Calling all Freshers: Don't miss Avenue Q
Published on 21 October 2026
Summary
- An emotional plea to Freshers
- Don't miss out on Avenue Q at the Shaftesbury Theatre
- Last three months to see it
With three months before Avenue Q closes at the Shaftesbury Theatre, I thought it my duty to implore students and graduates alike to share in my unexpected emotional experience...before it's too late!
From an ex-fresher to a new one
Attention everyone. It is officially cold. Summer exited kicking and screaming with the last few weeks plateauing at an annoying 18 degrees; meanwhile a fabulous faux fur coat sits in my Asos basket crying out to be bought. And while the sun-lit commute home is no longer, late-night sweaty pub gardens seem a thing of the past, and suede ballet flats cease to be a practical shoe choice, for a certain few across the country, excitement is building – unburdened by something so trivial as the seasons changing.
Of course, the only uninhibited group I could be referring to are the recently bestowed Uni students of the UK - and with October fully underway, so too are the bleary, alcohol-soaked weeks of freshers. Six years on from my own initiation into the sticky, foul, and wonderful existence of late nights, shockingly undercooked noodles, and communal bathrooms (pause to throw up at the thought it’s been six years...also at the thought of communal bathrooms), the memory of those weeks still elicits vivid, wistful nostalgia.
With this comes the self-indulgent pining – naturally – and the aching for three years of faux adulthood, cavorting around Manchester. It all blurs into a hazy memory of new friends, new places, and new boyfriends (good and bad...yikes). And the last three years (post-graduation) come into view. Not to get too bleak as they've been exciting in their own way - they are characterised by a cocktail of nerves and uncertainty. It's kind of that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction (one of Newton's laws I think, confirming in fact I did learn something at Uni) - that is what Graduation is to Freshers: an equal and opposite reaction of terror and dread.
And which West End show could I be getting at here, that so wonderfully illustrates these horrible and undeniable feelings I'm doing such a great job rambling about? Why it’s Avenue Q.
**Why Avenue Q? **
This delicious comedy musical, which won big in the year of its 2007 West End debut, returned to London this summer at the Shaftesbury Theatre, offering its satirical answer to Sesame Street to a brand-new audience, myself included. At the centre of the story is recent graduate, turned official naive adult, Princeton, who moves into a not-so-charming apartment block on Avenue Q, the first logistical step of the forementioned adulting. We watch as Princeton is hurled into a world of eccentric new characters, who, like him, are struggling to navigate the important issues of life...finding a boyfriend, paying rent, and most importantly identifying and achieving one’s purpose. Avenue Q at the Shaftesbury Theatre perfectly captures the incessant anxiety of post-student life while generously hammering home the point that there might be more to life than constantly searching for what to do with one’s life.
**Freshers, I promise you will be me one day. Those in your mid-twenties, go see this show before it's too late. **
If anything, Avenue Q at the Shaftesbury Theatre is a hilarious experience. Admittedly, there were moments where I laughed a little too hard. The message of the show was no doubt resonating with me. Maybe the song ‘What to do with a B.A. in English’ felt a little close to home or I suppose ‘Mix Tape’ opened an internal can of worms about every emotionally underdeveloped boy I was so desperate to receive a curated Spotify playlist from (never happened). Or it might have been during the aptly named song ‘I wish I could go back to college’ when my friend next to me (ten years my senior and for that reason way beyond relating to this...sorry Liam) shot me a dramatically raised eyebrow which might as well have said ‘think you laughed a bit hard there and in kind of a sad way as opposed to a ha ha aren’t these puppets hilarious way’. But whether I was laughing or letting slip an occasional pained yelp, it seemed the audience around me were equally, if not more than me, enjoying their experience, heads in their hands, bowled over laughing.
And therein lies the beauty of Avenue Q. Whether you're a fresher, a graduate, or nowhere near either, the show promises a unique night of laughter and a track list of catchy tunes. And more than that, themes of love, friendship, and generally navigating life never fail to be resonant. I’ve barely mentioned the genius of the puppets and the (shhhh) actors behind them...it’s a puppet pole-dancing performance you will never forget. While sometimes unnerving to the point the show felt slightly personal, the experience was as cathartic as it was funny – you if you're reading and in your early twenties, you’ll leave with an unexpected feeling of comfort and solidarity. Really, what is better than painfully serious themes in an absurd and hilarious format? You have just three months left to catch Avenue Q at the Shaftesbury Theatre - don’t miss it!
Circling back to any students reading this, you might as well go see this crystal ball of a show now, while the reality of it seems so hilariously and inconceivably far away.
