Fake It ‘Til You Make It
UK Couple Tim Grayburn and Bryony Kimmings unpick the ‘Real Man’ at Adelaide Fringe 2015. Lesley Reed reports.
When UK advertising account manager Tim Grayburn met a performance artist from London he faked how he really felt for six months; not how he felt about her, but the fact that he suffered severe clinical depression. When he did talk about it, it was the first time he’d done so in six years.
Now, Tim and that performance artist, Bryony Kimmings, are a couple. What’s more, in a break from selling to the world on behalf of clients, Tim is travelling the world with Bryony instead. He is facing audiences for the first time with Fake It ‘Til You Make It, his taboo-shattering, hilarious and outrageous theatrical collaboration with Bryony about depression in men.
Some consider it possible that fifty percent of depressed men remain undiagnosed. Mental health-related suicide is the number one killer of males under thirty In the UK, a statistic no doubt replicated here in Australia as well… but we still struggle to discuss the subject.
Bryony Kimmings is not intimidated by taboos in British culture and so the fact that people find it hard to talk about mental health simply inspired, not daunted, her in the creation of Fake It ‘Til You Make It.
Kimmings is also well known for her autobiographical work. Her 2010 show Sex Idiot premiered at Edinburgh Fringe and exposed her own sexual history involving a sexual disease. The production won a Total Theatre Award in 2010 and was listed in Time Out magazine’s Best of the Year (2010).
Bryony’s 2011 endeavor continued 2010’s brutally and amusingly honest journey, with 7 Day Drunk, a collaboration between herself and a scientific team. The production examined the effect alcohol had on her creativity.
Bryony Kimmings and Tim Grayburn self-describe themselves as ‘an outrageous, hilarious and fearless performance artist from London and an outrageous, hilarious and fearless account manager at a top advertising firm’. Whatever the tag used to introduce themselves, this couple are brave indeed in their readiness to tackle performance that reveals the innermost feelings and realities of their own lives.
According to Time Out, London, Fake It ‘Til You Make It is ‘…hilarious, heartbreaking, troubling and inspirational. Kickass in all the right ways.’
Presented by the UK’S Theatre Works and made up of arguments, tears and truths mixed with humour, music and dancing, this 2015 Adelaide Fringe production is a bit like real life, except with a fearless dose of honesty.
If you’re at least sixteen years old and a vulnerable human being like the rest of us, you’re qualified to attend this warm and funny show about clinical depression, love and what makes up a ‘real’ man, produced by people who have lived the effects of depressive illness.
WHEN:February 14-March 15, 8pm, excluding Mondays.
VENUE:Royal Croquet Club- The Black Box Victoria Square/Tarntanyagga, Adelaide.
BOOKINGS: www.adelaidefringe.com.au or 1300 621 255.
Bryony Kimmings can also be seen in Sex Idiot at The Garden of Unearthly Delights as part of Adelaide Fringe 2015.
More Adelaide Fringe 2015 Previews.
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