PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: June 23rd, 2015 Contact: Andrew Bailey; www.baileylaughs.com P: (778) 874-3754 E: thisisnotbailey@gmail.com Me, the Queen, and a Coconut Award Winning Comedian Andrew Bailey Premieres His New Solo Show at the 2015 Winnipeg Fringe Andrew Bailey is proud to premiere his (hopefully) hilarious new solo show at the 2015 Winnipeg Fringe. Me, The Queen, and a Coconut recounts his time living and working as a servant at St. George s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Finally, a storyteller with something to say. The Edmonton Journal When Andrew gets the job at St. George s the Queen s private chapel no one is more excited than his granddad, an Anglican priest. But before Andrew s first day of work, his granddad dies. Andrew desperately wants to become a priest like Granddad but feels a fraud: Andrew s lost his faith and can t find it again. Plus, castle life is ridiculous. He learns that the highest order of chivalry in England is named after women s underclothes (true fact). He bursts out laughing during a state ceremony, making Margaret Thatcher glare. He awkwardly holds a coconut when the Queen shows up beside him. (Though, to be fair, awkwardly is the only way to hold a coconut.) Andrew must either keep living a royal lie, or give up on a vocation to which he s devoted half his life. If it's true that timing is everything in comedy, then Andrew Bailey has got it all. The Winnipeg Sun Bailey is known to Winnipeg audiences for his series of hit solo shows including Limbo, The Adversary, and Putz. His satiric monologue, Why Rape is Sincerely Hilarious, has nearly 1.4 million YouTube views and is featured on websites including Upworthy, Jezebel, and Vice. Bailey also wrote a novel, The Rite of James Biddle, which was published last year by Bayeux Arts. Bailey really is a master of the monologue. Culture Vulture Victoria Me, the Queen, and a Coconut premieres at the 2015 Winnipeg Fringe. Shows are at the Cinematheque, 100 Arthur Street, on Wed July 15-6:30pm; Thu July 16-11pm; Fri July 17 - Noon; Sat July 18-5:15pm; Tue July 21-3:30pm; Wed July 22-8:45pm; Fri July 24-1:45pm; Sat July 25-7pm. Tickets are $10 (or $8 for weekday matinees). Additional information about Me, the Queen, and a Coconut may be obtained by contacting Andrew Bailey at 778-874-3754 or e-mail thisisnotbailey@gmail.com or visiting www.baileylaughs.com or by calling The Winnipeg Fringe at 204-943-7464 or visiting www.winnipegfringe.com. -30-
Me, the Queen, and a Coconut written and performed by Andrew Bailey with dramaturgy by Britt Small Runtime: 55 minutes Venue #7: The Cinematheque 100 Arthur Street Performance Times: Wed July 15-6:30pm Thu July 16-11pm Fri July 17 - Noon Sat July 18-5:15pm Tue July 21-3:30pm Wed July 22-8:45pm Fri July 24-1:45pm Sat July 25-7pm Tickets: $10 $8 for Weekday Matinees www.winnipegfringe.com
Me, the Queen, and a Coconut: Synopsis Andrew wants to be an Anglican priest like his granddad. Granddad encourages this, taking Andrew to theological lectures as a teenager, giving him scholarly books, teaching him priestly things. He teaches Andrew that sin really means missing the mark. God sets a path for who you re supposed to be. Sin is the thing in yourself that takes you off that path. Andrew tries to avoid such sin, but an undiagnosed mental illness leads him, at sixteen, to pray for God to kill him. Soon after Andrew sees a discoloured mole on his skin, believing that God has given him with cancer, answering his prayer. Andrew feels overwhelmed by God s love. But the mole is benign: Andrew had projected the cancer. He cannot help but conclude that God too had been a projection of his mind. Yet Andrew refuses to stray from his path to become a priest, hoping that his faith will return. At twenty-two, he becomes a Sacristan at St. George s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Not a priest yet, but well on his way. Granddad is more excited than anyone, but dies before the job starts. Andrew tries to make his granddad proud. Tries to take the Chapel and the Royal Family seriously, but sees them both as more and more ridiculous. During the Garter Ceremony, dedicated to the Most Honourable and Noble order of chivalry in England, Andrew accidentally bursts out laughing. Andrew attends the Royal street party for the Golden Jubilee, where there are rides and games. Andrew wins a coconut, moments before finding himself beside the Queen. The significance to all this, Andrew concludes, is that there is no significance to all this. Royalty and chivalry are important because we make them so they re projections, just like God. Just like Andrew s desire to be a priest. Andrew must move on with his life. He feels angry that he wasted so much time trying to be something he wasn t. Angry that his granddad encouraged him. Andrew goes into theatre, where he finds himself writing monologues that have a little too much overlap with sermons. He makes extra money as a church caretaker, where he finds himself ministering to the poor and mentally ill. Andrew likes that part of the job so much he becomes a mental health support worker, listening to troubled, searching people, and attempting to help them find comfort, purpose, and meaning in life. Andrew keeps gravitating towards priestly things: he has failed to move on. But, he finally concludes, you don t have to.
