In a frenetic on-stage exorcism, actor and filmmaker Nick Cohen relives his rollercoaster journey from South London to Sunset Boulevard.
A double Oscar-winner on the Academy panel invites Nick over to Los Angeles with the promise of a nomination and secret formula for a win. Nick’s descent into a Hollywood hellscape conjures ancestral trauma, exposing a predatory world of damaged dream chasers along with metaphorical – and sometimes literal – corpses. Nick plays 31 different characters, from predatory agents to Hollywood psychics, including the man who modelled the Oscar trophy itself, and a potential future bride who just happens to be the daughter of a psychotic producer. As Oscar season lands again, the play asks the price we all pay for success and whether mental health is a luxury in a world where winning is all.
Life with Oscar debuted at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Underbelly) and this new version for the Arcola Theatre is directed by Cressida Brown, whose work includes the critically acclaimed productions of Ed Edward’s plays The Political History of Smack and Crack and more recently ‘England & Son,’ starring political comedian Mark Thomas which won 6 Awards including a Scotsman’s Fringe First and Adelaide Fringe Festival Award
Nick said, ‘I was always evasive about what happened in Hollywood. It took time to see that the shame and failure was something that many people feel about their careers and also very funny. Developing the stories, I realised that performing them was both my only chance of revenge, and my only hope of redemption. Cressida Brown, whose previous show ‘Amphibians’ deals with the parallel quest for Olympic, rather than Oscar gold, made me see that we are all driven by fake – and sometimes fatal – notions of success.’
Nick Cohen is a writer, actor and director with an interest in true stories, especially those that deal with healing trauma. He trained with Theatre de Complicite and began at the Gate Theatre and RSC 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 and Beginners Luck, 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.
Cressida Brown was resident director at the National Theatre Studio from 2007 – 2008. Though she has directed classical work nationally & internationally – including for the Globe, RSC and British Council – new writing is her passion. Since 2006 she has commissioned, developed and directed premieres with over 50 emerging and established playwrights. She is probably best known for: Amphibians by Steve Waters inspired from interviews with former Olympic swimmers and staged in the hidden pool under the Bridewell Theatre stage; Walking the Tightrope by writers including Caryl Churchill, April DeAngelis, Timberlake Wertenbaker and Mark Ravenhill about freedom of expression; Ed Edward’s award-winning The Political History of Smack and Crack at Paines Plough’s Roundabout, Soho Theatre and UK tour; and the UK premiere of Obie Award winner Chris Chen’s Caught.
Life with Oscar was developed with Nicholas Pitt who also directed the Edinburgh Fringe run of the show. His acclaimed adaptation and production of Dario Fo’s seminal solo piece, on the same stage at the Underbelly, ‘Mistero Buffo,’ won The Stage Award for Outstanding Performance Award in 2018 and garnered 5 star reviews before transferring to The Arcola and touring internationally, with ‘fringe favourites’ Rhum and Clay.
