LAFPI

UNTIL DEATH 

An absurdist theater clown show and self-portrait touching on death, existence and relationships

Nalini Sharma makes her US premiere of her highly popular and critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe show at The Hollywood Fringe ‘25! The biographical clown show ‘Until Death’ is an absurdist, feminist, pragmatist, clown-ist, anti-centrist, pre-industrialist, present-dogist, post-experimentalist show… There is something for everyone!… Except children (show rated 18 ).

Nalini is a bat trapped in a hospital. Her not-so-solo show, UNTIL DEATH, combines absurd theater and clown to explore the liminal space where time collapses and humans panic in moments of death and existence. During her childhood in India, Sharma spent an ungodly amount of time in hospitals after multiple motorcycle accidents. The stories are an amalgam of the real people (and animals) she encountered and her imagination that kept her from dying of boredom during her hospital stays. Through them she explores the tenacity of human (and animal) spirits that are fighting for their lives and discovering who they are. 

Nalini Sharma has been described as a hilarious, beautiful, soulful firecracker by both her friends and enemies. As savage, classy, bougie, ratchet by all her exes. And a giant pain in the ass by her mother. Nalini spent her childhood on several naval bases in India and grew up in several small towns in the US. She was raised by an untrained Doberman, has survived more than one motorcycle accident, the pain and joy of a “passionate” family, a competitive academic education, her apartment burning down and is currently surviving (not well) clown comedy nights in Los Angeles.

DIRECTOR: BENTE ENGLESOFT 

Bente Engelstoft (The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Unstable) is a four-time Emmy award winning writer and producer based in Los Angeles. She entered her director era in 2018 with Bill Posley’s The Day I Became Black (Best Solo Show and Top of the Fringe Nominee at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival). Bill and Bente teamed up again in 2024 for The Day I Accidentally Went to War (Best Solo Show – Off-Broadway), which is on its way to London for a run at SoHo Theatre in the fall. This summer, Bente has the pleasure of directing The Troll by Rochée Jeffrey, Do You Accept These Charges? by Laurie Magers and Until Death by Nalini Sharma – all of which are headed to the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.