“She is scarred and scraped and dotted with pools of candle-wax… when you sit in front of her it’s like being held.”
When Niall was nine years old he took his first, and as it turned out, last piano exam. And vowed never to play the piano again.
Since that day, there’s always been a piano somewhere that has drawn him back. This new production by Niall Ashdown explores, celebrates and commemorates this enduring love affair, and its place at the heart of all the clarity and confusion that life has thrown at him – and that life throws at all of us.
Featuring original songs, Five Pianos is a funny, intimate and honest story of piano as lover, as liability, as lifesaver.
Written and performed by Niall Ashdown, an actor, comic improviser and writer. He is a regular performer with The Comedy Store Players, an associate artist with Improbable Theatre, and has appeared on telly in Whose Line Is It Anyway? Outnumbered and, most notably (if you’re of a certain age) Jackanory. He teaches improvisation and theatre too.
Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London SE4 2DH. Thursday 5 to Saturday 7 February 2026 at 7.30pm
Booking and full details: www.brockleyjack.co.uk
