7 Day Drunk

Perhaps Bryony Kimmings’ single most beguiling quality is her fearless, ruthless honesty; about herself, and about the rest of us too.

Having covered sex in her 2010 sell-out triumph Sex Idiot, she has now turned to drink and, no skylark she, has chosen to explore it by getting drunk for seven days in a row. The purpose of this experiment, she tells us, has been to explore whether alcohol really is linked to creativity.

To be frank, I’m not sure she’s taken us any further forward in answering that question. The nearest we seem to get is the filmed expert who informs us solemnly that alcohol releases inhibitions and that this may, in turn, release creativity that would otherwise be, er, inhibited.

But where this show scores bulls-eye after bulls-eye is in its chaotic inventiveness, its lunatic tangents, its brilliant, brilliant showmanship. For yes, Bryony Kimmings is, above all, an astonishing showman. 7 Day Drunk is not theatre. It’s a constantly inventive, living, breathing, barking, tail-wagging multi-media art installation. It’s enthralling, entrancing, life-enhancing. Go.

– Craig Singer