The Grand Gesture

Description

The world was cruel to Simeon Duff Mad and mired in the deepest slough Nobody seemed to give a stuff 'bout Simeon, Simeon Duff Simeon Duff is working class, unemployed and desperate. His wife works. He's lost all self-esteem. He's on the scrap heap and wants to end it all . . . and so begins this brilliantly insane comedy about a man on the edge. When word gets out that Duff is going to top himself, a host of ne'er-do-wells crawl out of the woodwork, each wanting to claim his grand gesture for their 'noble cause'. Let's face it, why waste a death? But which cause shall it be . . . love, politics, religion, or the rising price of fish? Will the disillusioned Duff go through with it? Will he really top himself for a dubious cause? Is he worth it? An adaptation of Nikolai Erdman's The Suicide (1928), The Grand Gesture is a witty satire of lobbyists seeking political control.

Deborah McAndrew's first break as a writer came in 2004 when Northern Broadsides produced her adaptation of The Bells by Leopold Lewis. Deborah's adaptation of Oliver Twist (directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo) played at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton as their 2009/10 Christmas show. Her play, Flamingoland, is published by Nick Hern Books and her adaptation of Gogol's A Government Inspector is published by Methuen Drama.

[A] priceless piece of physical comedy . . . * Guardian * A quick thumbs-up for the latest touring show from Northern Broadsides - a nifty Northern reworking, complete with brass-band accompaniment, of Gogol's A Government Inspector by Deborah McAndrew. Toffee-nosed civil servant . . . plunges into the realm of corrupt local officialdom, to increasingly tangled - if ever more laboured - effect. "He spends the whole time in the pub and pays for everything on expenses - he must be from the Government," runs one typically whip-sharp line. A hoot. * Daily Telegraph on 'A Government Inspector' * Nikolai Gogol's biting satire on the corruption in Tsarist Russian public life makes an effortless translation to a small modern day Pennine hill town ... this campy, brassy update is very funny and very relevant . . . a touch of Yorkshire Noir * Independent on 'A Government Inspector' * . . . lively and immensely likeable. * The Times * . . . sharp, sparky and slangy adaptation . . . the laughter has not been lost in translation . . . situations satisfyingly seesaw between gleeful absurdity and gut-wrenching gravity. * Observer *