Daniel Kitson: Where Once Was Wonder WIP

I am reticent to encourage reviewers to cover work-in-progress shows.  It defeats the purpose of being able to work out and develop material if you are subject to "media" scrutiny before your work is done.  In theater, generally media outlets do not review workshops of shows.  That said a friend of mine has articulately discussed in the New York Times how far some theaters have gone to stamp out preview discussions of works, overreaching to control the conversation.

Since the googling public seems to be desperate for reviews of this show or any Daniel Kitson news (I am still trying to figure out what the person searching for "mildly bitter depressing blog theater and daniel kitson pain" was trying to tell me) I feel a little obliged to point out the review and at least share some basic facts reported about the new show and the shiny, new Daniel Kitson.

The Bristol Times reviewed the Where Once Was Wonder work-in-progress show this week.  They report that the structure of the show will be "three stories about 'the impossible.'"  If the material remains as it was in that WIP show it will cover themes such as "the feeling of inevitability, contradictory opinions about love, defiance and the meaningfulness and meaninglessness of existence."  They also mentioned Mr. Kitson's new look (again you googlers and your searches for "Daniel Kitson shaved head" and "Daniel Kitson shaved beard" and "Daniel Kitson shaved" have not gone unnoticed).

Apparently the reason for the hairy to glabrous switch is based on "[Kitson's] concern that his previous look (beard, thick-rimmed glasses and cardigans) had been appropriated by hipsters and become “a look” [which] lead him to shave both his beard and his head so as not to be identified with them."  A noble pursuit if there ever was one and another reason he earns the title King of Contraryland.
 

Come back to New York Mr. Kitson <sobs>. Bring your "Wonder".

I'm glad the story about the run-in with the St. Mark's Bookshop clerk is still in the show and other than that I am just really mad at my parents for birthing and raising me in the wrong country so that I am missing out on all these great previews in the UK.  Having seen some not great comedy lately I really do appreciate how skilled and impressive Kitson is even as he is working through new material.  And if I don't get tickets to the finished show in Edinburgh, watch out internet.

Seriously, watch out.  I'm Italian and I will commune with my dead Great-Aunt* for a good old-fashioned curse if need be.  Sadly I don't think she has the power to conjure up a ticket.  Fingers-crossed it will all work out.  I'm legitimately worried and it's only March.  The speed at which the preview tickets have sold out is astonishing though nothing new with Mr. Kitson.  My concerns are not entirely irrational with this ticket sales history.  If you find yourself with an extra ticket in Edinburgh, you know who to email or tweet at.  I'm not sure what I could give you in exchange.  Daniel gets my imaginary firstborn...but I assume cash would work just fine.

UPDATE:  Reviews of finished show are available here.

*My Aunt Sid was one of my favorite relatives.  She used to hide cookies from herself all around her house.  She was tall and elegant and always wore black, for as long as I knew her, she was mourning the death of her husband (and if you know me and my, erm, petite stature you'll understand she was an aunt by marriage and not blood).  She'd talk to her dead husband, mostly to tell him to shut up while she was talking.  She talked to the dead a lot and she could cure a migraine over the phone with some olive oil and some chanting.  A lovely lady.