'I'm thirty-six, I'm a comedian, and I'm about to kill my boyfriend.'

A permanently single, professionally neurotic stand-up comedian finally meets his Mr Right – and then does everything wrong.

Is Mr Right quite what he seems? And just how far will the comedian go to get a laugh?

Marcelo Dos Santos's play Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen is a dark and bitingly funny one-man show about vulnerability, intimacy, ego and truth. It premiered in the Roundabout at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, produced by Francesca Moody Productions, directed by Matthew Xia, and starring Samuel Barnett.

The critically acclaimed, Fringe First-winning production transferred to the Bush Theatre, London, in November 2023.

Prizes

Winner of Edinburgh Fringe First Award 2022

'What a fine work this is... full of humour, lines written with the whiplash timing of a master... a sense of real feeling, an understanding of the psychological terror of constant failure and impending annihilation... urgent, fresh and utterly compelling... confirms Dos Santos as a writer of enormous talent'

'Fast, filthy and powerful... a perfectly formed monologue... chillingly, thrillingly transgressive'

'Blending dark humour, pathos and a hearty dash of millennial angst, [this] deserves to be the next Fleabag... the gag-count is ridiculously high and the writing overall has a Bennettian finesse... it's enviably accomplished'

'Enthralling... a compelling and troubling character study with some killer punchlines'

'A cleverly constructed piece of writing, and often very funny'

'Frank, funny and occasionally filthy... a nice piece of writing, following in the footsteps of Fleabag'

'Very entertaining and sharply funny'

'Funny and pleasingly absurdist... An entertaining, sometimes outrageous hour, brought to a very skilled climax'

'Is this the male Fleabag? Marcelo Dos Santos's fevered monologue about a romance on the verge of a nervous breakdown... holds us spellbound for an hour'

'Pristine writing... both hilarious and heart-wrenching'

'Outrageously entertaining and endlessly surprising... an extraordinary piece of theatre'

'A rollercoaster of a play... powerfully subtle, until it's not meant to be, and then it's joyfully theatrical... comedy magic'

'Terrific... Marcelo Dos Santos' script is structured beautifully, blending coarse humour with dark, brittle wit and he signs it off with a delicious punchline. Underlying the laughter, this is a multi-layered piece that explores the human fear of and need for close relationships'

'Razor-sharp... a very clever play... Dos Santos' writing uncovers new ideas at every turn... has all the laughs of a comedy set while presenting a twisting narrative that keeps you guessing'

'A sizzling monologue about sex and fatal attraction... Dos Santos writes beautifully'

Marcelo Dos Santos is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His adaptation of Zizou Corder's novel Lionboy was produced by Complicité on tour internationally, and his original play Backstairs Billy opened in the West End in 2023, directed by Michael Grandage.