Following two Edinburgh Comedy Award nominations in a row for his thrilling and genre-defining shows Lance and Maestro, Kieran Hodgson returns to the Fringe with a show that explores how politics can rip apart even the closest and loving of relationships. ’75 is the hilarious story of Kieran’s attempts to reunite his mother and the neighbour who had helped to raise him, two previously close friends driven apart after decades by the shadow of Brexit. Kieran follows up two shows about popular hobbies (cycling and music) with one which bravely shines a light on the trickiest question of our time: ‘Europe?’
Kieran Hodgson has always been a history know-it-all: when struggling to make conversation he will readily resort to a game of ‘let’s name all the Prime Ministers in reverse order,’ much to the intense dislike of his friends, family, and husband. But when the 2016 Referendum tore apart one of his mum’s closest relationships, Kieran believed he could give his obsession with history books a new purpose, turning to them in order to make sense of how we got here and heal the wound.
Kieran interweaves a tale of two intimate, personal relationships and a personal quest for understanding with one of epic European history, coming up against both in a brand new hysterical and moving tour de force from this award-winning comic. Expect a story of passion and betrayal as Kieran overestimates his intellectual abilities and fills his show with somehow-funny descriptions of voting systems and a rogue’s gallery of historical figures that he delights in bringing back to life: awkward war hero (and perhaps questionable Prime Minister) Ted Heath, milk-snatching pioneer Margaret Thatcher, and Huddersfield’s most famous son (after Kieran), Harold Wilson. It’s like ‘Hamilton’ if ‘Hamilton’ was about Wilson and had no money or songs.
Kieran’s last show, Maestro, was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award 2016, the 2017 Chortle Award for Best Show and was programmed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival after a UK national tour and three sold-out runs at the Soho Theatre Downstairs. Following the success of Maestro, Kieran was the only comedian nominated for the Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards.
While developing ‘75, Kieran has become new series regular Gordon in Series 3 of hit BBC2 sitcom Two Doors Down alongside Arabella Weir and Doon Mackichan, and he wrote and performed his BBC Radio 4 series Kieran Hodgson’s Earworms inspired by Maestro.
