‘Will Danes: Presented by Mental Illness’ comes to disturb and amuse the Greater Manchester Fringe with performances at Ice Shack, Withington on 2 July at 19:00 and The Peer Hat, Northern Quarter on 28 July at 19:00. Combining dark musical comedy, satirical cabaret and theatrical songwriting, the debut show presents an hour of original comic songs filled with razor-sharp lyrics, musical wit and contemporary absurdity.
Drawing inspiration from performers such as Tom Lehrer and Flanders and Swann, while shaped by Danes’ background as a classical singer and guitarist, the show swings between the elegant and the deeply unhinged. The songs tackle everything from performative politics to relationship disasters, billionaires, religion, toxic masculinity, the struggle to fit in, and modern loneliness.
Despite the title, ‘Will Danes: Presented by Mental Illness’ is not a one-man play about a long list of diagnoses. Instead, Danes uses his experience of mental illness as part of a broader comic voice — one that mixes sincerity, theatricality and joyful bad taste. The result is a show that balances cutting satire with surprising warmth.
At the centre of the hour is “I’m a Catch”, a comic anthem of confused self-belief, chemical imbalance and fragile optimism that captures the show’s tone: honest and musically ambitious with a balance of humour and poignancy.
“When I started writing songs for my own entertainment a year ago, I had no plans to perform them,” says Danes. “After a while, I wanted to share them, so I put on a gig at my flat for friends and family which went surprisingly well. Eventually, I tried my luck at open mics. So, here we are.”
Blending fiendish rhyme, strong melodic writing and a charismatic vocal performance, the show offers a distinctive new voice in musical comedy.
Will Danes: Presented by Mental Illness – 2nd July 7pm (60 min) at Ice Shack, Withington; 28th July 7pm (60 mins) at The Peer Hat, Northern Quarter
Instagram – @willdanesmusic
To book tickets go to – https://greatermanchesterfringe.co.uk/events/will-danes-presented-by-mental-illness/#:~:text=Despite%20the%20title%2C%20Presented%20by,theatricality%20and%20joyful%20bad%20taste.
