The whole of Creation in just 70 minutes in Chichester
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Lost Dog’s award-winning one-man take on John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost runs 70 minutes with no interval, combining theatre, comedy and movement, written by Ben Duke and co-directed by Ben Duke and Lucy Morrison (Minerva Theatre, Chichester, Thursday and Friday, February 6-7).
Sharif explains: “Ben Duke who originally made the show decided he wanted to remount it and he personally found that he wanted the show to have a life outside of him. They held auditions and I thought about it and it was obviously bonkers to have a one-man retelling of Paradise Lost with contemporary dance but the auditions happened and I got the gig. I was presented with it as a script. For Ben it was a devised piece of work that he cultivated and which became a text but when I read the text I was so moved by it. It is witty and silly and playful but it is also really profound. There were lots of things about life and about being a parent. I read the script and I thought that it was beautiful and petrifying, and if I see something that is a little bit scary then I just think that I've got to do it! And I just thought that I had to give it a chance. Also I come originally from a dance background. I went full time to dance school from at the age of 12. I have worked predominantly in musical theatre since and have moved across into more straight acting. But when I saw this, I realised it was a great chance to get the two ends of the spectrum of where I work to meet, and really that's what got me into it.
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Hide Ad“It is the story of Paradise Lost, the retelling of the Creation and Ben has given it a lot of life and humanity, and you have got these great characters, Lucifer and God and Adam and Eve. Milton had told all that through his lens and attempted to grapple with it and this is now being picked up as a show about Creation, its sheer impossibility and the humanity of it all. The show itself is playful with the story. It's not attempting to accurately tell the story. It takes its essence and the idea is that it creates it.
“And it is all very sparse. I walk on the stage which is just a piece of flooring and I bring a chair with me and that's how we start the show. Very little else thrown in. It's very spare but there is a bit of comedy and bits of dance and multi-roling. It runs for about 70 minutes and I just love it. You just have to learn it but there are things that you can hold onto as we move through the show, like little pillars that I jump between, and also a big part is the movement and those sections of dance help you to navigate through it as well.”
It's a big learn: “But you become so aware of your brain's capacity. Before I started this, in my head I thought that it would be near impossible for me to achieve without wavering or wobbling but once you've got it in your mind and in your body then so much else just opens up. You're in a constant dialogue with the audience. You're constantly absorbing information from them and monitoring their reactions and looking at their faces and when you're touring you are always getting a new environment and a new venue to work in. It is fascinating.”
Sharif Afifi’s theatre credits include The Band’s Visit (Donmar Warehouse) which earned him the 2023 Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical; My Fair Lady (as Freddie Eynsford-Hill, London Coliseum 2022); We Live In Cairo (USA stage debut with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass 2019) and Hadestown (National Theatre 2018).
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