The Docile Manifesto

So I did a show in the fringe

Videos are available for the 20th February, the 27th February and the 1st of March (part two here).

I could not possibly have pulled this off without the help of some fantastic friends and family:

  • Rach, who has been wonderful and supportive as I’ve tried to figure out what the hell I was trying to say. Writing the show was like coughing up a hairball, and she has been extremely patient while I’ve been distracted and confused and generally baffling to live with.
  • Christian, who stepped up to help with planning and writing and whose intros were fantastic and incredible for setting the tone from the very beginning. His ‘Blurred Vision’ exercise was perfectly pitched, and vastly better than the original idea he had to work with
  • Peter, who put so much insight, craft and comedic genius into the materials. The certificates are jewel-like in the attention to detail and the layers of jokes. The Powerpoint slides were so on-point it hurt. The docile logo and successexagon device were incredible. In addition to design, any writing room with Peter in it will be productive and unbelievably fun in some weird magical combination
  • Steve, who is incredibly funny and talented in every way, and whose exercise for the 2nd night was a better insight into the dysfunctions and madness of project planning than I have ever seen. His original delivery in the writing room was far funnier than the one I delivered on the night
  • Toby, who hasn’t had to deal with any of this stuff professionally, but who joined in and contributed everywhere he could make it funnier and more absurd. He developed an excellent sketch which didn’t end up getting used in the show, which was my only disappointment for the entire project.
  • Hai, who thought he was going to just crash on our couch and who got sucked in to a whirlwind of late night chats about creativity in work and life in general, absorbed into the writing process and then dragged out to the library to set up hours before anyone else was free.
  • Dennis and Danuta, my parents who just keep showing up for me whenever the opportunity appears. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve come to appreciate how rare and wonderful a gift it is to know that your parents will support you every time, no matter the circumstances. I love you guys and I wish there were more parents like you out in the world
  • All the friends and family and work colleagues who attended a show, thank you for taking the time to attend and to say hi before or afterwards. It could very easily have been a waste of your time, and perhaps it was – but you were all too kind to say so!

So there we have it. I relied on funny and creative and generous friends to help me figure out how to take the frustration and madness of modern workplaces and make an absurd comedy, and they did. People attended and enjoyed the show. We got an excellent writeup in Broadsheet as one of their top ten acts not to miss in the Fringe.

I feel extremely grateful for everything and to everyone. Thank you all so very much!

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