SUDDEN LOSS OF DIGNITY To 25 August.
London.
SUDDEN LOSS OF DIGNITY
by Zawe Ashton, James Graham, Joel horwood, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Michelle Terry.
Bush Theatre 29 July-22 August.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm.
TICKETS: 020 8743 5050.
www.bushtheatre.co.uk
then Molten Festival Barking 25 August 2009.
TICKETS: 020 8507 5607.
www.liftfest.org.uk
Runs 1 hour. No interval.
Review: Rupert Bridgwater 23 July at the Ustinov Theatre, Bath.
A filthy, funny and extremely memorable hour of comedy.
Sudden Loss of Dignity.
Farting during sex, vomiting when snogging, forgetting your partner’s name. We’ve all been there. Total humiliation. Social disaster. Moments when you want to curl up and disappear into a hole in the ground. Yes. The embarrassment. Sudden Loss of Dignity strikes a universal chord. Before the show begins we are persuaded by a mystery voice to start dancing to Cher. Why we do this I don’t know, but it gets the show off to an uninhibited start.
The universal material was gleaned by trawling from through cringe-making real life experiences of the public given to the team of authors based at the Bush Theatre in London. Zawe Ashton, James Graham, Joel Horwood, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm and Michelle Terry weave together a series of sketches, monologues, anecdotes and conversations, covering those moments we all want to forget at the time - but are all too ready to share over a drink when the witnesses have long since vanished.
Committed performances by a versatile quartet of actors bring these rich and varied stories to life in a basic rehearsal-room set with essential props. We visit every red wine-splashed or pooh-covered corner of England: the grubby student bedroom, the sticky floored night club and the shop doorway after dark.
Kathryn Drysdale and Hugh Dixon give two of the most moving monologues. Drysdale’s account of a life-long unrequited love affair from playground to geriatric ward, and Dixon’s The Better Man’s Speech, produce silences from the audience with their tragic and movingly honest stories. Katie Lyons is brilliantly hideous as Kel’s mate at the disco, and Hugh Skinner’s West Life-obsessed wannabe rock star creates outstanding moments of comedy and a memorable musical end.
Sudden Loss of Dignity is 60 minutes of undiluted human humiliation. Filthy, funny and extremely memorable.
Cast: Kathryn Drysdale, Katie Lyons, Felix Scott and Hugh Skinner.
Director: Anthea Williams.
2009-07-28 09:52:22