Direct from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, after traveling across three continents, Gideon Irving makes his American stage debut with his new solo show, My Name Is Gideon: I’m Probably Going To Die, Eventually, which opens Thursday, October 6th at Walkerspace (46 Walker Street). Irving is an unconventional theatrical couchsurfing troubadour who has been biking, rollerblading and driving from one town to the next for the past five years, performing and residing in the homes of perfect strangers. After 500 home shows, Gideon is now inviting audiences into his own living room on the NY stage, bringing them “Stove Top Folk” – his unique blend of songs, stories, and underwater levitation. Jam-packed with curiosities and surprises, My Name Is Gideon: I’m Probably Going To Die, Eventually, begins previews on Sunday, September 29th for a limited engagement through October 30th. The show is produced by All For One in association with Richard Jordan Productions and The Pleasance. Tickets are $35 general admission, $25 for seniors/students, $100-$500 for millionaires, and a limited number of pay as you can. Tickets can be purchased by visiting https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/963075 or calling (866) 811- 4111.
My Name Is Gideon: I’m Probably Going To Die, Eventually has been developed over the course of 500 performances in living rooms around the world. The resulting theatrical excursion in storytelling is rooted in song and surprise, featuring more than 15 instruments – among them, the banjo, bouzouki, waterphone, shruti box, mbira, whirly tube and scacciapensieri. Gideon’s expedition continues as he looks for a new place to stay each night, relying on this audiences’ hospitality.
In 2015, Gideon Irving and his two man show partner, Hubcap Sloan, were nominated for the Total Theater Award for Playing With the Form after a five-star run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The heart of what I do has emerged from playing in people’s homes, Irving says. The show, the music, the communion, the travel, and the relationships are all interwoven. The challenge and the joy of bringing my show into a theater is in discovering how to maintain and play with that intimacy I’ve found around the hearth.
Since 2012, Gideon Irving has been playing shows, amalgams of music, stories and other theatrical curiosities in people’s homes — over 500 at this point — across England, Scotland, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S. Using a menagerie of instruments, he describes his style as Stove Top Folk, “a bit of this and some of that.” He has toured home to home by bicycle towing a trailer, on roller blades pushing a modified shopping cart and driving automobiles. Building his tours through connections made by audience referrals on good old fashioned maps after each performance and staying with his hosts along the way, Gideon is building a global and committed network of hosts and audiences. Last year he was commissioned by The Foundry Theater to create a new home show presented in 45 NYC apartments. Gideon has been covered by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Vice, Time Out NY, The Village Voice, Culturebot, Howlround, BBC, Broadway Baby, The Mumble, The Herald (Scotland), TV Bomb and several New Zealand publications and TV shows. He is developing another solo show for an eighteen month tour across the US on horseback.
Now in its fifth year, All For One Theater (AFO) has presented over 50 acclaimed full-length solo plays. AFO is rooted in the belief that extraordinary solo theater is unique in its ability to deliver life-changing stories, speaking with passion and intimacy that compels us to lean in, learn, relate and revel, while offering a range of topics and experiences as diverse as humankind itself. In 2016, AFO launched its touring initiative to bring solo shows to stages across America and around the world. It also created the AFO Solo Collective (AFO|SoCo) to nurture and develop some of the brightest writing, performing, and directing talent in the solo world.
The playing schedule for My Name Is Gideon: I’m Probably Going To Die, Eventually is as follows: Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30PM, with matinees on Saturdays at 2PM and Sundays at 3PM. Visit www.afo.nyc for more info.