🎠What’s in Grace’s Satchel?
Theatre Village Blog by Grace Hatchell
EXPOSURE THERAPY – Nicole Nadler is back, and this time, she’s taking on fear itself.
Last year, we popped Nicole Nadler right on our front page, and rightly so — she was funny, fearless, and absolutely fabulous. Her show was a highlight of the Fringe.
So, when I tell you Nicole is back at the Fringe this August with a new show called Exposure Therapy, I want you to picture me frantically scribbling in my theatre diary and shouting “YES, PLEASE” into a Croissant Crumb-strewn café on Clerk Street.
But here’s the twist: Nicole didn’t have a press release to hand. Why? Because she was worried it was too late. Because she wasn’t sure she could pull this show off. Because she thought maybe this one was too raw, too unscripted, too revealing — even for her.
And now I get to tell you why she is absolutely wrong.
This show is a marvel. And it hasn’t even opened yet. As Grace puts it: “If you’ve ever let fear hold you back — and who hasn’t — then this show is the mirror, the message, and the medicine.”
Let’s talk fear.
Exposure Therapy isn’t a polished stand-up routine. It isn’t a neatly tied-up narrative with a moral at the end. It’s a nightly experiment in courage — Nicole Nadler’s, and yours too.
Each evening, audience members anonymously write down their deepest fears — the kind that whisper nasty things in the back of your mind when you’re brushing your teeth. The kind that stop you from becoming the person you know you’re supposed to be.
Nicole takes those fears… and performs them.
Live.
Unscripted.
In front of you.
Yes, you.
She’ll live them out, speak them aloud, wrangle them into something artistic and absurd and possibly tear-inducing. Or — if you’re not in the mood to trauma-share — you can challenge her to a game of truth or dare or ask her to read from her teenage diaries. (She brought all of them. Brave girl.)
So why is this bonkers and brilliant?
Because Nicole has no safety net. There’s no backup plan, no “in case of flop, press this button for punchline.” She’s building this plane mid-air, fuelled by improvisation, humour, storytelling chops, and sheer nerve. It’s theatre as adrenaline, as vulnerability, as art in its most uncertain and immediate form.
As Nicole herself says:
“Every reason I have for NOT doing this show is the reason I AM doing it.”
And that, dear readers, is everything.
In her own words, she’s scared stiff.
She’s scared she’s not witty enough. Not clever enough. Not brave enough.
And yet — she’s stepping onstage night after night, inviting your fears, and showing you what they look like when they’re cracked open and danced with.
If that’s not courage, I don’t know what is.
At Theatre Village, we’re proudly throwing our full support behind women who dare to do things differently — and this year, that means standing squarely behind Nicole Nadler. This isn’t just another Fringe show; it’s a raw, unfiltered act of courage, and we believe in this girl. Nicole is everything we champion: bold, honest, and unapologetically herself. Grace Hatchell herself has said, “If I had a backstage pass to only one show this year, it’d be Exposure Therapy. Nicole’s got more guts than a stage full of Macbeths.” We know it takes guts to do what she’s doing — to stand in front of a room full of strangers, rip open her fears, and invite yours in too. One thing we could do? Shout it from the rooftops. So that’s exactly what we’re doing.
Exposure Therapy
By Nicole Nadler
Greenside Venues
August 1–23 (not 10 or 17)
Weeks 1 & 2: 22:20 | Week 3: 23:15
ÂŁ10 / ÂŁ8 concession
🎫 Book here on the Fringe site
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