A recipient of New Diorama Theatre and Underbelly’s hit-making Untapped Award, supported by Methuen Drama, ‘Good Grief’ is a cathartic reckoning with death and grief through a kinetic maelstrom of outrageous clowning, powerful and poignant personal testimony and a thumping techno soundtrack.
Ugly Bucket created the first version of ‘Good Grief’ as a tribute to their late friend Tim who had one final wish: to create a show about death… so they did.
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‘Good Grief’ is a healing process, celebration and funeral all rolled into one. A highly creative and symbolic piece, it explores the many images and allegories through which we perceive and process death and brings them to life in vibrant, often outrageous fashion.
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An original score by Duncan Gallagher complements the high-energy movement with angular and sharp techno-beats and live theremin. Voice recordings of Tim and testimonies by drama therapy patients, hospice residents and volunteers with experience of grief interpolated into the soundscape.
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The floating, purgatorial set transports us instantly from the inside of the womb to a hospital waiting room.
Good Grief has been adapted into a graphic novel to be published by Methuen Drama, with illustration by Kidda Kinsey.
‘Good Grief’ is on at Underbelly Iron Belly on 4-28 August 2022 (Except 15 August) at 15.40.
Tickets from Underbelly (underbellyedinburgh.co.uk)