Some nice things that have been said about the show in Australia

Added on by Stuart Bowden.

Perth Now 
"A combination of live music, poignant storytelling and physical comedy, She Was Probably Not A Robot is heartbreaking, thought-provoking and laugh out loud funny."

 Adelaide Advertiser 
★★★★
"Side-splittingly funny, heart-wrenching and utterly absurd this is a beautiful piece of theatre from one of Tuxedo Cat’s finest. Stunning."

 Adelaide Theatre Guide
★★★★ and a 1/2
"with its ridiculous humour, highly original plot and artfully-questionable use of props and blocking, this laugh-out-loud production is not one audiences are likely to forget"

Rip It Up 
★★★★  and a 1/2
"Stuart Bowden is a smart guy. He has created a very funny and whimsical show about something that’s actually quite serious. Excellent!"

 Talk Fringe





My 2013 in Music

Added on by Stuart.



These are my favorite songs of 2013. In a rough order. for some of them I have noted the first time I heard them.

San Francisco - Foxygen

 Song for Zula - Phosphorescent

Avant Gardener - Courtney Barnett

Open - Rhye

Bugs Don't Buzz - Majical Cloudz

Smother - Daughter

The first time I ever heard this song I was on a packed train at the end of a tired day. It was cold on the platform, I was pushed inside, I ended up near a man who kept making faces at a small boy who wouldn't smile, no matter what.




Won't You Come Over - Devendra Banhart

Dancing in a candle lit lounge drinking/mostly spilling wine.

Pretty Boy - Young Galaxy

Song For The Sold - Kishi Bashi

Riding through a neighborhood I've never been through on the way back from portabello market. tall mansions. I went down a little street past some important building maybe it was an embassy or something, anyway there was a police guard out the front with a machine gun. I rode past quickly, he whistled I looked back and he was waving me back. I turned around, took out my headphones, rode back - thinking I was either going to be shot or something and he said "this is a oneway street, I'd hate to see a car come round the corner and clean you up"

Ironworks - Baths

Advance Falconry - Mutual Benefit

Night, maybe midnight, port, candles, by the window.

Chum - Earl Sweatshirt

Early morning. Cold street, walking or kind of running - I'm late. Crossing streets, anxious drivers already angry drivers. They woon't let me cross. They're on the way to work, maybe they do this everyday, maybe not, but theres no need to worry so much.

Even If We Try - Night Beds

Late morning, one of those really crisp sunny ones, hearts sore these mornings. I'm by the canal, the bright bounces.

Riptide - Vance Joy

I was running, just for fun, I did that once or twice a year - at those times when I was really not sure what else to do.

Somebody to Love - Valerie June

Les Enfants - Celeste

Kicking leaves, kicking leaves in the park, slap a tree trunk - slap a tree five - why not?


Small Plane - Bill Callahan

Going down to the shops for groceries, getting lost in the horizon, getting lost in the song.


Darkside - Paper Trails

Patroling the streets, searching for some fireworks, got to get some fireworks for Remember Remember. That guy who normally opens up a wardrobe full of fireworks this time of year, where is he now? where is he when I need him?

Hannah Hunt - Vampire Weekend



Manhattan - Cat Power


And Then I Found Myself In The Taiga - Norwegian Arms

Retrograde - James Blake


My Old Friend - Sam Amidon


Byegone - Volcano Choir

Ka Moun Ke - Rokia Traore


Ritual Union - Electric Guest

Well You Better - Yo La Tengo

Learning - The National (cover)

Put A Light On - Generationals

Dropla - Youth Lagoon



Show Dates

Added on by Stuart Bowden.
Now until January 25th
The Lounge Room Confabulators
We are available to perform in your home in London

8th of December
The EastEnd Cabaret Club
The Russet - Hackney

10th of December
Ukulele Christmas Cabaret
The Lincoln Lounge - King's Cross

11th + 12th + 13th December
She Was Probably Not A Robot
Camden People's Theatre

20 Feb - 2 March (no show 26th)
She Was Probably Not A Robot
Adelaide Fringe - Tuxedo Cat


✂ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

12th November
Unusual Stories For Unusual People - The Lion, Stoke Newington

14th November
Le Flop presents: Risk You Shit - Wenlock and Essex, Islington

15th November
Le Flop - Komedia, Brighton

21st November
Cabaret Fantastique - Comedy Cafe Theatre

28th November
Monthly Mirth Aid - Bethnal Green Working Mens Club

Probably Not A Robot in London

Added on by Stuart.

December 11th, 12th and 13th

Camden People's Theatre | 7.30pm

TICKETS

Invite your friends

Off the back of a critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe season multi-award winning Australian theatre maker Stuart Bowden presents the London premier of 

She Was Probably Not A Robot.

She Was Probably Not A Robot

 is a lo-fi, DIY, off-beat, sci-fi, storytelling experience; a surreal, soulful comedy about a decomposing world and a cosmic visitor.  When the world ends in flood and fire, one man, asleep on his air-mattress, floats out of his bedroom window, through burning debris and out to sea to be the sole survivor and last hope for humanity. This is an enchanting tale adorned with simple storytelling and physical comedy. Stuartʼ s smartly crafted writing, combined with his joyful performance makes for an uplifting tale of loneliness, grief, hope and silliness.

Nominated for the 

Brighton Fringe Emerging Talent Award

, Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013.

