We sat down for a quick chat with Paul Bradshaw about his upcoming project, tell me straight and Aggy, running at the King’s Head Theatre until the 14th of Nov. tell me straight is a fast-paced, semi autobiographical play about sexuality, desire and the uncertainty of modern relationships. It follows a man whose recent hook-ups all share one defining detail, they are all straight.
1. tell me straight began as a profit share upstairs at the King’s Head in 2021, what does it mean to bring it to the Main Stage alongside aggy?
tell me straight really was a threadbare piece from inception. We knew we were going to be on top of another production’s set, so that meant we had to be super minimal in our design and in many reviews we were famously referred to as ‘two chairs and a coat rack’. With those restraints we had to be inventive with other design elements, utilising sound, lighting, costumes and props to signify environments and changes of character. All of that became embedded into the script and I’m proud to say that it has remained in every version.
When we knew we were going to revive tell me straight alongside aggy in the double bill at The Park we knew there was an opportunity to elevate the production values. aggy involves a lot of tech, so it’s super exciting for each production to support and elevate each other.
On a personal level, this kid that grew up on benefits on a council estate is over the bloody moon to be taking up this space on the main stage at a venue that has historically supported the most exciting new voices in comedy and drama.
2. Having drawn on your own experiences for tell me straight, how do you decide what to keep personal and what to fictionalise?
tell me straight is set over the course of a month, whilst the experiences I drew from happened over the course of 15 years. So it’s a much more intense reliving of my story. That allows me to maintain a healthy distance between my life and the character of HIM, whilst we are of course similar, we’re also very different. None of the characters featured in the play are verbatim accounts of relationships I had, they are a combination of various stories during that 15 year period. So they really feel like fully fleshed out humans. The play is all at once, deeply personal and fictional. Which is what makes it fun.
3. aggy asks who gets to make art and on what terms – what prompted you to explore race, gender and privilege through the idea of an alter ego?
For me, both plays feature characters that are still figuring things out. And a lot of that happens by the ways in which they adapt themselves in various situations, whether that’s to blend in or stand out, get what they want or not rock the boat.
I am proud to say that in aggy none of the characters are mouthpieces for my viewpoints, or are based on real people and none of them are one dimensional. They are complicated, flawed humans who are constantly making adjustments to themselves in order to survive. I think we’re all moving through life like that.
I have always been curious about how artists do this to another extreme, whether it’s Sasha Fierce or Leigh Bowery. People have used alter egos in their art as a way to explore and platform deeper parts of themselves for centuries and now with the expectation of creators to have an online presence too, aggy felt like an exciting way to bring this to life onstage.
4. You star in tell me straight and co-direct aggy – how do you manage the shift between performer and director across the two plays?
Full transparency, it’s intense af. In rehearsals we’re working on tell me straight 10 – 1:30 and then aggy from 2:30 – 6, squeezing in press, social media, photography and videography, production meetings, sessions with movement directors and accent coaches… for both the Park and King’s Head runs the rehearsal process were the most rewarding and challenging periods of my professional life! And don’t even get me started on tech… lets just say that in January 2026 I didn’t have a single grey hair, and now there are a cluster around each temple!
There is literally no way this would’ve been possible without Imogen Frances, Anna Eagle, our extraordinary casts and the whole team who kept things moving.
Once the plays are open it’s actually very chill, I love doing tell me straight and I will do a show watch of aggy once a week to see how it’s going. But I trust that everyone is absolutely smashing it.
5. What do you hope audiences take away from seeing the two plays together as a double bill?
What I love about both plays is that the reactions vary from night to night. Sometimes a crowd guffaws with laughter throughout tell me straight and the very next night there’ll be a group of people in the bar in tears saying that it felt like watching their own lives reflected on stage. That is the beauty of live theatre, and as a performer it’s about trying to remove my ego if an audience isn’t as vocal. As it doesn’t mean they’re not with us, or that they’re not enjoying themselves. And it’s healthy to not have any preconceived ideas of what I want audiences to take away from the plays. In a monologue in aggy Lawrence says that he hopes people reflect on how they move through the world and how they oftentimes judge someone without knowing their full story…and I guess that’s what I want my audiences to do. And to enjoy themselves too obvs.