The Philadelphia Fringe Festival and Studio 34 present:
Life With Oscar
by Golden Idol Productions (London, UK)
2 Shows:
THU SEPT 19, 8:00 PM
FRI SEPT 20, 9:00 PM
Runtime: 70 minutes
Click here for tickets!
About the show:
WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR AN OSCAR?
Actor/Filmmaker Nick Cohen relives his desperate Hollywood years – a tragicomic true-life “Sunset Boulevard.” Nick flees South London, England and his dysfunctional family to live as a permanent guest on Sunset with a double Oscar-winner; a man who worked regularly with Orson Welles, promising to get Nick’s film nominated if he follows Exact Instructions.
Life with Oscar upends La La Land in a confessional rollercoaster ride through its dark, twisted underbelly; aptly premiered, at Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe before transferring Off-West End to the Arcola Theatre in London.
A frenetically physical retelling, featuring 29 different characters, from the man who modelled the Oscar trophy itself to the psychopathic producer’s daughter destined to be Nick’s ‘mystic bride,’ we journey from South London to Hollywood and back again. Accompanied by fragments of films past and present, scored with layered compositions by Jon Ouin and the bold cinematic direction of Nicholas Pitt and Cressida Brown, this show is a hilarious and moving confession.
A Faustian tale of pre #MeToo Hollywood, where predators and victims are sometimes hard to distinguish, or one and the same. A deepening spiral of desperation, delusion and debt littered with metaphorical, and occasionally, real, corpses. Life with Oscar is an on-stage exorcism of a man haunted by Hollywood, but it is also an examination of questions of ambition, shame, failure and sacrifice that haunt us all…
“Nick Cohen is a theatrical and comedic genius… . A one-man army…This is a must see.” — Broadway Baby *****
“This autobiographical show will keep you laughing for 60 minutes straight… it is physical theatre in its pure form; energetic, intimate and powerful.” — The Broad Online *****
“A very powerful and engaging piece of theatre… one that I would highly recommend.” — One4Review ***
About the artist:
Nick Cohen is a London-born writer/performer of mixed US/Romanian/Middle-Eastern descent with an interest in true stories, especially those that deal with migration/diaspora, identity and healing trauma.
He trained with Theatre de Complicite and began in London at the Gate Theatre and was a Staff Director at the Royal National Theatre with Trevor Nunn and an Assistant Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company whilst also collaborating with the Refugee Council. As Artistic Director of Strange Fish Theatre, he directed The Power and The Glory (Etcetera Theatre), Good Bones (Southwark Playhouse) and The Taming of The Shrew (Bloomsbury Theatre/ Tour) and produced Blood Knot (Gate Theatre – Time Out Critic’s Choice.)
Later, he trained on the BBC Drama Director Academy, directing feature films including London Unplugged, episodes of Eastenders, Doctors, and documentaries. He is currently adapting The Man Who Snapped His Fingers’ a political thriller based on events in Iran from the novel by Iranian activist and author Fariba Hachtroudi.
Life with Oscar debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe last year and transferred Off-West End to the Arcola Theatre. This is the show’s international premiere.
About Philly Fringe:
The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, presented by FringeArts, is an annual citywide celebration of innovation and creativity in contemporary performance. Each September, the Festival explodes into every nook and cranny of Philadelphia with more than 1,000 artistically daring performances and events by local, national, and international artists.