Edinburgh performers announced for MANWATCHING by an anonymous woman

Comedians Edward Aczel, Eshaan Akbar, Dan Antopolski, Mitch Benn, Markus Birdman, Jason Byrne, Keith Farnan, Stuart Goldsmith, Darren Hariott, Pete Johansson, Tony Law, Andrew Maxwell, Simon Munnery, Andrew O’Neill and Mark Watson will be performing MANWATCHING at Paines Plough Roundabout @ Summerhall at Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August. To book tickets click here.

MANWATCHING is a funny and frank insight into heterosexual female desire, read out loud by a man. The show begins with a male comedian being given a script they have never seen before. They read the script out loud, sight unseen, in front of an audience. This is a show about what one woman thinks about when she thinks about sex with men. Written by an anonymous woman and performed by an unprepared man, MANWATCHING is directed by Royal Court Associate Director Lucy Morrison with Lighting Design by Jamie Spirito.

Commenting on the project the anonymous female writer states;

“I have been thinking about what it means to be objectified, and whether or not that is really tied to desire or power. Although men are objectified by other men, I was at a loss to think of many examples of men being objectified by women, and the examples I could think of were quite complicated – frequently involving the man’s profession rather than appearance (in Sex and the City, for example, men are usually referred to in shorthand by whatever job it is they do rather than how they look or act), or their dominance was the source of objectification. Even though many women desire men, the most basic elements of that desire seemed oddly unexplored.

So I thought, who better to give the words of a woman desiring men to, than the voice of a man, as it’s so much more comfortable and familiar for us to hear about desire through the male perspective?”

Friday 4 August: Tony Law

Saturday 5 August: Andrew Maxwell

Sunday 6 August: Keith Farnan

Monday 7 August : Edward Aczel

Wednesday 9 August: Mitch Benn

Thursday 10 August: Pete Johansson

Friday 11 August: Stuart Goldsmith

Saturday 12 August: Jason Byrne

Sunday 20 August: Mark Watson

Monday 21 August: Darren Harriot

Wednesday 23 August: Dan Antopolski

Thursday 24 August: Markus Birdman

Friday 25 August: Eshaan Akbar

Saturday 26 August: Simon Munnery

Sunday 27 August: Andrew O’Neill

MANWATCHING ran from 10 – 20 May 2017 in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs before going on tour to The MAC, Belfast selling out at both venues. Previous comedians include Will Adamsdale, Rob Beckett, Danny Brown, Adam Buxton, Nick Frost, Phill Jupitus, Miles Jupp, Funmbi Omotayo, John-Luke Roberts, Sunil Patel, Romesh Ranganathan, Arthur Smith, Mark Thomas, Thom Tuck, Phil Wang and Liam Williams. Tommy Tiernan also performed it at The MAC, Belfast.

It will be performed at Latitude Festival on 14 July by Seann Walsh before the run at Paines Plough Roundabout @ Summerhall, Edinburgh 4 – 27 August 2017.

MANWATCHING was first presented as a work-in-progress by the Royal Court and Paines Plough as part of the EARLIER/LATER performances at Roundabout @ Summerhall at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2015. The Edinburgh run is in association with Farnham Maltings.

For the full press release click here.