Smalltown Boy by Brenda Callis, is a heartbreakingly joyful play about grief, community, and growing up queer in a rural town, explored through the explosive storytelling medium of drag.
In the wake of their boyfriend Leo’s unexpected death, Edie – a drag queen from Bristol – travels down to Cornwall to meet the family they never knew of. Expecting small-town homophobia, Edie instead finds a community they didn’t expect. As Edie’s arrival awakens new emotions and old tensions, drag begins to trickle through this seaside town, and truths begin to pour out.
How do you piece together a person who didn’t have time to find those pieces themself?
Smalltown Boy was given a seed grant and support from Bristol Old Vic’s Ferment Scheme in 2023/24. It had a sold-out work-in-progress sharing at Bristol Old Vic in March 2024, and had further script development with their Literary Department. It then went on tour in 2026 across the south west and London, opening with a SOLD OUT week run at Bristol Old Vic and The Poly in Falmouth, and then going to Theatre Royal Plymouth, Exeter Northcott and finishing with a week run at The Pleasance Theatre in Islington.
Reviews:
“The breeze of the South West blows through Smalltown Boy… this is for anyone who has felt dislocated, by place or emotion… [for those] who love glitter, confetti and a crackin’ pack of lungs.” – PRSD
“Smalltown Boy announces Brenda Callis as a playwright with a genuinely distinctive voice, and Frazer Meakin’s direction gives the piece the warmth and propulsion it needs.” – ★ ★ ★ ★ UK Theatre Web
“There are shows that you watch, like and think about for a while, then there are the rarer shows that feel like a privilege to experience. Brenda Callis’s Smalltown Boy falls firmly into the latter category. It is skilfully written, exquisitely performed and movingly human.” – Theatre Royal Plymouth website review
“The joyous joining of drag and drama is masterful.” – ★ ★ ★ ★ Young(Ish) Perspective
“Engaging, funny and poignant” – Bristol 24/7
★ ★ ★ ★ The Reviews Hub
★ ★ ★ ★ Adventures in Theatreland
“There’s a moment in Smalltown Boy when grief stops being something that happens to characters and starts being something that happens to you. It arrives quietly, between the laughs and the lip-syncs, and it catches you off-guard. That, in essence, is the particular alchemy Brenda Callis has bottled in her debut full-length play: a piece that is funny far more than it is sad, yet leaves you carrying something heavier than you expected when you walked in.” – UK Theatre Web
Brenda Callis - Playwright 