★★★★★ Evening Standard, The Stage, Herald Scotland
★★★★ The Guardian, Financial Times, The Independent, The Telegraph
(critical praise for Bryony Kimmings’ previous work)
Performance artist, theatre-maker, comedian, musician and activist, Bryony Kimmings (Fake it ‘til you Make it, A Pacifists Guide to the War on Cancer, Channel 4’s The Sex Clinic: Artist In Residence) will return to the stage with I’m a Phoenix, Bitch, her first solo show in nearly a decade. The show will run from 3rd to 20th October as part of Battersea Arts Centre’s Phoenix Season.
I’m a Phoenix, Bitch combines personal stories with epic film, soundscapes and ethereal music to create a powerful, dark and joyful work about motherhood, heartbreak and finding inner strength. Having spent the last few years on collaborative projects and telling other peoples’ stories, including co-writing a script with Oscar award-winning actress Emma Thompson, developing musical A Pacifists Guide to the War on Cancer and starring in Channel 4’s The Sex Clinic: Artist In Residence, recent personal cataclysmic life events have led Bryony back to her original solo practice.
Bryony Kimmings says, “my shows are usually born out of me going: ‘We don’t talk about this enough, this is problematic in terms of a political or feminist narrative.’ My hope with this show is to give the almost unspeakable traumas associated with postnatal depression and an ill child a voice. I want to create a show that cuts to the heart of these things but does it in a way that people can relate to.”
Join Bryony on an incredible journey as I’m a Phoenix, Bitch creates a new legend; that of the invincible and fearless woman; a tale Bryony wishes she had known from birth.
ENDS
For more information or press tickets please contact Lily Marriott on LMarriott@avalon-entertainment.com / 020 7598 7222 or Sagar Shah on SagarS@bac.org.uk / 020 7326 8259.
Title: I’m a Phoenix, Bitch
Artist/Company: Bryony Kimmings
Venue: Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, SW11 5TN
Date: 3 – 20 Oct
Press night: Mon 8 Oct, 8pm
Time: 7:30pm (2:30pm matinees)
Price: 3 – 8 Oct: £15, 9 – 20 Oct: £15 – £26
Booking Link: www.bac.org.uk/bryony
Box Office: 020 7223 2223
Notes to Editors:
I’m a Phoenix, Bitch is financially supported by Arts Council England, commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre, Arts Centre Melbourne and Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts and supported by Latitude Festival and in association with Avalon Promotions.
In 2016 Bryony nearly drowned. Postnatal breakdowns, an imploding relationship and a very sick child left her sitting beneath the waves hoping she could slowly turn to shell. When Battersea Arts Centre invited her to create a new work for the previously burnt down Grand Hall, she felt an affinity with that building, for her own life had also burnt to the ground that year.
Every performance of I’m a Phoenix, Bitch is relaxed, which means guests who can benefit from a more relaxed environment are welcome – there is a relaxed attitude to noise and movement and a designated ‘chill-out space’ is provided. The 19th October performance is captioned and BSL interpreted.
Bryony Kimmings
Bryony Kimmings is renowned for her outlandish “social experiments” with previous works seeing her retrace an STI to its source, spending seven days in a controlled environment in a constant state of intoxication and becoming a pop star invented by a nine-year-old girl.
Her most recent work A Pacifists Guide to the War on Cancer was commissioned by Complicite and presented at The Royal National Theatre and HOME, Manchester. The touring version of this show was performed at venues across England and in Melbourne and Sydney. Bryony’s award winning work has toured internationally including: Antifest (Finland), Culturgest (Portugal), Fusebox Festival (Texas), Southbank Centre (London), Seymour Centre, Melbourne International Comedy Festival (Australia) and Lisinski Operahouse (Croatia).
About Battersea Arts Centre
Battersea Arts Centre is a public space where people come together to be creative, see a show, explore the local heritage, play or relax. The organisation’s mission is to inspire people, to take creative risks, to shape the future.
Battersea Arts Centre encourages people to test and develop new ideas with members of the public – a process called Scratch. Scratch is used by artists to make theatre, by young people to develop entrepreneurial ideas and as a helpful process for anyone who wants to get creative.
In 2018 Battersea Arts Centre’s Grand Hall reopens with the Phoenix Season, featuring work by Bryony Kimmings, Gecko, the National Theatre of Scotland, Lekan Lawal, Dead Centre, Little Bulb Theatre, BAC Beatbox Academy, Daniel Kitson, Touretteshero and others.
Each year Battersea Arts Centre:
- Welcomes over 160,000 people to its building
- Inspires the local community to get creative including 3000 young people
- Works with over 400 artists to put on over 800 performances and tour at least 10 shows and projects
About Avalon
Avalon is a multi-award winning talent management, live promotion and television production group with offices in the UK and the USA.
The talent management arm has discovered and represents many artists which are household names, both in the UK, the USA, and around the world.
Through Avalon Promotions the group produced Newman and Baddiel: Live at Wembley, the UK’s first arena comedy show; Jerry Springer: The Opera, the first West End show to win all four UK Best New Musical awards; and has continued to produce live shows globally, as well as promoting more winners and nominees of the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award than any other company.
In 2017 Avalon was named the top true independent television production company in the UK and has produced numerous ground-breaking television shows including: Emmy and Peabody award winner Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), multi-award winning and Emmy-nominated Catastrophe (Channel 4/Amazon Prime), RTS and Rose d’Or winning Not Going Out (BBC1’s longest running sitcom currently on air), BAFTA and RTS-nominated Taskmaster (DAVE), multi-BAFTA award winning TV Burp (ITV1), Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC2), Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV) and Workaholics (Comedy Central USA).
Avalon Television, Liberty Bell Productions, Flame Television and Topical Television form the television arm of the company and other shows currently in production include: The Button (BBC One), Not Going Out (BBC One) Taskmaster USA (Comedy Central), Man Down (C4), The Chris Ramsey Show (Comedy Central), Russell Howard & Mum: Road Trip (Comedy Central), Unspun with Matt Forde (Dave) and Stand Up Central with Chris Ramsey (Comedy Central); whilst the catalogue is sold worldwide by Avalon Distribution.
For Avalon news visit: www.avalonuk.com/press or @Avalon_Press.
