“A silly show about serious things”: Nina Bowers and Philip Arditti discuss English Kings Killing Foreigners

Following a critically acclaimed run at Camden People’s Theatre in 2024, English Kings Killing Foreigners now transfers to Soho Theatre for a five-week season this autumn.

Created and performed by Nina Bowers and Philip Arditti, the dark comedy explores Shakespeare’s role in shaping English cultural identity, blending humour with sharp critique. Ahead of the Soho run, Bowers and Arditti spoke to us about the show’s origins, its evolution since the first production, and why Shakespeare continues to provoke strong reactions in 2025.

Tell us a bit about how English Kings Killing Foreigners came to be. And how would you sum up the show? What’s the best way to describe it to people who haven’t come across the work yet?

The show has been in the making since 2019.  We met while performing in the Globe Ensemble at Shakespeare's Globe on a production of Henry the 5th. We started having some really interesting conversations backstage about the play and how we felt conflicted about it, what we liked, what we found funny, what made us angry and it just kept growing from there. 

We’d describe the show as a dark-comedy about Shakespeare, and English cultural identity which makes you laugh as much as it makes you think. 

The show critiques Shakespeare’s role in shaping national identity. Why do you think Shakespeare still holds so much cultural power in the UK in 2025?

Shakespeare is in some ways a common language. In a time where we are more divided into smaller and smaller media bubbles, Shakespeare is something most people are still introduced to through the school system or have some familiarity with, whether you love him or hate him. I think we are searching for what it means to be English more broadly at the moment and the casting of Shakespeare plays and the reinvention you see in productions, reflects that searching.  Shakespeare also taps deep into a sense of English Pride and tradition for a lot of people who wouldn’t consider themselves nationalistic, but who really value tradition, so when people ‘mess’ with Shakespeare or do in it in ways that aren't considered ‘proper’, it's easy for people to feel threatened or challenged and that creates uproar which is then fuelled by social media. Added to that, there’s also just the fact that theatres continue to do his plays all the time, whether it’s a local park production or a big West End star vehicle, Shakespeare is an ever-present force in the cultural landscape so it kind of becomes a barometer for the mood of the moment.  

What, if anything, has changed between the original Camden People’s Theatre run and this Soho Theatre transfer?

A lot has changed actually, creatively we are more confident, the first time around we had never put on a show together before so we were still unsure of whether it would even work. But now after the amazing reviews and response from the first run, we feel so much more confident in our vision and are keen to push ourselves further and make bolder choices.  We really back the show. Then also politically so much has changed, we did the last show before the election, and last summer and this summer's anti-immigrant protests, before Trump part two and the moves to dismantle DEI in America, as well as the stripping back of human rights and protest rights here in the UK, a lot has happened! And the Genocide in Gaza of course, that’s really changed everything for us.  So, the show in some ways, especially the darker more difficult themes, feel way more potent and vital now. 

What’s your favourite moment in the show?

The show is really silly and we take the piss out of a lot of pompous Actor stuff, which is just so fun. We really get to laugh at ourselves. And then there's some new surprises which we can’t give away but we’re so excited to see how they land with the audience. At the top of the piece, we have some audience interaction and those are always really exciting, particularly with audiences ready to engage with us openly and without inhibition. Feels dangerous but ultimately genuine and real. 

And what do you want people to talk about in the bar afterwards?

We want people to never be able to see Shakespeare in the same way again! The role Shakespeare continues to play in the story this country tells about itself. We hope the show encourages people to have honest conversations about English identity in a way that is exciting and expansive and joyful. 

English Kings Killing Foreigners is at the Soho Theatre, London from 16^th September – 18^th October 2025. For tickets and more information, visit: https://sohotheatre.com/events/english-kings-killing-foreigners/