Jigsy

Synopsis

Lurching unsteadily offstage at a Liverpool working men s club - sweat, smoke and failure clinging to his faded 70s dinner suit - Jigsy is a journeyman variety comedian, struggling for survival in a changing world. The bright lights of television fame that boosted the careers of many of his contemporaries are flickering on a distant horizon. Talking directly to the audience, Jigsy revisits his childhood on the tough streets of Scotland road, years of grafting on the docks and on the dole, his showbiz break-through, and the struggle to beat the booze and make it to the top. Jigsy is a one-man play that gives an insight into the earthy heartland of Northern comedy and connects with the social history of Liverpool, the spirit of Scouse and the big questions. Life is hard, and then you die: "Still you have to laugh, don t you?"

Our Review:

Gill Kirk - 20 September 2011

The Tobacco Factory has struck gold. Very, very finite gold, because as things stand, this very funny, very warm and very thoughtful show has only one more night booked anywhere, ever (Wed 21 Sep, Tobacco Factory).

Les Dennis plays Jigsy, a comic veteran of the Liverpool working men's clubs in 1997, their dying days. He plays a man full of wry reflection, great jokes and an honest eye for the soul.

Whether talking about comic greats, Liverpudlians’ good humour or harder and sadder times, Jigsy has you with him every step of the way. Writer Tony Steveacre, director Hannah Chissick and Les Dennis have created such a magnetic character that you can't look away for a second. The wit is winning, the timing immaculate, Harriet de Winton's set is design so effective I can still smell the fug and stick to the floor.

To see an audience so lit up by a show and a creative team so modestly chuffed by their well-deserved standing ovation is a delight.

I’ve ...

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Latest User Review

Ron Ellis - 24 October 2012:

Jackie Hamilton, arguably the greatest comic to come out of Liverpool and on whom the character of Jigsy is based, could not have done better himself. A tour de force by Les Dennis and a great show- both achingly funny and movi8ng in turn. A classic....

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