The world premiere of Lash by award-winning playwright and Fringe favourite Philip Stokes, performed by Jack Stokes, winner of the Theatre Weekly Award for Best Solo Performer at last year’s Fringe, opens at the Pleasance Courtyard on 2 August at 23.00, just in time for last orders (press performances from 4 August). Lash is produced by Richard Jordan Productions, 412 in association with Lawrence Batley Theatre, Ketchup Productions and Pleasance. Supported by Jersey Arts Centre
Part gig, part theatre, Lash takes us on a booze-fuelled adrenaline rush, through bustling streets, bouncing clubs, where big tunes and mad characters collide.
Sonny finishes his mundane job. It’s the weekend and time to hit the town, to go ‘out out’ and experience everything a Friday night has to offer a young man. Dodgy dealers even dodgier workmates and the local hard nuts merge into a toxic mix that assaults the senses. Sonny’s lyrical journey only stops short when he’s made to face his own mortality and he recalls his failed relationship with his father. Lash reflects a youth, at a time post-BREXIT and in the aftermath of covid, wasted in more ways than one.
Philip Stokes’ critically acclaimed plays include Heroin(e) For Breakfast (Underbelly 2009/Pleasance, 2019), Uber Hate Gang (Underbelly, 2010), and My Filthy Hunt (Underbelly, 2011). His work has had sold-out productions across the globe winning awards including The Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award and the Adelaide Holden Street Theatre Award along with gaining five-star reviews from international press. He is recognised by the British Library as a Culturally Important Playwright of the 21st Century. His last play Jesus, Jane, Mother & Me returns to the Pleasance this year having won the Holden Street Theatre award and toured the world during the last 12 months.
The creative team also includes set, sound, and lighting design by Craig Lomas (Heroin(e) For Breakfast).
Philip Stokes said, ‘Lash’ a companion piece to ‘Jesus, Jane, Mother & Me’, also returning, at the Pleasance this August. This time looking at the influence of a father on his son rather than a mother and holds a mirror to the mixed emotions of a typical night out. I hope Fringe-goers are able to catch both productions which will be playing at The Pleasance’
