Collaborator – A Work in Progress

Daniel Kitson is emphatic about his distaste for audience participation. He finds the concept loathsome, unimaginative, confronting, and an insult to audiences. In the same breath, however, he describes his very popular, very elastic performance piece, Collaborator – A Work in Progress, as a work with 200 or so parts; it has the redolence of audience participation wafting off it. 

Kitson is a British comedian, writer, and performer who, despite his protestations,  loves to engage with and invite input from his audience. His career in comedy began when he was just 16 years old and by the time Kitson was in his early twenties, he had garnered a steady fanbase and was appearing regularly on the fringe and comedy festival circuits. 

Kitson’s humour is raw and candid and feels unpolished, though he clearly knows exactly how to get a crowd eating out of his hand. Abrasively self-deprecating, Kitson often makes himself the butt of the joke, but it’s always good-natured, not self-pitying. He involves audience members in a non-threatening, non-confronting way, creating a relaxed atmosphere that builds congeniality.

In the past 20 or so years, Kitson has toured shows in the UK, the US, and Australia. His routines are a hybrid of stand-up comedy and story-telling vaguely riffing on a theme, but not always focused. Past shows have had quirky titles like:  

It’s Always Right Now, Until it’s Later;  It’s the Fireworks Talking;  A Variety of Things in a Room; A Short Series of Disagreements Presented Here in Chronological Order.

For Carriageworks, Kitson will present his newest show, Collaborator – A Work in Progress. “Work in Progress” is a type of genre on the comedy circuit, similar to open mic, in which comedians test out material and refine their shows. Kitson has already given Collaborator a few trial runs and audience responses have been extremely enthusiastic.

This show represents an expansion of Carriageworks offerings into the theatre space, and is bound to be a highlight of Carriageworks’ program. 

May 30 – June 8

Bay 20, Carriageworks, 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh 

carriageworks.com.au