What Are You Doing After the Orgy?
★★★☆☆ Open
PBH’s Free Fringe @ Carbon (venue 180): Sat 15 – Fri 28 Aug 2026
Review by Ed Boulter-Comer
In What Are You Doing After the Orgy? at The Carbon Lounge, writer and performer Nikolai Phalen asks a lot of questions, quite beyond the one in the title.
A self-avowed 6’2” ex-porn actor, he starts off with a statement, however. He is not a stand-up but “an energy.” He is definitely energetic but the further into the show he goes, the more apparent it becomes that Phalen is a storyteller.
Nikolai Phalen performing What Are You Doing After the Orgy?. Pic: Screen grab.
Things begin chaotically with snippets of ideas, a smattering of audience participation, the afore mentioned statement, and such is the fragmented quality of the performance, it is reasonable to question if it is written at all. The chaos is feigned. As Phalen starts to reveal episodes from his life, the piece becomes a cohesive walk through an exceptional existence.
Phalen is American in his openness about his life story, which touches on adoption, different types of sex work, heritage, prison visits, homelessness. Through this all, there is an optimistic and entrepreneurial spirit – a dour Scot he is not. The questions come as he asks us to question the world around us, particularly the current rise of extreme wealth inequality in western culture.
intelligent discourse
He may make much of his disengagement with schooling but, ultimately, there is an intelligent discourse hiding behind the flippancy. Phalen peppers his speech with references to American gay culture, so if you have a spare American gay friend, bring them along to give you footnotes.
And the orgy? He does have a story and it does not go in the direction you might expect. Phalen is warm, open and hopeful.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
PBH’s Free Fringe @ Carbon (Room 2), 208 Cowgate, EH1 1LL (venue 180).
Wed 19 – Friday 28 August 2026.
Daily: 2.35pm.
Non-ticketed: Details here at EdFringe.com.
Not ticketed: Details with PBH Free Fringe here.
Facebook: @nikolai.phalen
Instagram: @its.k0lya
ENDS
