August 6, 2012

Kitson is now as well known for these ruminative, narrative-based theatre shows as for his looser, more combative standup – although the distinction is often thin. (“Daniel likes to say that the only difference is that, in the theatre shows, he wears a hat,” says Thomas.) Kitson can be hilarious in both, but in neither is that entirely the point. “Yes, he’s funny,” says Burns, “but he’s also a poet and a philosopher. He completely expresses humanity. The fact that we are all alone, the experiences and emotions we all share – being happy or sad, falling in love, falling out of love – he manages to catch it.” Burns compares Kitson to Alan Bennett, but there is a dash of Eric Morecambe about him, too – and not just in the restless shoving-up of those thick black specs.

Daniel Kitson - “The Salinger of standup”

As an unfortunate consequence of the fact that my Edinburgh plans were a bit last minute this year, I didn’t manage to get tickets for either of the Daniel Kitson shows that will be on while I’m there. I’m going to try at the door for last-minute uncollected reservations (which worked for a couple of sold-out shows last year), but judging by that article, I probably won’t have much luck. Still, I’m lucky enough to have seen him twice before, and both times were absolutely amazing - his comedy is smart, thoughtful, never lazy or cheap, and every bit as moving as it is funny. If he ever does a show near any of you, do yourselves a favour and go.

Filed under quotes Theatre

1 note &

August 3, 2012

Having one of those days when I want to crawl under my bed and never come out, so I thought I’d cheer myself up by browsing the Fringe website and making Edinburgh plans. It’s kind of working :D

Filed under Travels Theatre

4 notes &

August 7, 2011

The Globe’s touring production of Hamlet about to start.

Filed under Theatre Summer Travels

11 notes &

June 10, 2011

Pep talk to myself

I know it’s been well over a week now, and I swear I’ve been making a real effort to sthu here, but the truth is that I’m still struggling with all these silly but persistent feelings of blahness and despondency and loss and mild bereavement. It’s like… these four shows were the highlight of my year, and now that they’re gone it’s been very hard to muster any further enthusiasm about anything at all. When the Sufjan tour was announced in February I still wasn’t that far off from the absolute rock bottom I hit in January. This was a time when it was hard for me to believe I’d ever be excited about anything again (so emo, I know, but unfortunately so true). But then these shows came along, and they immediately became this gigantic carrot on a stick that I used to get myself through the semester and all my personal issues and the intensive workload of the past few months.

Now that I’ve come this far I probably don’t really need a carrot on a stick anymore, but it still feels weird that this thing I spent months and months looking forward to (living for, really, dramatic though that sounds) is now in the past. Anyway, the goal of this post is to remind myself that actually, there are still quite a few carrots-hanging-from sticks in front of me at the moment. I’m still in this weird mental place where everything seems to pale in comparison to the past three weeks, but I know that feeling will eventually pass. And when it does, I’ll be able to properly enjoy the following: