21st July 2015

Philadelphia – Reading Fringe Festival

Well it’s been a very busy summer so far and it’s looking to get busier still.  We have been up with the lovely folks at Reading Fringe Festival performing Philadelphia which, if you remember, came out of StageWrite 2014 and we worked with the fabulous writer, Jon Boustead, over the summer last year on the piece.  Well we had an absolute blast!!  It’s the first time I have performed at a fringe festival, although I have directed for Bedfringe for the last couple of years.  It was a very different experience for me and one which I thoroughly enjoyed and am now looking forward to repeating the experience at Bedfringe next week!!  (Get your tickets here if you haven’t already got them!)

If you don’t know much about the piece, it’s a darkly comic play exploring themes of forgiveness, family and bereavement.  When alcoholic stroke victim, Carol, dies choking on a beef sandwhich, Alex returns to the childhood and brother he chose to forget.

But don’t just take my word for it.  AltReading described it as, “full of guilt and shame and deep rooted resentment and all that good family drama stuff“.  GetReading: “Incredibly moving performances” while The Festival itself described it as, “sometimes harrowing, genuinely moving, occasionally comic and always well acted.”  We were thrilled that Jo Phillimore, who plays Carol, was awarded with the accolade of Best Female Performer for the festival.  If that’s not enough to get you along to Bedfringe to see it, I don’t know what will…

Bedringe performances are on July 27th at 9pm and July 28th at 6pm.  Tickets are priced at £6.50 (£5.50 conc) and are available from the Bedfringe Website.