Diary of a Madman (Theatre)

(Mark McAuley) in (Diary of a Mad Man.5) (c) (Alastair More).jpeg

Recommended by The Times (UK)

A darkly comic one-man drama performed and directed by Mark McAuley

“A riveting performance by Mark McAuley; unsettling, quirky, humorous and disturbing – not to be missed.”
★★★★★ The Real Chrisparkle

“An ambitious piece of multimedia theatre with a political edge.”
★★★★ Corr Blimey

“A wonderfully offbeat performance that leaves you with a lot to think

about!”
Official EdFringe Audience Review

LONDON PREMIERE OF DIARY OF A MAD MAN @ OLD RED LION

24–28 November 2026 | Early Bird £15 until 31 October

BOOK TICKETS HERE

One of this year's Edinburgh Fringe productions "worth a closer look."

Enter the Mind of the Madman
Join the Madman Diaries for rehearsal footage, updates, preview clips and behind-the-scenes notes from the making of the show.

A one-man theatre show performed and directed by Mark McAuley

LONDON 2026

Following its acclaimed Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026 run, Diary of a Mad Man transfers to London's Old Red Lion Theatre for six performances only. We're super excited to bring the show to one of London's established Off-West End theatres. A venue with a long history of championing ambitious new work and launching productions that have gone on to the West End and beyond.

Performance Dates: Tues 24th ~ Sat 28th November 2026
Performance Time: 7.30pm / 2.30pm / 7pm
Run Time: 60 mins (no interval)
Tickets: £20 / £17 (includes booking fee)

The production was recommended by The Times ahead of the festival and went on to receive ★★★★★ from The Real Chrisparkle and ★★★★ from Corr Blimey, alongside strong audience responses throughout the run.

OFFICIAL ED FRINGE AUDIENCE REVIEWS

“One of the best I've seen in years of Fringe-going.”

“Wonderful acting… a wonderful adaptation of a story I have long loved.”

“BRILLIANT. Psychotic, scary, funny, haunting. GO.”

CORR BLIMEY ★★★★

“gripping performance”
“snappy pacing and fascinating multimedia”

About the Show

Following its highly acclaimed Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026 run, Diary of a Mad Man transfers to London's Old Red Lion Theatre for six performances only.

Adapted from Gogol and relocated to contemporary Ireland, this darkly comic and politically charged one-man show follows a lonely corporate worker whose desperate need to be seen begins to distort his reality. As humiliation turns to grievance, he retreats online, where attention and validation begin to reward an increasingly distorted view of the world.

Blending physical performance, audience interaction and multimedia, Diary of a Mad Man explores isolation, masculinity, status, prejudice and online radicalisation, and asks what happens when someone losing their grip on reality finds a world willing to validate it.

Short Synopsis

The play follows a corporate worker whose obsession with status and hierarchy spirals into psychological collapse. As his fixation on power, race, and his CEO’s daughter deepens, his inner voice becomes increasingly persuasive—and dangerous. Reality fractures, pulling the audience into his distorted logic, where ambition mutates into madness.

Inspiration for the play

My first acting coach, Tim McDonnell at the Focus Theatre (Stanislavski Studio) in Dublin, had a huge influence on my development as an actor. He performed this play in 1989 and won an Obie Award for it, so in many ways this production is also a tribute to him and everything he gave me as a mentor and teacher. We've used Gogol's brilliant original story as our springboard. What amazes me is how relevant it still feels more than 191 years later. Human nature hasn't really changed. We still have the same fears, ambitions and insecurities, and we continue to make the same mistakes. We've relocated the story to contemporary Ireland and woven social media into the narrative, but the heart of Gogol's work remains very much intact.

Venue

LONDON PREMIERE

Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington
24–28 November 2026 @ 19:30
Six performances only (including matinee 28 November)
Press Night: Wednesday 25 November @ 19:00
Early Bird £15 until 31 October

Why Gogol Now?

Written almost two centuries ago, Gogol's story feels unnervingly contemporary. This adaptation relocates the action to modern Ireland, where professional humiliation and social isolation collide with social media, grievance and the seductive validation of an online audience.As the character's reality fractures, prejudice and resentment increasingly provide explanations for his failures. The production asks a disturbingly contemporary question: what happens when someone losing their grip on reality finds a world willing to validate it?

Creative Team Bios

Mark McAuley (Performer / Director)

Mark McAuley is an award-winning Irish actor, writer, director and filmmaker with over 15 years' professional experience across theatre, film and television.

In 2026, Mark performed and directed Diary of a Mad Man at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, playing a 26-performance run at Assembly Roxy. The production was recommended by The Times, received ★★★★★ from The Real Chrisparkle and ★★★★ from Corr Blimey, which described the show as “an ambitious piece of multimedia theatre with a political edge.” Following Edinburgh, the production transfers to London's Old Red Lion Theatre in November 2026.

Mark previously brought his original one-man show A Fear and Loathing Actor in Dublin to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, where it received ★★★★★ reviews and was selected as a FringeReview Highly Recommended Show.

His television and screen acting credits include Vikings, Into the Badlands and Saol. In 2026, Mark won Best Actor at UCIFF for his performance in the short film Father, which was subsequently broadcast on RTÉ2.

As a filmmaker, Mark wrote, directed and starred in his debut feature aWake. His recent directing work includes Horseback, which had its Irish premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh, won Best Irish Short Film at UCIFF 2026 and Best Live Action Short Film at the Clare Island Film Festival.

Mark is the founder of Zoology Films, through which he develops and produces original work for stage and screen.

Derek Masterson (Writer)

Derek Masterson is an award-winning Irish playwright and screenwriter. His plays—including Bound, Exhibition, A Nice Bed to Die In, and Queens of Pimlico—have played to sold-out audiences across Dublin’s leading theatres, combining socially resonant themes with sharp character studies. His work has featured in the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival’s Play On programme, and in New York with The Break Away Project.His screen work includes the short documentary Visionaries, which screened internationally, and The Black Keys, which reached global audiences.