Written and performed by Mark Farrely - Directed by Linda Marlowe

From a conventional Surrey upbringing, where he was born Denis Charles Pratt, to global notoriety via The Naked Civil Servant, Quentin Crisp was an extraordinary raconteur and wit.

This new production, fresh from its London premiere after an Edinburgh season, shows Quentin both in his beloved Chelsea flat as the 1970s dawned, and in his final years in his adopted New York, with the new millennium beckoning.

The show draws on Quentin’s own writing and performances in a new script by Mark Farrelly, who also performs (West End credits include Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf with Matthew Kelly).

In the intimate setting of the Boathouse, this show gives a fascinating insight into the varied life of one of the twentieth-century’s most interesting characters whose views on life and society remain relevant today. Although, quite deliberately, you never get close enough to Crisp to really understand how and why he made the choices he did, you’ll leave with plenty to think about.

Age guide 14+

It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile, Be yourself no matter what they say. -Lyric from ‘AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEW YORK’, written by Sting about Quentin Crisp

Yet in both script and performance, Farrelly nails far more than just Crisp’s wit here; in a well-mannered way, you learn to sense the genuine intellect and heart and mind of a man who was far braver than many of us would like to think.