I’m a Fool to Want You

A unique theatre experience fusing live jazz, improvisation, and a new dance craze where the world literally turned upside down. Based on the life and work of French cult novelist Boris Vian, ‘I’m a Fool to Want You’ was a freewheeling look at the nature of deception, an act of revenge, and the desire to live in the moment. Suffering from a heart condition, the author of ‘I spit on your graves’ entered the Parisian cinema to watch an adaptation of his own cult novel. Thirty minutes later, and after shouting angrily at the screen, he was dead from a heart attack. Taking this incident as its starting point, and performed in a style of extreme comic physicality, this production lured audiences into a world of the fantastic where the unexpected is perfectly normal. Commissioned by BAC and developed through ‘scratch nights’ in 2002 and 2003.

Creative team

Based on an original idea by Paul Hunter and directed by Paul Hunter.

Devised by the Company, original music by Zoe Rahman, designed by Naomi Wilkinson, lighting by John MacKenzie

Performed by: Hayley Carmichael, Mark Crown, Stephen Harper, Zoe Rahman

Production Management by Niall Black, Graphic design by Martin Brown, Photography by Sheila Burnett, Press representative Ben Chamberlain

Dates

2004

24 January - 22 February - BAC, London

2 - 4 April - Caracas, Venezuela

2005

16 - 19 February - Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

24 - 26 February - Nuffield Theatre, Southampton

1 - 5 March - Drum Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth

15 - 20 March - BAC, London

23 - 25 August - Tron Theatre, Glasgow

Reviews

Time Out on I’m a Fool to Want You

Told By An Idiot’s enjoyable, seductive fantasia on the life of Boris Vian.

Independent on Sunday on I’m a Fool to Want You

Collectively devised, this piece sees Told By An Idiot moving to unite dialogue music and dance…...the dreamlike strangeness is compelling.

The Independent on I’m a Fool to Want You

A droll, captivating melange of mime, curt dialogue and superbly played jazz.

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