Origin of the Pieces
I took my one man show Steve Pretty on The Origin of the Pieces to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2010, where I performed it at the GRV as part of the (now sadly defunct) Five Pound Fringe.
Here's the blurb:
"Until recently, Steve knew almost nothing about pop music, despite being a professional musician and having been born 5 minutes after John Lennon was shot. In an ambitious attempt to change this, he resolved to listen to every piece of popular music ever known before his 30th birthday. From prehistoric boneflute music to Jedward, no stone would be left unrolled.
Unlikely connections emerged and he found himself on a Darwinian voyage of discovery. Would a merciful God have created N-Dubz? Are Led Zeppelin the transition fossils between medieval minstrels and Muse? And how do creationists explain Lady Gaga?
Part edutaining interacto-lecture, part stadium-rock-gig-in-a-small-room-without-a-rock-band, this is one man’s attempt to recreate the entire history of pop music with only a trumpet, a laptop and a fondue set."
The show went down really well, with a nice clutch of four star reviews (like this, this and this) and even a mention as part of Fest magazine's 'Perfect Fringe Day', intimidatingly suggesting that people go straight from my show to Paul Merton's.
Fest magazine called it 'an eclectic mix of fun facts, sharply observed one-liners and audience participation' and 'original, intelligent comedy delivered with commendable panache', which was nice of them.
The show website is still live and has lots more information about the show.
I really loved writing and performing a show that combined a lot of my interests, hopefully made people learn something, and (mostly, and most importantly) made people laugh.
As I write (February 2011) I'm currently planning my next solo show which I'll be taking up to Edinburgh this summer. Why don't you sign up to my mailing list so that I can let you know when I've got previews happening?
