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Daniel Kitson - The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church

medwaymaria's picture
When: 
14/02/2011
Where: 
Gulbenkian Theatre, University of Kent, Canterbury
Comments: 
Daniel Kitson is perhaps not the best Valentine's Day date. His show is based on letters that Kitson found in the loft of a house, which was viewing. There begins an obsession with piecing together the life of a man who cannot quite get round to killing himself, as there are too many suicide letters to write. These include a complaint to Lillian, a bank clerk; an apology to the owner of the hardware store where he buys rope to make a noose; to the letters page of the local newspaper. Long friendships develop with Lillian and Woodrow, the editor who berates his punctuation and grammar, the latter based on an exchange of wordy insults. There is also a touching correspondence with Benjamin, the 'magnificent' schoolboy Church sees at the bus stop opposite his house, reading books as he waits. This is uncomfortable material; moving, funny, ultimately uplifting. It's Church's letters that stop him from dying before his time, and what a gift for Kitson and the audience that he found them.
The Audience: 
Students through to fifty-somethings; a 'school party' who are there to write a review. Kitson tells them 'Write what you feel. 18 reviews that no-one will read.' Baffled Valentine's dates who were expecting 'something nice'.
Food & Drink: 
Monday menu of £4 for a main course - nice veg curry. Warm rose wine for the lady, Japanese beer for the Valentine's Day date (aka husband). Friendly service by student staff
It Made Me Think...: 
Felt like I'd been to one of those seminars where they lock the doors, deprive you of food and drink, don't allow you to speak, and convert you to their world view. But in a good way.
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