Cabbage Productions in association with Pleasance.
Cabbage Productions was founded by actors and writers, Matthew Howell, and Jack Michael Stacey, who met during the original London production of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ in the West End and began writing together in 2019. In 2024, writer and director Katie-Ann McDonough joined the company as Creative Director, bringing a background in farce, ensemble comedy, and new writing development that has sharpened and expanded the company's artistic vision. The team brought ‘Spy Movie: The Play’ to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024 and 2025.
This year they bring ‘The Librarians: A Very Serious Comedy!’. Described as “a brand new, laugh-out-loud state of the nation farce for the whole family” the premise is that the staff at Plumstanton Library are clinging to tradition as the shelves collapse around them. The roof leaks, the shelves are bare and they haven’t issued a new library card in years. When a new head librarian arrives, and they learn the building could be condemned and sold, panic spreads fast! Can they save the library and themselves before it’s too late?
Clearly Cabbage Productions’ reputation comes before it – this looked like a sell-out show so the anticipation was high! It’s impossible to describe a play which is deliberately chaotic and relies on that chaos for laughs. The opening was strong with the dead pan delivery of a speech in memory of the late Head Librarian ending in a printer error! Other highlights for me included jokes around cuts to the tea and coffee budget, a slapstick scene involving a burst water pipe and water being squeezed out of Work Experience’s tie to provide a glass of water for the Inspector, and switching the library shelf labels around in a farcical way every time the Inspector looks away to check the different genres on his list.
A few jokes did seem to fall a bit flat though – there was a lull about a third of the way through and the gag involving the stage lights turning off randomly (due to lack of investment in the library building) lost its impact for me after the first couple of times. There was a reference to Mont Blanc pens which seemed to be shoehorned in – I think we all knew where that was going - and it fell flat in the show I saw.
Overall, though, there was a fair amount of laughter and audience seemed enthusiastic. ‘The Librarians: A Very Serious Comedy!’ was written by Matthew Howell and Jack Stacey and directed by Amy Milburn; it is showing at Pleasance Two, Pleasance Courtyard (venue 33), Edinburgh Fringe 15:15 daily (5th – 31st August (not 17th, 24th) Performance length:1 hour (no interval). Age suitability: 12+
https://edfringeguide.com/show/the-librarians-a-very-serious-comedy
Reviewer: Sue Hayward
On: 12th August 2026
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