Credit: Lucy Ridges
Hannah Platt Brings Cult Classic to Edinburgh Fringe 2026 — And Grace Is Slightly Worried She’s Been Recruited
By Grace Hatchell
Now then, villagers, I’ve delivered all sorts in my time. Bills, flyers, theatre gossip, the odd suspiciously heavy parcel that I chose not to ask questions about. But I don’t think I’ve ever had to deliver news of a comedy show that starts with the words: “Are you a failure? A reject? Alone? Good.”
Cheery, isn’t it? Like a motivational poster designed by someone who’s been banned from HR.
Multi-award nominated comedian Hannah Platt is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2026 with her brand-new show Cult Classic, and from the sound of it, she’s not easing us in gently. No warm-up biscuit. No soft landing. Just straight into belonging, rejection, cult thinking, mental health, bad relationships, niche obsessions, and the tiny lingering fear that maybe you don’t fit anywhere.
So, you know. Just a light evening at Pleasance Courtyard.
Hannah will perform Cult Classic at Pleasance Courtyard, The Attic, at 7.15pm from Wednesday 5th to Sunday 30th August 2026. The show runs for 60 minutes, which is probably just enough time to question your entire sense of identity and still make it out for chips afterwards.
Following her multi award-nominated 2024 Edinburgh Fringe debut, Hannah returns with a new hour exploring the seductive appeal of cults and the exhausting pursuit of “having it” — whatever “it” is. Personally, I’ve been pursuing “it” for years and mostly found laundry, mild panic, and a half-used Boots meal deal voucher in the bottom of my satchel.
In Cult Classic, Hannah looks at what happens after years of therapy, bad relationships, feeling rejected by every community you’re supposed to belong to, and wondering whether the answer is not self-improvement but recruitment.
That is, admittedly, one way to handle a crisis. Some people buy a journal. Some people start yoga. Hannah Platt appears to be asking: what if I simply started a cult?
Please note, Theatre Village is not currently recruiting for one. Although if we did, there would be a strict uniform policy involving comfortable shoes and dramatic scarves.
Hannah’s comedy has been praised for being sharp, frank, deadpan, macabre, and brutally honest. The Guardian described her humour as “sharp enough to draw blood,” while Chortle called her “a natural performer” with “diamond-quality punchlines.” Rolling Stone named her “One to Watch,” and The Skinny has described her as a “voice of a new generation.”
No pressure, then. Just pop along and witness the voice of a generation in a tiny Fringe room while quietly wondering if you’ve accidentally joined something.
Hannah is a Liverpool-born, Manchester-based stand-up comedian and writer known for her confessional style and fearless approach to difficult subjects. Her sell-out debut Fringe show Defence Mechanism went on to London’s Soho Theatre and a UK tour, earning nominations including ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer, NextUp’s Biggest Award in Comedy, and Leicester Comedy Festival Best Debut.
She has also appeared on Comedy Central Live, written and performed for BBC Three, and is a regular voice on BBC Radio 4, with credits including Fresh From the Fringe, The News Quiz and The Now Show. On top of that, she has supported the likes of Alison Spittle, Fern Brady, Lou Sanders, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Olga Koch, Harriet Kemsley, Ashley Gavin and Laura Ramoso.
Basically, she’s been busy. I get tired just reading the list, and I once carried three bags of parcels uphill in drizzle because the bus driver “didn’t see me.” He saw me. He chose peace for himself and chaos for me.
What makes Cult Classic sound especially interesting is that it doesn’t seem to be comedy that simply points and laughs from a safe distance. This is comedy that gets right in amongst the mess: rejection, identity, belonging, queerness, neurodiversity, class, family, therapy, hypnotherapy, mental health, and the very human need to be wanted somewhere.
And that’s the dangerous bit, isn’t it? We all want to belong. We all want a room where people get us. We all want to walk in somewhere and not feel like we’ve brought the wrong version of ourselves. Hannah appears to be taking that feeling, twisting it through her sharp and gloriously dark comic lens, and asking what happens when the need to belong becomes something a little more unsettling.
Also, apparently, she has a theory that polyamory is a recession indicator, which is the sort of sentence that makes me want to sit down immediately with a notebook and a strong cup of tea.
There is a reason critics keep circling Hannah Platt as one to watch. She seems to sit in that deliciously uncomfortable place between harsh and hilarious, where the joke lands, then the thought behind it taps you on the shoulder five minutes later and asks if you’re alright.
So if you like your comedy polished but dangerous, personal but punchy, bleak but somehow comforting, Cult Classic may well be one for the Fringe list.
Just don’t blame me if you come out of The Attic with a new worldview, three emotional revelations, and a sudden urge to form a group chat with matching robes.
Hannah Platt: Cult Classic plays at Pleasance Courtyard, The Attic, at 7.15pm from Wednesday 5th to Sunday 30th August 2026.
The show runs for 60 minutes.
You can find more from Hannah on Instagram at @hannahtheplatt.
Hannah Platt: Cult Classic | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
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