I Am Not Myself These Days is a fast-paced one-man show that is by turns brutal, funny and heartbreaking, a gripping tale of love and self-discovery set amidst the hedonistic excesses of 1990’s New York. It is adapted for the stage from Josh Kilmer-Purcell’s New York Times Bestseller, a darkly humorous autobiographical story of a young New Yorker’s unconventional journey to self-acceptance while living a daring dual life – advertising art director by day, glitter-dripping drag queen by night.

At last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Tom Stuart’s adaptation of this best-selling memoir soon become the highlight of the Festival and you can catch this jaw-dropping show at The MAC for only two nights on 25th and 26th February, performances which will conclude the play’s two-week run in London.

A trained Shakespearean actor, Tom Stuart was given a copy of the book by his friend, the actor Kathy Burke and after immediately connecting with Josh and his story decided to take his fate in his own hands.

 ‘Over a summer where I had no acting work, I was fed up of waiting for the phone to ring and so set about adapting the book in to a play. I’d never written anything before and I had no idea if it was any good, I just knew I had to do it. As I went deeper and deeper into the process I began to feel incredibly understood and even validated by the book. As well as the horrendous experience of breaking up with someone, I also related to Josh’s journey of self-discovery. Both these themes are very common to us all, and there’s something about Josh’s writing that speaks very cleanly and directly to the reader, he has a visceral honesty which I admire. It’s hard growing up gay. Even if you have very liberal parents like mine, it’s very hard to find your place in the world.’

I Am Not Myself These Days is a fast-paced and moving tale of love and self-discovery, in the flashy, trashy New York of the 1990s, adapted from Josh Kilmer-Purcell’s bestselling autobiography. Written and performed by Tom Stuart, directed by Nick Bagnall and produced by Fuel you can catch it at Belfast’s MAC theatre from 25th – 26th February, for more information or to book tickets click here.

I Am Not Myself These days

 

Laura Caldwell

Author: Laura Caldwell

Hi, I'm Laura. I'm 30 years old and have a degree in Journalism with Photo-Imaging at the University of Ulster. I have an undying love for Belfast and all that it has to offer, an undying love for sleeping, Tegan and Sara, trashy tv shows, foreign snack-foods and being irresponsible with money. I also quite like origami, reading, jazz, hip-hop, dubstep, anything acoustic and Food Network TV. I've written for The Big List, Culture NI, Chatterbox and The Echo, as well as writing for BBC Across the Line.