WILL KEMPE – SHAKESPEARE’S STAND UP

Bridport Arts Centre

IS he a comedian, a raconteur, an actor, an adventurer or all of these? It seems that Tim Fitzhigham is not quite sure himself in this one-man show that is probably never the same twice.

What is certain is that Tim is a one-off eccentric as only an Englishman can be. Who else would row the length of the River Thames in a paper boat or sail across the English Channel in a bath-tub? Tim has done both in style and even had a toilet made especially for him by Thomas Crapper – now that’s style.

And if that does not convince you, try copying Elizabethan comic star Will Kempe by Morris dancing from London to Norwich in nine days – all 160 miles of it – only to discover that Kempe didn’t actually do it in nine days after all.

His research into the career of Shakespearean comedy actor Will Kempe forms only a part of his performance as Tim encounters large landladies, moronic motorists, praiseworthy policemen and mad Morris dancers on his way to Norwich.

In the newly refurbished Arts Centre, Tim takes his audience on a lighthearted journey through his life as he Morris dances his way through a career as a pig farmer, actor, comedian and writer, all told with wit and self-deprecating humour. And if you don’t believe his unlikely tales of world beating stunts, he has the pictures to prove it which he shares with the audience in a delightfully daft evening that sends you home smiling.

MARION COX