Rehearsal images were today released for A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer, a co-production with Complicite Associates. The production is an all-singing, all-dancing examination of life with a cancer diagnosis. This brand new musical confronts the highs and lows of the scariest word we know. With book by Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel, music by Tom Parkinson and lyrics by Bryony Kimmings, and directed by Bryony Kimmings, the production receives its London premiere at the Dorfman Theatre on 14 October (press night on 19 October), following its world premiere at HOME Manchester and a tour to Exeter Northcott Theatre.
Bryony Kimmings creates fearless theatre to provoke social change. Her collaboration with Complicite looks behind the poster campaigns and pink ribbons at the reality of cancer: waiting rooms and chemo suites, changed bodies, family pressures and financial worries. Expect big anthems, shiny costumes, blood, tears and real cancer patients in this rip-roaring, heart-breaking celebration of ordinary life and death, scratching at the battle metaphors that surround cancer to reveal what really lies beneath.
In 2013, Complicite producer Judith Dimant saw Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model and enjoyed it so much that she got in touch with the show’s creator Bryony Kimmings and arranged to meet. Between that moment and the day they met – just three weeks later – Dimant had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Just like that. Out of nowhere. And so they began a very different sort of conversation – one that tackled issues most people don’t talk about.
Bryony Kimmings is a performance artist, writer and comedian. Her works centre around outlandish 'social experiments' that Kimmings conducts with intrigue and wholehearted fearless gusto. Previous works have seen Kimmings retracing an STI to its source (Sex Idiot), spending seven days in a controlled environment in a constant state of intoxication (7 Day Drunk) and becoming a pop star invented by a 9-year-old (Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model). Her recent work Fake It ’Til You Make It was created with her real-life partner about living with depression. It toured Australia in 2015, winning numerous awards, before playing sell-out seasons in London and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Brian Lobel is a New York-born London-based performer. For the past decade he has been a critical voice in the world of cancer care, patient experience and medical education. His work BALL & Other Funny Stories about Cancer, and his exhibition Fun With Cancer Patients bring together many of his creations on the subject. His work has been seen throughout the UK and in more than 25 countries internationally. He is a Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts at the University of Chichester and is a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellow.
Tom Parkinson studied at Dartington and is a composer and sound designer. He wrote the music for Bryony Kimmings’ shows Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model and Fake It ’Til You Make It, and all the songs for her young people’s show, That Catherine Bennett Show. This is his first musical.
Judith Dimant has been producer for Complicite for more than 22 years – producing all of Simon McBurney’s shows during this time. In 2013 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2014 she received an MBE for services to the theatre.
Directed by Bryony Kimmings, the full cast includes Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Amy Booth-Steel, Jenny Fitzpatrick, Hal Fowler, Amanda Hadingue, Francesca Mills, Golda Rosheuvel, Max Runham, Rose Shalloo, Gareth Snook, Lottie Vallis and Gary Wood.
The production features set design by Lucy Osborne, costume design by Christina Cunningham, choreography by Lizzi Gee, music direction by Marc Tritschler, lighting design by Paul Anderson and sound design by Lewis Gibson, and is a Complicite Associates co-production with the NT, in association with HOME Manchester.
A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer is a Dorfman Theatre show, commissioned by Complicite and supported by Neptune Investment Management. The show contains adult themes and strong language.
Tour dates:
HOME Manchester
20 to 24 September
homemcr.org
Box Office: 0161 200 1500.
Exeter Northcott
28 September to 2 October
exeternorthcott.co.uk
Box Office: 01392 726363.
A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer is supported by the Mirisch & Lebenheim Charitable Foundation. The Dorfman Partner is Neptune Investment Management.
For rehearsal images, please follow the link below. The password is ‘pressdownload’.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uugt5fczp991r7n/AACDbMzuAydKSTo-3_115vRHa?dl=0
Press night: Wednesday 19 October, 7pm
