Fraser Boyle and Ali Cleland’s original Scottish musical Hen Night Horror returns to the stage this autumn. Running from 29 September to 31 October, the tour opens at the Ayr Gaiety before visiting Stirling, Kirkcaldy, Greenock, Dundee, and Aberdeen, wrapping up at the Glasgow Pavilion.
‘If the audience genuinely believes that these women might be in danger, then the comedy comes from how completely out of their depth they are and the ridiculous situation,’ said co-writer Fraser Boyle.
The setup is familiar ground: Amanda, a bride-to-be, takes her two warring best friends to an isolated Highland lodge for a peacemaking weekend before the big day. But Donna has a secret, Lydia has a broken nose, and neither is eager to make amends.
Prosecco-fuelled squabbles take a back seat once the group discovers the cabin is not as empty as promised. Farce and horror might seem an unlikely pairing, but Boyle sees them working towards the same end.
‘Farce needs things to keep getting worse and worse, and horror does the same thing,’ said Boyle. ‘In farce the consequences are usually funny, whereas in horror the characters can face mortal danger.’
Making that combination work on stage comes down to pacing the laughs against the scares.
‘If the audience genuinely believes that these women might be in danger, then the comedy comes from how completely out of their depth they are and the ridiculous situation,’ said co-writer Fraser Boyle.
‘If we’ve just had a big laugh, perhaps the next moment needs to be played completely straight so that we can make the audience jump,’ said Boyle. ‘And if we’ve had a really tense moment, that’s often the perfect time to release the tension with something completely ridiculous.’
Scoring the suspense
Comedy musicals often stumble when the action stops dead just to land a punchline. Co-writer Ali Cleland worked to avoid that by writing the gags directly into the score.
‘The songs are part of the jokes,’ said Cleland. ‘They’re not there to stop everything so we can land a gag; the comedy is built into the music, just as much as the music is built into the comedy.’
Having worked together across Scottish theatre for years, Boyle and Cleland shared an easy shorthand that let the script and songs develop side by side.
‘Musically, we can lean completely into the horror and take those moments seriously, which then makes the comedy land even harder,’ said Cleland. ‘So the music is always doing something; it’s pushing the story forward, heightening the horror, or helping set up and deliver the joke.’
Influencers and injuries
Three new performers join the company for the tour, beginning with Jennifer Neil as the bride, Amanda. Farce often leaves the bride stuck playing the sensible straight woman, but Neil finds plenty of comic mileage in Amanda’s own fixations.
‘She has a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that we don’t come out and say or mention at all in the show,’ said Neil. ‘She truly believes that she is an “influencer”, is never without her mobile phone, and when things start to take a turn for the worse, the cracks start to show, and I get to bring everything to the surface. I’m hoping to bring a lot of fun and chaos to the role!’
Hannah Howie steps in as bridesmaid Donna, arriving fresh from her autobiographical show Funeral for my Boobs. The role brings plenty of physical slapstick, which poses its own challenge.
‘I’m a glutton for punishment, what can I say!? From Funerals to Horrors, this year is all about embracing the macabre for me,’ said Howie. ‘Interesting you mention the physicality of it all, however, as I’m currently 6 months pregnant. So this show will be challenging on a different level!’
Dani Heron rounds out the central trio as the bruised, combative Lydia. Having spent recent months in television drama like BritBox’s Crime, she jumped at the chance to return to outright comedy after seeing the musical’s early development.
‘Having previously done some of the development for the show, I knew what an absolute scream (in more ways than one) it would be working with this team,’ said Heron. ‘That was highlighted further after seeing the production the first-time round, who wouldn’t want to be part of something so pee-your-pants funny?!’
‘The songs are part of the jokes,’ said Cleland. ‘They’re not there to stop everything so we can land a gag; the comedy is built into the music, just as much as the music is built into the comedy.’
Back in the lodge
Returning to the show are Alan Orr as Mr Jefferies and Matthew McKenna as PC Walters. Orr steps back into the part hoping Mr Jefferies’ trademark leather trousers still fit, though he notes that working with new castmates naturally shifts the timing on stage.
‘You can bring the character back, but a lot of the comedy in HNH is about what’s happening between the people in these ridiculous circumstances and the rhythms naturally change when the cast changes,’ said Orr. ‘It’s fun to find new beats/reactions etc in the rehearsal room, and part of the joy of live theatre is that no two casts or even performances will ever be the same.’
McKenna brings substantial West End musical credits to the table, but he treats the broad local comedy with the same technical seriousness as a West End run.
‘You have to bring truth and strength to comedy first and foremost; otherwise the humour doesn’t land,’ said McKenna. ‘Your character has to believe in what’s going on around the action for the audience to believe it too.’
That discipline also keeps the singing sustainable across a heavy regional tour: ‘From a vocal point of view it’s just understanding how to place sounds that are safe but still effective for what you’re trying to convey.’
That bold mix of laughs and gore is now visiting audiences across Scotland. If the writers get their way, nobody in the stalls is getting an easy ride.
‘We’re absolutely delighted to be bringing it back, bigger, bolder and bloodier than ever!’ said Boyle and Cleland in a joint statement. ‘With a fantastic new cast stepping into the chaos, we can’t wait to see another hen night ruined. New victims. Same nightmare.’
Featured Image: Hen Night Horror 2026_Dani Heron as Lydia Mooney, Jennifer Neil as Amanda MacNamee and Hannah Howie as Donna Nesbitt_Image Credit_ Focused Fotos Photography
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