Vermin

A sardonic horror story of love, loss and obsession, written by Benny Ainsworth and Directed by Michael Parker, Vermin comes to Park Theatre, Park90, 9th  – 20th  September 2025, following runs at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Arcola. 

A romance that blossoms against a backdrop of unsettling events becomes further blighted by an invasion of rats in a horror story told with sardonic humour. The fast-burning relationship between Billy and Rachel, whose first kiss coincided with a stranger’s suicide attempt, tunnels deeper into the macabre as the rats in their home scratch against more than just the floorboards, unearthing disturbing obsessions and grief that refuses to remain buried. Vermin sees Sally Paffett return to her OffWestEnd Award-winning 2024 role alongside playwright Benny Ainsworth as her troubled lover.

Benny Ainsworth said, “Attention spans are shorter than ever, so I wanted to write a piece about grief and madness to go off like machine gun fire - and keep a modern theatre audience entertained from start to finish. Horror digs its claws in deepest when a populous develops a mutual fear. In an age of connectivity, we are experiencing and fearing a new type of isolation as a species. Vermin’s themes are now more relevant than ever, and I can’t wait for its horror and heartbreak to capture a new audience.”

Vermin plays in Park90 in a double bill with (God Save My) Northern Soul, a dark comedy about love, loss and Northern soul music.

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