Thank you for an amazing 2024 Fringe season! Stay tuned for 2025 Fringe Festival dates.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR AN OSCAR?
Actor/Filmmaker Nick Cohen relives his desperate Hollywood years - a tragicomic true-life ‘Sunset Boulevard.’
Nick flees South London, England and his dysfunctional family to live as a permanent guest on Sunset with a double Oscar-winner; a man who worked regularly with Orson Welles, promising to get Nick’s film nominated if he follows Exact Instructions.
Life with Oscar upends La La Land in a confessional rollercoaster ride through its dark, twisted underbelly; aptly premiered, at Underbelly, Edinburgh fringe before transferring Off-West End to the Arcola Theatre in London.
A frenetically physical retelling, featuring 29 different characters, from the man who modelled the Oscar trophy itself to the
psychopathic producer’s daughter destined to be Nick’s ‘mystic bride,’ we journey from South London to Hollywood and back
again. Accompanied by fragments of films past and present, scored with layered compositions by Jon Ouin and the bold cinematic direction of Nicholas Pitt and Cressida Brown, this show is a hilarious and moving confession.
A Faustian tale of pre #MeToo Hollywood, where predators and victims are sometimes hard to distinguish, or one and the
same. A deepening spiral of desperation, delusion and debt littered with metaphorical, and occasionally, real, corpses.
Life with Oscar is an on-stage exorcism of a man haunted by Hollywood, but it is also an examination of questions of ambition, shame, failure and sacrifice that haunt us all...
‘Nick Cohen is a theatrical and comedic genius... . A one-man army...'
This is a must see.’ Broadway Baby *****
This autobiographical show will keep you laughing for 60 minutes
straight... it is physical theatre in its pure form; energetic, intimate and
powerful.’ The Broad Online *****
‘A very powerful and engaging piece of theatre... one that I would
highly recommend.’ One4Review ***
4522 Baltimore Ave
General Admission: $20
4522 Baltimore Ave
General Admission: $20
Nick Cohen is a London-born writer/performer of mixed US/Romanian/Middle-Eastern descent with an interest in true stories, especially those that deal with migration/diaspora, identity and healing trauma.
He trained with Theatre de Complicite and began in London at the Gate Theatre and was a Staff Director at the Royal National Theatre with Trevor Nunn and an Assistant Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company whilst also collaborating with the Refugee Council. As Artistic Director of Strange Fish Theatre, he directed The Power and The Glory (Etcetera Theatre), Good Bones (Southwark Playhouse) and The Taming of The Shrew (Bloomsbury Theatre/ Tour) and produced Blood Knot (Gate Theatre - Time Out Critic’s Choice.)
Later, he trained on the BBC Drama Director Academy, directing feature films including 'London Unplugged', episodes of 'Eastenders', 'Doctors', and documentaries. He is currently adapting ‘The Man Who Snapped His Fingers, ’ a political thriller based on events in Iran from the novel by Iranian activist and author Fariba Hachtroudi.
'Life with Oscar' debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe last year and transferred Off-West End to the Arcola Theatre. This is the shows international premiere.
Contact the Fringe Festival Box Office for up to date accessibility information.
Adult Language
Audience Interaction
Fog/Smoke Effects
References to: Drug use, Suicide, Sexual Violence.
This event does not require proof of vaccination to attend or masks to be worn