Diary of a Somebody

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Kemp is all groin and grins in the hilarious first act before showing how the playwright’s ravenous eye becomes simply cruel – his flashes of misogyny and racism, his poisonous self-regard. This debut novel by and about Brian Bilston, the purveyor of supremely self-aware parody poems, is a welcome reminder of the joy to be had when you put yourself in the hands of someone who knows their way round both a joke and a bittersweet narrative. Set almost exclusively in the room shared by the two men, the design centred around the partners’ shared single bed. It’s January 1st and Brian Bilston is convinced that this year, his New Year’s resolution will change his life. But there are too many (“Do not go, lentil, into that good pie”, “Everybody Yurts”) that rely on predictable punning.

Diary of a Somebody - Seven Dials Playhouse Cast Announced for Diary of a Somebody - Seven Dials Playhouse

But there is an obstacle in the form of Toby Salt, his arch nemesis at Poetry Club and rival suitor to Liz, Brian’s new poetic inspiration. I absolutely loved this book and found myself chuckling for days at the penguin in the freezer, the man at number 29 and Toby Salt's poems. It seeks to provide opportunities for people to collaborate on bold, creative and high quality work while providing journeys of enlightenment and entertainment for artists and audiences alike.

In Diary of a Somebody, our hero Brian Bilston (how autobiographical this fictional alter ego is we may never know! When he’s picked up by a publisher, the resulting book is the biggest thing to emerge from British poetry for years. It made me long for some 1950s Hungarian didacticism, or anything, really, to escape the quirky drabness. I’d get it down on paper if I were you” said Joe Orton once, the young playwright followed his own advice, and for a period of his short life kept a diary. Will take four women and their fifteen children away from a man who is raping them and into a new life with a moneymaking business for Mum and happiness for the kids.

Diary of a Somebody, by Brian Bilston - The Scotsman Book review: Diary of a Somebody, by Brian Bilston - The Scotsman

For those of us who are gutted at the indefinite hold on season three of Mindhunter, this one might be for you. He was a little slash lot self-absorbed (to the point of forgetting his young son's birthday - who would do that), never had a drivers license, rightfully got made redundant from a job where he did nothing and the only thing he seemed to strive for was to appear smarter than he actually was. Data provided courtesy of the Edinburgh Festivals Listings API, Brighton Fringe, Encore, Eventotron, OutSavvy and user submissions. We also have a rich tradition of spoof diarists, who seem realer than real to many readers: Charles Pooter, Bridget Jones, Adrian Mole. His diary entries introduce us to his laughably woeful world, but in contrast his poems take mundane subjects and reflect them beautifully.

It also does little to fully explore the relationship between Orton and his long-term partner, Kenneth Halliwell. It's all well-trodden ground these days, but it still hurts knowing what fate awaits Joe, so full of life, and Ken, so trapped in his own neurosis, unable to arrest its descent into psychosis.

Diary of a Somebody at The Seven Dials Playhouse – Review Diary of a Somebody at The Seven Dials Playhouse – Review

Photograph: Public domain The ‘real’ Brian Bilston – a published poet with a large social media following. Even when Liz quite obviously asks Brian something where her meaning is quite obvious, for instance, if he would like a nightcap, she gets a monologue with the reasons why he is unable to, or even told that he is watching reruns of A Touch of Frost on the TV that night!New for 2024 Award-winning theatre company New Old Friends in association with Yvonne Arnaud Theatre present HOUDINI'S GREATEST ESCAPE which will open at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford on 08 February and Tour the UK throughout Spring.