“Turns out that when you’re the only person in the festival doing a show in English then you get a lot of the internationals coming to watch you.”
WHO: Stephen Bathurst
WHAT: “A theatre show that explores the biggest question of all: “What’s the point?”
Features underpants, pompous man-servants, self-deprecating witticisms, an existential crisis and one giant hangover.
King Solomon was a man who had it all…
Life Under The Sun is a one man show based on the book of Ecclesiastes. Well described as Blackadder meets the Bible, it is a dark comedy with a unique mix of ancient verse offset against pantomime and the dry wit of stand-up.”
WHERE: Quarry Theatre
WHEN: 31 July 2023 @ 19:30 (60mins)
WHAT WE SAID IN 2022: Click Here!
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Bedfringe?
Third time out for me.
First go round was 2016 and featured ‘While Mortals Sleep’, a show about Job. There was lots of angst, shouting at the heavens and having rotting banana skins dumped over my head.
Second was 2022 with an earlier version of this ‘Life Under The Sun’. I spent most of that show prancing around in my pants and was told my abs were too distracting and pulling focus from the text.
As I directed both these shows I have only myself to blame…
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I have nearly hit the required residency period to acquire Finnish citizenship, a beautiful country and where I now abide. Happiest country in the world for the last five years. If you go there you’ll see why.
‘Life Under The Sun’ toured festivals in Britain, Sweden and Finland in summer 2022, selling out and breaking venue records in both the Nordic countries. Turns out that when you’re the only person in the festival doing a show in English then you get a lot of the internationals coming to watch you. And when many of the native audience grew up watching Monty Python and Blackadder then your show is quite popular with them too…
Tell us about your show.
Imagine King Charles doing his Christmas speech in his pants with a massive hangover and talking about how he can’t get it up any more. And he doesn’t have just 1 wife, he has 700.
Or old Joey Biden doing his State of the Nation address about the current economic performance, but he’s not slurring his words because he’s old, it’s coz he’s just hammered.
But instead of Charles or Joey Biden it’s King Solomon, supposedly the wisest man who ever lived. He’s trying to figure it all out. But he’s not quite sure what IT even is.
Blackadder meets the Bible is a good description…
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
I LOVE satire. And political satire especially. Very relevant and cutting edge with what’s going on.
So I’ll give a shout out to Rosie Holt: That’s Politainment! It’s got 4* and hit Edinburgh last year.
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