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING Andrew will premiere Me, the Queen, and a Coconut at the 2015 Winnipeg Fringe. Here are selected awards and reviews of his previous work: The Adversary Outstanding Production, 2013 Toronto Fringe Now Magazine Outstanding Performance, 2013 Toronto Fringe Now Magazine Best Fringe Production 2013 Victoria Critics Choice Spotlight Awards Pick of the Fringe 2013 Vancouver Finally, a storyteller with something to say. The Edmonton Journal The Adversary is poised to become another runaway hit for Bailey on the Fringe circuit this summer. Monday Magazine I can t stop thinking about this show I loved it. West of West The script is clever and finely wrought and delivered with innocence, yet with so much emotion you sense that he actually becomes each of the characters. CBC Manitoba Andrew Bailey continues to impress me. The Marble Limbo 2010 Georgia Straight Vancouver Fringe Critics Choice Award Bailey has perfected the formula for funny... This guy is good. Monday Magazine Bailey really is a master of the monologue. Culture Vulture Andrew Bailey has succeeded, again. Port City Lights This is laugh-out-loud, intelligent, manic, sweet, quirky and, yes, profound, theatre and I loved every minute of it. The Vancouver Courier
Putz Named one of the top Fringe shows of 2008 by the Vancouver Courier [Putz] is just about perfect it's impossible not to be swept up by Bailey's humour, compassion and honesty. See Magazine If it's true that timing is everything in comedy, then Andrew Bailey has got it all Genius! The Winnipeg Sun This neurotic monologue, from two of the creative minds at Victoria s famed Atomic Vaudeville, is a constant delight. The Globe and Mail a gut laugh provoking journey of sexual enlightenment. -Eye Weekly Scrupulosity Best Solo Show, 2005 Victoria Fringe Wildly funny... with tenderness that moved me to tears. -The Georgia Straight...a brilliant comic monologue and exploration of the darkness of a soul that reveres the light too much. The Globe and Mail Bailey s dramatic organ is an all-stops-out emotional odyssey what a trip. The Edmonton Sun
Me, the Queen, and a Coconut: Company Background Andrew Bailey is not a company; he is a human being. A human being who works closely with the famed theatre company Atomic Vaudeville. His first trilogy of solo shows started with Scrupulosity, which premiered at the 2005 Victoria Fringe Festival where it won Best Solo Show. Putz, premiered at Intrepid Theatre's Uno Festival in May 2007, where it was the top selling show. The show was selected to play at the "Beyond the Fringe" festival at the Shadbolt Centre in Burnaby and "Best of the Fringe" at the Kay Meek Centre and the Jericho Arts Centre in Vancouver. Limbo premiered at the 2010 Uno Festival, and was soon remounted for the 2010 Vancouver Fringe where it was ranked top show of the festival by both the Georgia Straight and the Vancouver Courier, winning the 2010 Vancouver Fringe Critics Choice Award. It was remounted, along with Putz and Scrupulosity, in January of 2011 as part of Atomic Vaudeville's mini festival "Andrew Bailey in 3D". Andrew performed his entire novel, The Rite of James Biddle, at the 2014 Victoria Uno Festival. Not content just to read, Andrew served food from the book during the breaks, organized an Easter Egg hunt, a tea-making seminar and more. The event started at 9am and finished at 11pm. Diamond Tiaras in the Gutter compared Andrew s job at an inner city church with his job at Windsor Castle. Based on a reading he gave for the 2011 Victoria Uno Festival, Andrew decided to split this into two shows: The Adversary focuses on his work at the church and premiered at the 2012 Uno Festival, where it sold out its run. It played the 2013 Toronto Fringe where it was named Outstanding Production and Outstanding Performance by Now Magazine. Me, the Queen, and a Coconut focuses on Andrew s time at Windsor and his relationship with his granddad, an Anglican priest. It will premiere at the 2015 Winnipeg Fringe.
Me, the Queen, and a Coconut: Biographies Andrew Bailey (Writer/Performer) is a writer/actor/stand-up with a degree in Classical Studies and Economics from the University of British Columbia and a post-graduate certificate in Comedy Writing and Performance from the Humber College School of Comedy, the only person in the world with this exact education. He is one of the primary writers and actors of the Atomic Vaudeville cabaret, having appeared in about fifty episodes since 2004. Aside from Me, the Queen, and a Coconut, he also wrote and performed in the award winning solo shows Scrupulosity, Limbo, Putz, and The Adversary. His first novel, The Rite of James Biddle, is published by Bayeux Arts. He lives in Vancouver. Britt Small (Dramaturge) completed her MFA in Directing at the University of Victoria with a production of Sophocles Electra. Nationally and internationally, she has directed Janet Munsil s, Circus Fire and The Ugly Duchess, Jacob Richmond s The Qualities of Zero, Ride the Cyclone and Legoland, and Andrew Bailey s Scrupulosity and Limbo. Recently she won the Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Direction, along with Richmond, for her work on Ride the Cyclone. She directed The Fantasticks for the inaugural season of Blue Bridge Theatre in Victoria. Britt also plays in a band, directs and performs in the Atomic Vaudeville cabarets and teaches workshops in storytelling for actors at UVIC.
Me, the Queen, and a Coconut: Publicity Photos Hi Res photos available upon request by emailing thisisnotbailey@gmail.com Coconut 1 Featuring: The Queen and Andrew Bailey Photo Credit: Windsor Photography Coconut 2 Featuring: Andrew Bailey Photo Credit: Britt Small Coconut 3 Featuring: Andrew Bailey Photo Credit: Victor Dolhai