Fiona Allen, the star and co-writer of award winning TV series ‘Smack The Pony’, has announced her first stand-up tour starting this Autumn. This follows her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her show ‘On The Run’. The initial dates announced start on Friday 15TH September at Hemel Hempstead’s Old Town Hall and culminates on Friday 8th December at Banbury’s Mill Arts Centre before starting again in 2024.  

‘On The Run’ follows Fiona’s warm, engaging and very funny and recent journey to the stand-up stage, her thoughts on family, marriage, sex robots, passive aggressive school Mum’s and supermarket dress codes.  

Fiona is a woman born with itchy feet.  As a teenager, she left her hometown of Bury for the bright lights of Manchester and became part of the Tony Wilson empire of the Hacienda Nightclub and Factory Records.  When she decided to become an actor, she came to London and in next to no time had won 2 Emmy’s as the star and co-writer of the hugely influential all female Sketch show ‘Smack the Pony’.   

She met and married Mike, the son of Sir Michael Parkinson, and had 3 kids in 5 years, so the last few years have been a whirlwind of work and kids, kids and work with a small bit of husband thrown in with a large dollop of a mad Cockapoo. The kids and the other two are sort of housetrained so now it’s a good time to take a breather and decide what Fiona would like to do for herself. The only problem is her chronic itchy feet and an attention span that would put her behind a goldfish in a list of possible contestants on The Chase.  So, in true Fiona style she decided to go On the Run… 

As a working Mum with kids she can’t remember the last time she did anything for herself. The problem is finding what that ‘thing’ is, particularly when your spirit animal is a sloth and people generally annoy you. It basically came down to a choice between cage fighting or stand up.  She chose the latter and has spent the last couple of years perfecting her style in the UK’s clubs. Now, she is ready to share her experiences of being on the road, the glamour of motorway services, the challenge of finding a parking spot in a town centre and her random thoughts that arise whilst driving from place to place. 

She muses on being a mum, raising her kids in a world full of parenting theories and passive aggressive school mums. She shares the stress of being a wife to a man who still can’t operate the washing machine, introduces you to her Northern Dad, her hilarious Spanish Mum, and her older sister who she really irritates just by breathing.   

Why was stand up her only road to freedom? And not yoga, swimming, or the gym?! Why are nights under canvas or weekends away are not a good idea for someone whom other people are generally annoying? And why not being very good in groups tends to limit your options of finding an enjoyable hobby? ‘On the Run’ is a show for everyone and has no agenda other than to prove to Fiona that she can actually concentrate on one thing and stay in the same place for an hour.     

Fiona’s many other screen credits are extensive and include Dalziel & Pascoe, Coronation Street, Poirot, Eastenders, Casualty, Shameless, In Deep, Happiness, Skins (as wife to Bill Bailey’s character), Waterloo Road, Mock The Week, Alan Partridge's Scissored Isle, Death In Paradise and 8 Out of 10 Cats. She has also appeared in numerous films including 24 Hour Party People, Fat Slags and Gladiatress. 

Dates so far are as follows: 

SEPTEMBER 

Fri 15th                          HEMEL HEMSTEAD – Old Town Hall 

Sat 16th                         STAFFORD – Gate House Theatre 

Thurs 21st                     BATH – Rondo Theatre  

Sat 23rd                         STOURBRIDGE – Crown Centre 

Thurs 28th                     GUILDFORD – Electric Theatre 

Sat 30th                         SOUTHAMPTON – Stage Door  

OCTOBER 

Thurs 12th                     HUDDERSFIELD – Lawrence Batley Theatre 

Fri 13th                         SALISBURY – Arts Centre 

Wed 18th                       SWINDON – Wyvern Theatre 

Fri 20th                          ALYLESTONE – Black Horse  

Thurs 26th                     NEWPORT – Live Studio Theatre 

NOVEMBER 

Thurs 16th                     BRISTOL – The Alma Theatre 

Mon 20th – Wed 22nd      LONDON – Pleasance Theatre 

Thurs 23rd                     YORK – Monkgate 

DECEMBER 

Sat 2nd                          MAIDENHEAD – Norden Farm   

Fri 8th                            BANBURY – Mill Hill Arts Centre 

Tickets go on sale 10am, Friday, June 23 here: https://www.frontfoottalent.com/fionaallen 

Picture: Natasha Pszenicki