode "A Quiet Night In") who have mistakenly broken into the wrong house and taken a celebrity hostage (in which the celebrity is different every performance). The celebrity is tasked with an improvisational script before Ray accidentally shoots them dead. The scene ends with the celebrity taking a bow in front of the red curtain and is handed flowers.
As the scene goes back to the episode "Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room", Tommy discovers that Len has been homeless by finding his belongings who insists that he never wanted any money, just to have Tommy by his side performing again. In rehearsing their final routine "Brown Bottles" which involves Len drinking seven bottles of beer within the song, Tommy reminds Len that during one night he collapsed in Bernie Clifton's dressing room choking on his own vomit and reveals that he stopped performing because of fear that Len would kill himself due to his alcohol addiction. Len's daughter Leanne walks to find Tommy who in fact has been on his own the whole time as it is revealed that Len died and he is preparing for his funeral speech. She gives him a card with £25 from Len.
As the first half ends, the ghost light starts flickering. After Tommy leaves the stage, Bloody Belle appears.
Act Two The second act begins with a performance of La Terreur de L'aisle. Suzette arrives at Dr. Goudron's (Pemberton) asylum to treat for her migraines and is greeted by Cragg, one of the nurses and Hugo (Shearsmith), one of the insane patients. Goudron offers a pain-free hypnotic method for operation by which he demonstrates by convincing Hugo to surgically remove his own leg.
As violence and chaos ensures, Abby, a theatre usher and aspiring actress, enters with a coffee order ruining what is in fact a rehearsal for the play. Rehearsals continue using a camera and a screen on stage as Abby discusses the curse of Bloody Belle with the director Marcus (and Hugo), Vincent Gannymeade (Goudron) and the play's celebrity leading actress Sherrie Leeks (Suzette).
After the rehearsal and theatre has been emptied and the ghost light has been left on, Sherrie and Abby stay behind to rehearse the play's lines. They begin to see movements on the camera and screen, which Sherrie uses the light on the camera to guide herself around the empty theatre to investigate the noises. Having lost Abby, she makes her way back onto the stage where she is frightened away by seemingly the ghost of Bloody Belle, which turns out to be Abby pretending in a ruse by her and Marcus to make Sherrie quit the play and attract publicity. As Marcus rejects the idea of Abby taking over from Sherrie, Abbie becomes possessed and strangles him to death as the real Bloody Belle appears.
In what is seemingly the curtain call for Stage/Fright, the company take their bow before Pemberton steps forward to thank the audience for their support and paying tribute to Shearsmith who had in fact died in rehearsals before the show's run began, revealing that Toby, his understudy, had played Shearsmith's roles in the performance, ending with applause and an obituary photo of Shearsmith on the screen.
After the curtain falls, the audience can still hear Pemberton on his microphone who walks onstage during the show's reset and is killed by a falling stage light. The curtain rises to see him being greeted by Shearsmith's ghost handing him a coffee, much to his annoyance that Pemberton still continued to go ahead with the show and that the "twist" was that he was dead. With nothing to do but to haunt the theatre, Pemberton exits the stage whilst Shearsmith turns to the audience revealing that the falling stage light was meant for Toby. The show ends with Shearsmith, Pemberton and the company performing "Tears of Laughter" (the finale number from the episode "Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room") in what is their memorial service all dressed in white on Cloud 9.
Production history
West End (2025) The play opened at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End on 16 January 2025 and ran until 5 April, starring Pemberton and Shearsmith. It was directed by Simon Evans featuring set design by Grace Smart, costume design by Yves Barre, lighting design by Neil Austin, sound design by Ed Lewis, illusions by John Bulleid and video and projection design by Duncan Mclean.
UK tour (2025) Following the success of the West End run, the show began touring the UK in autumn 2025, starting at Churchill Theatre, Bromley (5–6 September) before touring to Milton Keynes Theatre (9–13 September), Sunderland Empire Theatre (16–20 September), Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (23–26 September), The Alexandra, Birmingham (7–11 October), Manchester Opera House (14–18 October), New Victoria Theatre, Woking (21–25 October), Hull New Theatre (28 October–1 November), New Theatre Oxford (4–8 November), Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent (11–15 November), Liverpool Empire Theatre (18–22 November) and Edinburgh Playhouse (25–29 November) before returning to The Alexandra, Birmingham (2–6 December) due to popular demand.
Hammersmith (2026) Following the UK tour, the show played a run for the final time at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London from 2 to 6 January 2026. The final celebrity guest star was Bernie Clifton (who the episode Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room performed in the show is named after).
Cast +CharacterWest EndUK tourHammersmith20252026HimselfAngusLen Shelby (Crackers)EddieVincent Gannymeade (Goudron)Steve PembertonHimselfCharlesTommy Drake (Cheese)RayMarcus de Lorde (Hugo/Director)Reece ShearsmithLeanneSherrie Leeks (Suzette)Miranda HennessyAntoniaMaggie Philbine (Cragg)Anna FrancoliniSarah MoyleAbbyGaby FrenchDaddyJack Foundling (Warden)Bhav JoshiBloody BelleLisa Smelling (Madame Goudron)Rebecca BainbridgeTobyToby Manley
Dates and guest stars LocationDateGuest starWest End (2025)Wyndham's Theatre, London