This summer sees Chortle Best Newcomer 2008 nominee NAT LUURTSEMA make her Edinburgh Festival Fringe solo show debut with In My Head I’m A Hero, a stand-up comedy show about yearning for crisis and being careful what you wish for.

A child prodigy (basically shit-hot at colouring-in) and scholarship pupil to Britain's only masonic school (and if you don't know about the Freemasons they'd be delighted to hear that - they are, after all, a secret organisation) NAT was an introverted child, happier living in fantasy worlds where she was always the hero, rather than a shell-suited, bum-bagged dweeb with the social skills of dry rot. In her mind, NAT spent her formative years time-travelling, deceiving dragons and fighting mice, despite the fact her body was based in Watford, Hertfordshire. Fun Fact: If you don't know Watford, you've probably driven through it.

NAT was always the kid who took things too far, which led to a bit of mental unraveling in her early teens. She has now re-raveled and packed her debut Edinburgh show with plenty of jokes, words and facial expressions to tell you her provocative story.

All her life NAT has neglected to separate fantasy and reality, and now does one of the few jobs where this won't get you on an internal disciplinary hearing. A rising star on the comedy circuit, Funny Women finalist NAT has performed in Channel 4's Girl Friday, the Fringe’s longest running showcase The Comedy Zone, and 2009’s sell-out show Superclump, and this summer she introduces her brand new stand-up show - and her belief that being stoic and full of quips in the face of disaster is a valuable quality.

ends

What the press said about Nat Luurtsema
“Nat Luurtsema is definitely an original thinker. Her inventive, witty routines demonstrate a wonderfully warped logic, taken to the limits of imagination.”
Steve Bennett, Chortle

“Smart yet silly, self-deprecating yet confident… certainly a female comic to watch out for.”
Spoonfed

LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Pleasance Joker Dome
Date: 4th - 30th August (except 28th August)
Time: 15:45
Box Office: 0131 556 6550

For more information and press tickets, please contact: Ben Nolan, Fran Cherry, Bea Gwynn, Jo Cross or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 08700 70 50 50 [Edinburgh office] or 020 7598 7222 [London office]. Email: benn@avalonuk.com, franc@avalonuk.com, joc@avalonuk.com, beag@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com

NAT LUURTSEMA

NAT was a Funny Women 2007 finalist on only her 10th ever gig, and just eight months later she had also reached the final of the Laughing Horse’s ‘New Act of the Year’ competition and been nominated for Chortle Best Newcomer 2008. Later in the year, she appeared as part of the Comedy Zone at the Edinburgh Festival - the Fringe’s longest running showcase.

Off-stage, NAT is a script editor, writer, broadcaster and creative developer. In 2009 NAT wrote and starred in Girl Friday, a Comedy Showcase for Channel 4 made by Objective Productions.

An award-winning radio presenter, NAT has broadcast on Festival FM and Glastonbury Festival’s radio station. She was named one of the Hotshot Writers of 2009 by Broadcast magazine, while thelondonpaper featured her as one of the Top 30 Under 30 talents to watch in 2008. NAT’s blog, Nat Luurtsema, Nocturnal Daydreamer, can be found at: www.natluurtsema.wordpress.com

AVALON PROMOTIONS

Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004)

The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics CHRIS ADDISON, SIMON BIRD, JENNY ECLAIR, DAVE GORMAN, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD, LEE MACK, and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Stadium; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed highly successful runs in Australia and London’s West End; and present 20 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 18 Perrier Award/Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees in just 21 years.