Sunday, 20 February 2011

Dan or be Danned

There was a time, not so long ago, when just about every post on Mint Custard was announcing some Daniel Kitson show or other. In a way it’s been nice not to have to try and keep up, but then again it has now been a whole year since my dark corner of the world was brightened by Kitson’s little miner’s hat lamp of comedy.


Anyway, the good news is that Daniel’s long promised Edinburgh 2009 show The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church is finally here. In the vein of his C-90 and 66a Church Road, this is a theatre piece rather than stand up. This isn’t to say it won’t be funny but judging by the blurb there will also likely be dollops of poignant, pithy and portentousness:


Gregory had fifty seven letters to write. He’d never written that many letters, not in one go. In fact, he’d never written a single letter and it was taking significantly longer than he’d anticipated. He’d started, full of optimism, curiously enough, at 9 am and now here he was 8 hours later half way through letter twenty four. He glanced at his watch and then at the noose hanging over his head.


Gregory sighed. Had he known how long suicide letters take, he thought, he wouldn’t have cancelled the milk for the morning.


The story of a death postponed by life.


Having already played in New York and certain corners of the UK, The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church is in Australia and New Zealand from now until April 2011 and will be followed by another jaunt around the UK in May. Dates, details and web-links for tickets are below, assuming I haven’t cocked them up. Which is possible.


AUSTRALIA/NZ

24-25 Feb Darwin, Browns Mart Theatre

28 Feb–2 Mar Brisbane, Powerhouse

4-6 Mar Adelaide, Town Hall

8–12 Mar Auckland, Herald Theatre

15–26 Mar Sydney, Seymour Centre

12-24 April Melbourne, Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre

26-27 April Perth, Octagon Theatre


UK

3–4 May Brighton, Pavillion Theatre

6 May Durham, Gala Theatre

7 May Sheffield, Crucible Theatre

10 May Lincoln, Drill Hall

11 May Birmingham, MAC

12 May Bath, Ustinov Studio

16 May Norwich, Arts Centre

18 May Scarborough, Stephen Joseph Theatre

19-20 May Edinburgh, Traverse Theatre

21–23 May Bristol, Tobacco Factory

26 May Newbury, Corn Exchange

28 May Hull, Hull Truck Theatre

30 May Nottingham, Playhouse

31 May Manchester, Royal Exchange


For us Melbourne folk, Kitson’s show is taking place as part of the 2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the program for which is launched this Saturday. A cursory glance through list of shows acts on the website suggests an absence of star names this year, which is a shame in terms of generating casual excitement. Still, given many of my favourite shows in 2010 were by local acts perhaps it just means a cheaper March and April than I’d anticipated.


Stay tuned for reviews and news about the festival, and please please please please - if you have any suggestions for me to go and see or if you’re a local act and want to talk about your show for the benefit of all 3 regular Mint Custard readers feel free to leave a comment, or email me at mintcustard@gmail.com. T’ra.

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