Comedian Gee to bring his latest show to arts centre

‘A MIND-ROASTING bipolar joy-ride’ is set to be the next piece of live theatre at Leek’s Foxlowe Arts Centre.

Rob Gee is coming back to Leek with another theatre show. This follows his first visit to the town when he brought his ‘Forget Me Not’ theatre show to the Foxlowe last August.

The new show, ‘Kevin, King of Egypt’ is set to be presented on Thursday, 21 May at 7.30pm.

In this new show, escaped mental health patient Kevin Haggerty is not pleased about his diagnosis, even less pleased about being on a section of the Mental Health Act and distinctly upset about being told he is not the reincarnation of the pharaoh Ramses 2nd. On his way to Egypt, via the Tesco Express, he stumbles across the nemesis to all his plans: Millie – a six-year-old girl mislaid by her father. Together they embark on a journey that will change their lives forever.

Rob Gee, the writer, is a mental health nurse whose 12-year career has included working in both the UK and Australia. He now combines a part-time role in mental health nursing with working as a comedian and performance poet, where he uses entertainment to talk about mental health. Much of his clinical role now involves working with service users on creative projects, and he leads improvisation and creative writing projects in a range of clinical settings.

‘Forget Me Not’ was a kind of Agatha Christie investigation set in a care home where the detective – who himself was developing Alzheimer’s – kept confronting witnesses who, shall we say, mis-remembered key facts. It was very funny but didn’t in any way make fun of people’s suffering.

Michael Quine, from the Foxlowe, says: “Rob’s first visit was such a success that I’m so pleased we are able welcome him back. He gets such great reviews for his humour and wit, for his understanding of mental health issues, for his compassion. For instance, the Hereford Times reviewer described this show as stunningly funny and compassionate and the Victoria Times, in Canada, wrote: “A mind-roasting bipolar joy-ride… Gee is a super-energetic, uberlikeable, highly gifted writer/ performer… a moving, funny, deeply human show not to be missed.” With reviews like that, we just couldn’t pass it by.

‘Kevin, King of Egypt’ is the last of the present season of Foxlowe Theatre presented with the support of the Live & Local network supported by SMDC.