GARRY STARR PERFORMS EVERYTHING
Southwark Playhouse
29th Nov to 23rd Dec 2023
“In 2018, following his scandalous dismissal from the Royal Shakespeare Company due to ‘artistic differences’, disgraced actor Garry Starr stepped onto the stage and defied his critics by performing every style of theatre imaginable, thus saving the performing arts from extinction.
Since that hallowed day, his creator, Damien Warren-Smith has gone on to star in multiple award-winning shows and Garry himself has become a firm favourite with comedy and theatre fans with numerous sell-out UK shows at Soho Theatre, the Edinburgh Fringe, and across the world.
But true Garry fans may argue that his greatest accomplishment was when he first broke free of the shackles of ‘conventional theatre’ and did indeed ‘Perform Everything’, tearing through genres with little regard for personal safety and even less regard for art. And so now, for the first time in five years, Garry is bringing his debut show back to the UK for a four-week run at Southwark Playhouse Borough.
Nothing is sacred during this ‘masterclass in mockery’ (London Evening Standard). From Classical to Physical Theatre, Burlesque to Butoh, Melodrama to Mask, even Cirque Nouveau and contemporary ‘Euro Theatre’ get the Garry Starr treatment in this hilarious physical comedy about over-ambition and underachievement, ‘Garry Starr Performs Everything’.”
Review by Richard Lambert, 5 Stars
This has got to be the funniest show this year! Garry Starr is absolutely hilarious!
From the opening number when you can’t but help notice his ballet tights are tight and he doesn’t feel the need for a dance belt, to his full nudity later on, there are sketch after sketch of really laugh out loud fun to be had.
Garry takes every genre of theatre performance and parodies them all. From physical theatre to modern ballet, it’s all there. Melodrama, Shakespeare, Circus – all done brilliantly with comic genius. In fact there is so much there I think it needs a 2nd visit to really not miss so much through laughing!
And then there’s audience participation. I cringe and I hate audience participation. But I didn’t here – I felt very comfortable that the audience and participants were all in on the joke and nobody was being made to look silly – the silliness was all aimed at the genre.
With spagetti munching towards another person, parodying Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, and the smallest thong you’ll ever see on a fully-grown man, which came off for one of the sketches anyway, Garry doesn’t take himself seriously and you get the impression he’d do anything for a laugh.
The lighting and sound cues all operated to give a tight show.
A finale of contemporary circus on the beam aparatus, made more difficult cos it was a cylindrical scaff pole, was genius. This is not a show you’ll forget!
Do treat yourself to a party night out with your friends!
Damien trained as an actor in Sydney, a clown in Paris and a mime in Berlin before collaborating with
renowned comedy director Cal McCrystal for his breakout solo show, ‘Garry Starr Performs Everything’,
which won awards at fringe festivals in Adelaide, Sydney, Brighton and Manchester and was nominated for
both Best Newcomer & The Golden Gibbo at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The show sold
out every single night for a month at the Edinburgh Fringe before transferring to London’s Soho Theatre.
Damien Warren-Smith A.K.A. Garry Elizabeth Starr is a writer, producer and performer of delightfully silly
comedy for stage and screen.
Growing up in regional Australia, Damien tried his hand at every sport imaginable before finally accepting
that he was destined to dress up and pretend to be other people. He flew the coop to London where he
worked as an actor with some of the UK’s biggest hitters including BBC, ITV, Tall Stories, Nottingham
Playhouse and Hull Truck Theatre. He spoke actual words on TV shows Law & Order: UK, The Persuasionists,
and Love My Way.
Before the pandemic, he teamed up with McCrystal again to create the role of Reverend Peabody as part of
the Atomic Saloon Show, which played to packed houses at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
When COVID came along and ruined everything, Damien returned to Melbourne and got a job as a delivery
driver, dropping off brand-spanking new bicycles to the people of Victoria. It turns out eight hours a day in
a van is a great time for creative thought. He emerged from lockdown with his new solo show Garry Starr:
Greece Lightning, which picked up the top prize at Adelaide Fringe, Best Comedy at Manchester Fringe, Best
Show at Gothenburg Fringe and was one of the best reviewed shows at Edinburgh Fringe 2022.
Damien now resides in Melbourne where he continues to write and perform and ride bicycles and read
books and hang out wherever there are dogs.
LISTINGS
GARRY STARR PERFORMS EVERYTHING
Southwark Playhouse Borough
77-85 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BD
DATES: 29 Nov – 23 Dec 2023
www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/garry-starr-performs-everything
Run Time: 60 minutes
Age Recommendation: 18+
Content Warnings: Content Warnings: Verbal Audience Interaction; Audience Participation Including Physical
Contact With Audience Members (Entirely Optional); Full Frontal Nudity (you will see a lot more of Garry than you might expect).