No Apologies

A radical mis-remembering of Nirvana’s iconic 1993 MTV Unplugged concert.

After a critically acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival in 2025 (winning the Bragi Award for creativity and artistic excellence and a Besties Award for new writing) this brilliantly witty and emotionally powerful show embarks on a major world tour.

Urgent and politically sharp, No Apologies is a spectacular collision between theatre and grunge, autobiography and alternate history, weaving together threads of pop culture with mythology and ritual, fuelled by the experience of coming-of-age in the nineties.

“This is precisely the kind of fearless, formally inventive, emotionally devastating theatre the medium needs.”
– DUSKA RADOSAVLJEVIC ̇, THE THEATRE TIMES

“This ruddy gorgeous show is a call to live your life on your own terms and to the very full, and whether you are trans or not, that’s a lifesaver in every way”
— Lyn Gardner, The Stage

“Heartfelt, funny, dazzling, but also seamed with pain… there’s something uncanny about how her voice mould’s itself to Cobain’s, bringing a crackle of vulnerability to the stage.”
— Maddy Costa – Exeunt Magazine

Credits: 

Writer & Performer: Emma Frankland
Director: Harry Clayton-Wright
Sound Designer & Original Music Composition: Keir Cooper
Lighting Designer: Simon Booth
Dramaturgy David Sheppeard
Captions: Subira Joy
Costume & Curtain Design & Construction: Philip J Shaw
Photographer: Matt Crockett
Audio Description: Laura Edmans
Flyer & Logo Design: Charlie Wood

Produced by Marlborough Productions and Emma Frankland

No Apologies is commissioned by Marlborough Productions. Supported by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, The Old Electric, Northumbria University and Arts Council England.

Content warnings:
Contains haze and smoke, flashing lights, loud noises/music and distressing themes including: non-graphic mentions of suicide, violence, drug addiction, transphobia and homophobia. A freesheet with support services will be available from the artist’s website.

Running time:
80 mins

Age Guidance:
16+

Image credit:
Matt Crockett