Bryony Kimmings
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Bryony Kimmings (born 30 March 1981) is a British live artist based in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and
Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
. She is an associate artist of the
Soho Theatre Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...
, and, in 2016, was commissioned to write ''The Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer'' for Complicite Associates. She creates multi-platform art works to provoke change. Her work centres mostly around "social experiments", which in the past have included the artist retracing an
STI STI may refer to: In science and technology Biology and psychology * Sexually transmitted infection * Signal transduction inhibitor, a drug type * Soft tissue injury * Symptom targeted intervention Symptom targeted intervention (STI) is a cli ...
to its source, spending seven days in a controlled environment in a constant state of intoxication and becoming a pop star invented by a nine-year-old.


Early career

Kimmings graduated with a degree in Modern Drama from
Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...
in 2003. In a 2011 interview she said of her time at Brunel: "It was Live Art and the history of performance artists that excited me the most", and so immediately afterwards she established the company 'Glass Eyed' with friends. 'Glass Eyed' created work for two years before being dissolved. In 2006 she began ''Celebrityville'' a soap cabaret following the lives of forgotten celebrities living in a fictional town. A new episode was created every month between 2006 and 2008. Describing working on ''Celebrityville'' Kimmings said "this gave me a baptism of fire really, making such a large volume of work, learning about how to run a night, what to do if things broke half way through, making costumes, doing marketing - everything." When ''Celebrityville'' ended, Kimmings began to explore a solo live art career with autobiographical themes.


Shows


Select performance work

* ''I'm a Phoenix, Bitch'' (2018). Premiered at the
Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in Theater, theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a ...
. This piece can be viewed as a subversive feminist musical piece, with elements of a pop-video, horror film, art installation and therapy session. *''Fake it ‘til you Make it'' (2015). Premiered at the
Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded as The Traverse Theatre Club in 1962 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes, Richard Demarco, Terry Lane, Andrew Muir, John Martin and Sheila Colvin. The Traverse Th ...
, Edinburgh. This piece centres around the story of Bryony's then fiancé, Tim Grayburn, and his battle with his chronic depression. The performance is also highlighting the taboo of mental health and what is not spoken about within society. * ''That Catherine Bennett Show'' (2014). Premiered at the
Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...
, London. * ''Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model'' (2013). Premiered at the Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh. This show explores Kimmings personal relationship with sex and alcohol. *''Heartache.Heartbreak.'' (2012). *''Kablooey!'' (2012). Premiered at
Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in Theater, theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a ...
, London. This performance is a ten-minute piece that was made for people at a time, both adults and children. *''Mummy Time'' (2011). Premiered at The Junction, Cambridge. This is a ten-minute piece that has been described as a high octane, funny and ultimately moving 1-to-1 experience for festivals. *''7 Day Drunk'' (2011). This performance has a two part song and dance routine which is about Kimmings and her rocky relationship with alcohol while investigating the historical links between artists and mind enhancing drugs. * ''Sex Idiot'' (2010) Awards: Best Emerging Artist, Total Theatre Award 2010, The West Australian Arts Editor Award 2015, Best Comedy, Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award 2015, Best Comedy Award, The Advertiser Adelaide 2015. *A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer (2016). This is a musical performed as a whistle-stop tour through five unconventional stories about cancer.


As playwright

*''A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer'' (2016). Book by Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel. Lyrics by Kimmings. Co-Produced by Approach Complicite Associates and National Theatre. *The Boys Project (2017). A performance created by Kimmings which engaged young men from council estates all over the UK, including Leeds, Cardiff, Peterborough, Birmingham, Manchester and London. It was a long term art and activism project which exploded media stereotypes and the political marginalisation of the young.


As screenwriter

*''
Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with " Everything She Wants" in several Eur ...
'' (2019). Co-screenwriter with
Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. Emma Thompson on screen and stage, Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Emma Thompson, her accola ...
. A romantic comedy film directed by
Paul Feig Paul Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is best known for directing films such as '' Bridesmaids'' (2011), '' The Heat'' (2013), '' Spy'' (2015), ''Ghostbusters'' (2016), '' A Si ...
, inspired by the
Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...
song "
Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with " Everything She Wants" in several Eur ...
".


Approach

Known primarily for creating autobiographical work, Kimmings achieved notoriety with her 2010 piece ''Sex Idiot''. In it, she revealed her sexual and her romantic history after discovering she had contracted an STI and told of the quest to find out which of her former partners had given it on to her. She toured this show until 2015. In her 2011 piece ''7 Day Drunk'' Kimmings collaborated with a team of scientists to analyse the impact of alcohol on her creativity. In an interview in March 2011, speaking of the drivers behind her work Kimmings said: "I guess in a way it is an artist's duty to say and explore the things that are untouchable, or hard to talk about." In a 2012 interview for Pulse Fringe Festival, Kimmings introduces herself as "an artist who makes autobiographical work" she continues to say her work "always follows a kind of autobiographical experiment that I go on." Her profile on the British Council of Drama and Dance website says: "Bryony works autobiographically and begins the development of her work with a social experiment. She is inspired by the taboos and anomalies of British culture and her work promotes the airing of her own dirty laundry to oil conversations on seemingly difficult subjects."


Personal life

Kimmings was born in
Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...
and grew up in
St Ives, Cambridgeshire St Ives is a medieval market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Great Ouse, and there is St Ives Bridge, a historic stone bridge dating from 1 ...
, attending St Ivo School. She has an older sister, whose then 9-year-old daughter inspired her to develop her 2013 show ''Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model''. In November 2015, Kimmings gave birth to her son Frank. The boy's father was her fiancé at the time, Tim Grayburn. Frank was diagnosed with
West Syndrome Infantile epileptic spasms syndrome (IESS) previously known as West syndrome needs the inclusion of epileptic spasms for diagnosis. Epileptic spasms (also known as infantile spasms) may also occur outside of a syndrome (that is, in the absence of ...
, a form of
epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...
, soon after he was born. In her 2018 show ''I'm a Phoenix, Bitch'', Kimmings processed how she experienced post-natal depression, had a severely ill infant and went through a break-up all in one year.


Awards


''Sex Idiot''

* Total Theatre Award 2010 * Listed in Time Out magazine's Best of the Year (2010) – off-West End and Fringe Theatre category * West Australian Arts Editor Award 2015 * The Advertiser Best Comedy Award,
Adelaide Fringe Festival Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...
2015


''Fake it ‘til you Make it''

* Best Theatre Award, Fringe World Perth 2015 * Best Theatre Award, Adelaide Fringe Festival 2015 * Herald Angel Award, Edinburgh Fringe Festivatl 2015 * Short-listed for the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015


References


External links


Bryony Kimmings' website

Bryony Kimmings' blog

7 Day Drunk blog
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimmings, Bryony 1981 births Living people 21st-century English women artists Alumni of Brunel University London Artists from Cambridgeshire English performance artists People from Huntingdon People from St Ives, Cambridgeshire