King Lear meets stand-up meets the metaverse.
The Fool leaves King Lear before the blinding. Before the killing starts. Before the ice-creams in the interval.
In this new solo work, Tim Crouch draws on ideas of virtual reality to send him back to the future of the play he left. Back to a world laid waste by division and trauma; a world where the revolution will take place on a screen.
The play confirms Crouch's place as the United Kingdom's pre-eminent interrogator of form and liveness. It uses King Lear as a point of departure to explore the aftermath of the last three years: the loss of life, the wrecking of families, the abuse of power, the digital encroachment of live theatre and the decimation of our industry.
Truth's a Dog Must to Kennel is a daringly unaccommodated piece of theatre that switches between scathingly funny stand-up and an audacious act of collective imagining. It's a celebration of live performance and a skewering of the state we're in now.
Photo: Stuart Armitt
Please note that Truth’s a Dog Must to Kennel is not a VR performance.
See also Tim Crouch in An Oak Tree at Den Nationale Scene Friday 24 and Saturday 25 May.
Performed in English
Karl James, Andy Smith direction
Tim Crouch performer
Pippa Murphy music
Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburg producer