Following his international hit Bubble Schmeisis (“generous and poignant” ★★★★ The Stage), Nick Cassenbaum is back on tour. This time Nick brings us My Kind of Michael, a heartfelt, passionate and playful tribute to his childhood hero, Michael Barrymore. As part of an extensive UK tour the show comes to Battersea Arts Centre on 21 and 22 May with a preview at Arts Depot on 16 May.
Nick Cassenbaum has loved Barrymore ever since his Nanna Sylvie bought him ‘Barrymore’s Best Bites’ on VHS when he was seven. Now Nick invites you to share his love, to examine the turbulent relationship between showman and spectator.
Moving between narrative and a Barrymore style game show, Nick and the audience play TV favourites like ‘Strike It Lucky’ and take part in ‘This is Your Life’. An ever-affable raconteur par excellence, Nick uses his delightfully amiable, charming and warm stage presence, alongside Barrymore’s iconic shticks, to weave his own personal stories with tales of Barrymore’s rise to fame and ultimate downfall. Join in with Nick to celebrate a light entertainment – and working class – variety icon. With live music and gags-a-plenty My Kind of Michael is?, well, Alwight!
At his peak Michael Barrymore was one of the most popular and revered performers in the UK. A former Butlin’s Red Coat, he won TV talent show New Faces in 1975, earning a six-month West End contract. In the early 1980s he became one of the best-known faces on TV. Shows such as Strike It Lucky and My Kind Of People attracted up to 13 million viewers. His career never recovered from a tragic incident at a party at his house, despite no charges ever being brought against him, an unprecedented rise and fall at the peak of his career for such a well-loved personality.
Nick said ‘Michael Barrymore has always been my hero. I believe he really is one of the best entertainers this country has produced and he has been a big influence on my career and style. I think he is the perfect example of an entertainer who truly loved the audience that loved him. Yet that audience was incited to turn their backs on him by the media. I can see parallels in his life and mine and I wanted to explore that, but basically…I want people to love him again and celebrate some lovely 80s and 90s nostalgia with me!’
“I loved it!” Claire Sweeney
Nick Cassenbaum is a storyteller, street performer and theatre maker. His theatre work has always focused on the way we interact with places and spaces and what that can tell us about ourselves.
Following his international hit Bubble Schmeisis (“generous and poignant” ★★★★ The Stage), Nick Cassenbaum is back on tour. This time Nick brings us My Kind of Michael, a heartfelt, passionate and playful tribute to his childhood hero, Michael Barrymore. As part of an extensive UK tour the show comes to Battersea Arts Centre on 21 and 22 May with a preview at Arts Depot on 16 May.
My Kind of Michael Tour Dates
16 May 7.30pm – London Artsdepot 5 Nether Street Tally Ho Corner North Finchley London N12 0GA £18, £12 020 8369 5454 www.artsdepot.co.uk
21, 22 May 8pm – London Battersea Arts Centre Lavender Hill SW11 5TN £12.50, £10 020 7223 2223 www.bac.org.uk
28 May 7.45pm – Harrogate Studio Theatre, 6 Oxford Street, Harrogate HG1 1QF £12, £10 01423 502116 www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk
4 June 8pm – Ipswich Pulse Festival at New Wolsey Studio, St Georges St, Ipswich, IP1 3NF £10, £5 01473 295900 www.wolseytheatre.co.uk
5 June 8pm – Colchester Arts Centre, Church Street, CO1 1NF £pay what you can afford 01206 500900 www.colchesterartscentre.com
13 June 8pm – Gravesend, Kent The Woodville Woodville Place, Gravesend, Kent DA12 1DD £13.50 / £11.50, 08442 439 480 www.woodville.co.uk
26 June 6pm – Rugby Festival on the Close, Macready Theatre, Rugby School, Laurence Sherriff Street CV22 5EH, £10 01788 556 216 www.thefestivalontheclose.co.uk
28 June 7.30pm – Corsham, Wiltshire The Pound Arts Centre, Pound Pill, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9HX £12 / £10 01249 701628 / 712618 www.poundarts.org.uk
18 September 8pm – Norwich Arts Centre St Benedicts St NR2 4PG £Pay what you decide 01603 660352 www.norwichartscentre.co.uk
26 September 8pm – Petersfield Bedales Theatre, Church Road, Steep, GU32 2DG £10 0333 666 3366 www.bedalesevents.co.uk
3 October 8pm – Wigan The Old Courts Gerrard Winstanley House, Crawford Street, Wigan, WN1 1NA £10 01942 834747 www.theoldcourts.com
