Is there an association between creativity and drinking? Total Theatre Award 2010 winner, Bryony Kimmings believed there was and tested the theory by steadily increasing how much she drank alcohol for seven days (under controlled conditions) while dancing, singing and playing with children’s toys.
Titled “Seven Day Drunk,” the experiment was filmed and documented, with segments shown throughout the show, which she performed at the LPAC on Friday, March 9th. During the solo show, Kimmings recreated a number of the activities she had come up with during her research.
From chopping up and eating lemon, salt and cinnamon to creating a human disco ball using a shiny coat and lighting, the show didn’t just show off her creative side, but also provided the audience with a number of laughs.
Other highlights included Kimmings covering herself in kebab; throwing a shot of vodka onto her crotch, then using a hairdryer to dry it in an erotic fashion and sexually riding a children’s riding horse, while a bubble machine was blowing bubbles. All performed in outrageous outfits, it was quite bizarre, though thoroughly enjoyable.
Kimmings’ creative side was also reflected through a number of tracks she had written and performed, each of which showed an insight in to some of the thoughts and feelings she was experiencing. The songs were titled “I Drink Therefore I Am,” “I Am An Artist” and “Families Are For Life.”
Crowd participation featured very strongly during the performance with one member of the audience being asked to consume a strong alcohol drink, consisting of seven shots of vodka and cranberry juice; a number were called up to the stage to dance sexually and everyone was asked to ‘rave’ on-stage at the performance’s climax. Thankfully, the people of Lincoln were very willing.
The night ended on a serious message, including the result of the test, which concluded that Kimmings was getting more depressed by the day and more anxious about her state. As for whether it affected creativity, I think that was obvious from the performance.
Speaking about the show on her blog afterwards, Kimmings said: “I had a lovely gig last night in Lincoln after spending the whole day pretending not to care about the low ticket sales. It was actually a nice house, and they had a giddy old time. So did I.”
Overall, while the structure of “Seven Day Drunk” seemed to have been lost behind the sheer randomness of the performance, this is something to be overlooked because it proved not only an entertaining watch, but also quite educational and provoked some interesting ideas.