The National Youth Theatre’s immersive comedy-drama Nail Bar sold out in the summer. Now the salon is reopening on the Holloway Road for a Christmas run from 4-13 December 2026, and tickets are already on sale.
Anyone who missed out on a ticket the first time gets a second chance. Nail Bar, the National Youth Theatre show staged inside an empty shop, sold out its run as part of StoryFest earlier this year. It returns this Christmas to the same disused unit on the Holloway Road, right next door to the company’s headquarters, and Well Gel, the salon at the centre of the story, is open for business again.
There are eight performances, on 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 December 2026. Start times change from date to date, so check the listing before booking. A limited number of seats are offered on a Pay What You Decide basis.
The piece was created by lead writer Afsaneh Gray and co-writer Kelly Jones, with Natasha Haws directing. It takes its structure from the soaps: an episodic comedy-drama that plays out in a real, empty retail unit, with the audience inside the shop. Its story is about queer love, finding a place to call home and keeping a local high street alive. Audiences should note strong language and themes that include people trafficking and threats of violence.
The National Youth Theatre commissioned the show for its seventieth anniversary, and it had its premiere in summer 2026 at StoryFest, the charity’s new writing festival. That first run was supported by STUDIOCANAL, Urban Myth Films and the Cockayne Foundation.
One of the summer audience was comedian Katherine Ryan, who has since appeared at the company’s 70th anniversary celebrations at the Southbank Centre. Her verdict: “Recently I went to a National Youth Theatre show that was so amazing called Nail Bar - it was so innovative to turn vacant commercial spaces into places for art and I loved that and since then I've been a real National Youth Theatre lover.”
For the company’s CEO and artistic director, Paul Roseby OBE, the empty shop is the point. “One in seven shops in Britain are currently empty and nearly one million young people are not in work or training,” he said. “We want Nail Bar to inspire people to open up empty shops and fill them with culture, young people and hope.”
The backdrop is a tough one for retail. The Centre for Retail Research counted 17,349 store closures and more than 200,000 retail redundancies in 2025 alone, and footfall across high streets and shopping centres was down 2.9% year on year in December. The production’s answer is to hand spaces like these to young people and let them tell stories in them.
A new one-minute trailer has been released for the Christmas run.
If the player does not load, the trailer is on YouTube.
Alongside Gray, Jones and Haws, the creative team includes designer Philippa Brocklehurst, associate designer Hannah Schmidt, design assistant Oli Sobey and fight and intimacy director Bex Wilson. Sound is by Pouya Ehsaei with associate sound designer Anna Short, and lighting by Lucy Adams with associate lighting designer and programmer Shona M'gadzah. Graphic design is by Nick Willis, the production manager is Meghan Sorohan, the production technician is Simon Calahan and the stage manager is Amelia Thorpe. Casting and further credits are still to be announced.
For more information, visit the official website.
