Joe Cuckold

Joe Cuckold @gulliversnq 17 July and 27-29 July 7.30pm

@theatreofcowards debuts with Sylvia Gardner’s absurd three-hander: a morbid, hilarious, and racy rundown of the highs and lows that come with opening your relationship to alluring homosexuals.

Theatre of Cowards features some of the most controversial amateur theatre-makers in County Durham, flying the flag of ‘the New Art of the Weird’.

This show promises excitement, laughs, splendour, and hypocrisy in abundance, drawing in the audience to each part of the love triangle of Joe (Kian Standbridge), Sarah (Lottie Roddis), and Tranny Tongue (Sam Garratt) with immersive and interactive elements, designed and executed by Bryony Curley.

Prior to the foundation of the Theatre of Cowards, Sylvia Gardner wrote and directed ‘19 Hour Dog Fight’ in Durham, starring Kian Standbridge as Harry. The production has developed a notorious reputation within Durham’s amateur drama scene following its highly contested removal from Durham Drama Festival and subsequent sold-out staging in an alternate venue.

The play’s take on a real snapshot of masculinity in all forms was in fact criticised for its blend between ‘polished fluency’ and a ‘gritty’ reality - proving it to have achieved its goal, and the subsequent goal of the Theatre of Cowards, of creating uncensored and truthful theatre. The play’s popularity has lead to the development of what is known colloquially as ‘Sylvia’s cult’.