Laura Grillo Productions have announced the full cast for the upcoming production of new absurdist, black comedy, What Would Jarvis Do? which runs from 6th-16th October at Omnibus theatre.
About fandom, grief, and the stories we attach to treasured objects, What Would Jarvis Do? is a playful exploration of what happens when the people and things we hold onto disappear – and how we might find a way forward.
Didi (Annabel Smith – The Shitheads Royal Court, The Upstart Crow Gielgud & Apollo) and GG (Izzy Butt) are best friends and super-fans of Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. When a pair of yellow trousers, supposedly worn by the man himself, come up for auction through their wildly unconventional therapist, Ms Lacy (Erika Pool – Beauty and The Beast; Shoot Me In The Heart Told By An Idiot, What It Feels Like For A Girl BBC Three), they empty their pockets to buy them. Only there’s one problem. They might not be Jarvis’s trousers at all…
Their subsequent search for the real trousers spirals into an increasingly surreal odyssey where they meet eccentric strangers Mister (Henry Miller – Othello Basingstoke Theatre, Line Of Duty BBC) and Christopher (Gigi Zahir – Frankie Goes To Bollywood Rifco UK Tour/Southbank Centre, Cinderella Stratford East), navigate impossible coincidences, and confront the unsettling feeling that they’ve been here before.
Inspired by writer Laura Grillo’s own experiences of sudden loss and grief during lockdown, the play is a tribute to hope, yearning, and the Britpop music that helped her find some light in the darkness.
With moments of repetition, restarting and looping in a world that both disintegrates and expands simultaneously, Didi and GG find themselves exploring their own wants and needs as they journey though the ever-shifting environments, meeting increasingly eccentric strangers and trying to maintain the one goal they have set out to achieve.
A loving, funny tribute to Britpop, What Would Jarvis Do? is for those who remember the era first time around – and for everyone who has since discovered the particular charm of Jarvis Cocker, Pulp and a moment when Britain seemed bright with possibility. Through music, memory and a pair of possibly genuine yellow trousers, it looks back at what we hold onto when the world changes around us.
For more information visit https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/whatson/what-would-jarvis-do%3F