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, and this show 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.

By turns funny, intimate and honest, it is the story of piano as lover, as liability, as lifesaver. Five Pianos comes to the Jack for a special one-off debut performance.

Niall Ashdown is 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, these days. This is his first solo project since The Man Who Would Be Sting, and the highly-acclaimed Hungarian Bird Festival, both of which became radio plays for BBC Radio 4.  

Praise for Niall’s shows:

“This gentle and wise little piece of storytelling theatre is quite mesmerising.” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian on Hungarian Bird Festival 

“charmingly whimsical, thematically universal, at one point startlingly emotional” Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard on The Man Who Would Be Sting