Comedian and content creator Munya Chawawa, who built his career on viral social media sketches, is making his stage acting debut in a 1990s-set production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at Chichester Festival Theatre. He describes the move as a deliberate step towards "jumping ship" from social media, saying algorithms have turned online platforms into a "dogfight" that works against creators, even when they produce thoughtful material.

Chawawa, 33, plays Bottom in the production, reimagined against the backdrop of Britain's illegal rave scene, with his character cast as a Young Conservative and Theseus reworked as a Tory MP who shuts down free parties. He says researching rave culture has left him nostalgic for a pre-smartphone era of uninhibited, undocumented fun, noting he is trying to cut down his own phone use from the estimated 200 daily check-ins of an average user. Known for characters such as Unknown P and Jonny Oliver, he has already branched into Bafta-nominated documentaries, Taskmaster and stand-up, and says theatre represents "something bigger" beyond short-form video after nearly a decade making it.