06/06/2017 - 20:00 Theatre ShowMusic
Free Lunch with the Stench by Catherine Hoffmann
Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol
“A cross between performance art, stand-up, a gig and a call to arms.”
Desperate Optimists
Free Lunch With The StenchWench is a rallying cry for times of brutal cuts and disparity, a solo account of shame and poverty from a personal perspective. Charting the drive for survival and fitting in, the StenchWench shares stories of growing up as one of the ‘feral underclass’ whilst precariously existing in Austerity Britain today. Cheap clothes, thrifty bread, cold baths, and debauched disadvantaged dancing are unleashed as she natters and sings about how to get by.
In a climate of Thatcher’s Britain and unemployment she chronicles her itinerant childhood in the 70’s and 80’s. Now, fully fledged she strives to overcome the humiliation of ‘lack’ and celebrates our spirit of community and hope at a time of even more disparity between the privileged and the hard-up.
Expect a one-woman flea circus doled up with live songs, faded glory, austerity pants, mouldy scones and hot chocolate.
“Catherine Hoffmann’s StenchWench is a labour of love and hits a home run for the proletariat! If you like your shows raw, real and dipping with beauty, go see this one. It will not disappoint.”
Stacy Makishi
“At once funny, touching and full of sadness…”
Gill Lloyd, Co-Director Artsadmin