Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival announces first wave of 2026 summer gala show acts - how to get tickets
Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival (SICFest) is returning for 2026 with a stellar line up
Tickets are now on sale, and two acts have been revealed for Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival’s (SICFest) flagship gala show at Theatre Severn next summer.
The 2026 festival will offer performances at several venues throughout Shrewsbury culminating with the gala show on the evening of Sunday 12 July.
Ignacio Lopez is a Cardiff based comedian. His family is made up of Spanish, Welsh, Irish, Moroccans and Germans and describes get-togethers like a meeting of the United Nations.
Branded Spain’s Best Export by the Spanish Embassy and Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the UK, Ignacio has appeared on and hosted many TV shows including Live At The Apollo (BBC), Have I Got News For You and Comedy Central Live.
Headlining top comedy clubs all over the UK and Europe as well as hosting corporate events around the world Ignacio is well-known for directly poking fun at the idiosyncrasies of British people. He also writes sketches, sitcoms, and used to tweet a lot. Every few months a tweet would go viral, he'd gain a few thousand followers before they realised that he doesn't just tweet witty observations and songs about public transport and hating the UK. Then they unfollow en masse until the next tweet goes viral.
Having performed for the Welsh football squad, opened for James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers and entertained the military, at the last count Ignacio's videos have received over 100 million views online.
An Arab Essex girl who challenges every single preconception of what that means, Esther Manito has been described by The List as ‘an astute observer of everyday daftness as well as being able to tackle the bigger issues with wit and guile.’
She has supported Alan Davies, Shappi Khorsandi, Sindhu Vee, Jason Manford, Jo Brand and Al Murray and appeared TV shows such as Live At The Apollo (BBC), The Stand Up Sketch Show (ITV), Hypothetical (Dave) and Russell Kane’s Evil Genius (BBC). She has co-hosted Radio 4 Extra's Newsjack Unplugged, Bitesize Parents (CBBC), Breaking the News (BBC) and Russell Kane’s podcast Boys Don’t Cry.
Esther’s hour-long stand-up performance #NotAllMen won best show at Leicester Comedy Festival 2021. The Radio Times said: ‘At times it’s like Victoria Wood has taken the mic.’
Commenting on the gala show, SICFest director Beth McGowan said: “It doesn’t seem so long ago since the last gala show in July and yet here we are again planning for 2026. This is my festive, timely reminder to those people with friends who are comedy lovers: I’m sure they would love nothing more than to have a pair of gala show tickets in their Christmas stockings!”
How to get tickets to Shrewsbury International Comedy Festival 2026
Tickets for the SICFest gala show on 12 July are £39.60 (including booking fee) and available through the Theatre Severn box office 01743 281281 or online here: https://www.theatresevern.co.uk/shows/whatson/shrewsbury-international-comedy-festival-gala.
