waist

A break-up sped up by a mythbeast. Sad sitcom turns into drunk circus.

WAIST is a kebab-based modern satyr play – naturalistic dread disrupted by a ranting drunk with the legs of a goat, who turns the audience into a singing monster and has it eat the protagonists.

It had a run in Edinburgh, where it was FringeReview’s Number One Pick of the Free Fringe. It only got two reviews, but they were good ones:

‘capturing a youthful ennui with scathing accuracy…thrives on well-observed dialogue’ The Independent

‘Tom Fraser is mesmerising as the mythological half-man, half-goat and, through Parker Rees’ boisterous and lyrical dialogue, he vividly describes the creature that we, the audience, eventually, willingly and wholeheartedly become. It’s rare to find a piece that both suits and challenges a pub audience but – through evoking the spirit of Dionysus – this one manages to do both.’ The Scotsman

Then this very good thing happened:

‘reasons to be cheerful: WAIST by Toby Parker Rees and this glass of wine’ Tim Crouch

Next we had a short national tour, visiting venues like the Old Fire Station (Oxford), the Bike Shed (Exeter) and the Tom Thumb Theatre (Margate). After that we played at the Hope Theatre (Islington).

The Stage called it ‘an intriguing piece of theatre’ with ‘sharp, witty and frank dialogue that is delivered convincingly’.