The Adelaide Advertiser Review for Stuart Bowden in She Was Probably Not a Robot

★★★★★

"he creates a hilarious, bittersweet and completely enthralling world"

Three Weeks

★★★★★

"utterly compelling from the start to finish"

Broadway Baby

★★★★★

"Phenomenal one man wonder show... Stuart Bowden is an absolute genius... With live music, bizarre storytelling and perfect physical comedy, She Was Probably Not A Robot will leave you with a skip in your step and a smile on your heart"

Edinburgh Guide

★★★★

"gorgeous notes of melancholia"

The Scotsman

"a subliminal masterpiece"

The Stage

★★★★

"Deliciously bleak humour... laugh out loud funny and heartbreakingly poignant"

Exeunt

December 11th, 12th and 13th

Camden People's Theatre | 7.30pm

TICKETS

Camden

 People's

 Theatre

58-60 Hampstead Road

London NW1 2PY, United Kingdom

+44 20 7419 4841

Some nice things that people have said about my work

Added on by Stuart Bowden.


She Was Probably Not A Robot


★★★★★
"he creates a hilarious, bittersweet and completely enthralling world"
Three Weeks, UK

★★★★★
"utterly compelling from the start to finish"
Broadway Baby, UK

★★★★★
"Phenomenal one man wonder show... Stuart Bowden is an absolute genius... With live music, bizarre storytelling and perfect physical comedy, She Was Probably Not A Robot will leave you with a skip in your step and a smile on your heart"
Edinburgh Guide, UK

★★★★
"gorgeous notes of melancholia"
The Scotsman, UK

"a subliminal masterpiece"
The Stage, UK

★★★★
"Deliciously bleak humour... laugh out loud funny and heartbreakingly poignant"
Exeunt, UK

The Beast

★★★★
'A story that'll work its way into your soul. Quietly beautiful, a gift'
The List, UK

'An enchanting and very different slice of storytelling'
The Stage, UK

★★★★
'laugh out loud humour, sparks of surreal brilliance and moments of touching melancholy. Unfolding like a dream, this is an off beat gem'
Three Weeks, UK

'effortlessly strong performer... He has us enraptured'
Fest, UK

'an hour of innocent, heartfelt fun with some truly inventive musical interludes... displaying a perfect gift for pathos'
Scotsman, UK

★★★★
'Touching in simplicity'
The Adelaide Advertiser, AUS

★★★★
'Unique and charming'
The Adelaide Theatre Guide, AUS

'Bowden confirms my opinion he is one of the most prepossessing and honest storytellers we have the pleasure of seeing once a year'
No Plain Jane, AUS

The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us

★★★★
'narrative ingenuity and boundless charm as a performer… casts a heady spell and for an entire hour, Bowden holds everyone together in silent reverie'
Metro, UK

★★★★
'This is an utterly charming one-man show, but it is not just an exercise in theatrical whimsy, it is thoughtful and thought-provoking… a glowing endorsement for DIY theatre-making…Bowden will be one to watch as his fusion of live music-making and storytelling is joyous and full of sparkle'
Fringe Review, UK

★★★★★
'Stuart Bowden creates a show of such beauty it will take your breath away… full of wit and charm, this is low-fi DIY storytelling theatre at it’s very best'
Three Weeks, UK

★★★★
What’s On Stage, UK

The Lounge Room Confabulators

‘the narrative ingenuity behind this performance — infinitely clever, insidious and beguiling — is a rare treat.’  
The Age, AUS

★★★★
‘Awesomely talented’
The Herald Sun, AUS

★★★★
'Magical'
The List, UK

★★★★
'Masters of their craft'
Metro, UK

★★★★
'They are by turns funny, touching, macabre and ridiculous'
The Arts Desk, UK

Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and His Singing Tiger

★★★★★
Fest, UK

★★★★★
The List, UK

★★★★★
The Skinny, UK

★★★★
Three Weeks, UK

★★★★
Chortle, UK

★★★★
The Herald Sun, AUS

★★★★ from Exeunt - She Was Probably Not A Robot and The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us

Added on by Stuart.

"Deliciously bleak humour... laugh out loud funny and heartbreakingly poignant"

Exeunt, UK

The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us/She Was Probably Not a Robot at Brighton Dome

3rd November 2013

Reviewed by Tracey Sinclair

Four.

Two short plays about the end of the world might not sound like the most cheerful of experiences, but Stuart Bowden’s work wins you over with its surreal humour and lo-fi whimsy. Both of these seemingly slight pieces manage, in their own way, to be laugh out loud funny and heartbreakingly poignant.

The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us

 is set in an unhappy future where self-announced space explorer Avian sees the ills of mankind as a reflection of the fact the Earth itself is lonely. He sets out to remedy this by finding a friendly planet and towing it into our galaxy. Since loneliness is also the solo spaceman’s worst enemy, first he must train himself to withstand it, by abandoning the cities and going to live in the desert. But, as he discovers, life – and love – has a way of seeking you out, no matter how far you run.

The second, and more recent of the pieces, 

She Was Probably Not a Robot

, is initially bleaker still. It’s set in the aftermath of the apocalypse, and Bowden’s lone survivor spends the first few minutes standing on a bare stage, merrily telling members of the audience how they met their deaths. It’s darker, funnier and faster paced, as the lycra-clad, slacker protagonist seeks to avoid destruction, hurling himself around the auditorium on an inflatable mattress – a genuinely precarious endeavour in the intimate confines of a studio theatre.Out of what might sound like a fairly silly story, Bowden weaves an engaging tale, using nothing more than a handful of crates and a couple of musical instruments to pull us in to his deftly crafted world, ably switching between four different roles. The smart script is well married to Bowden’s affable, slightly bumbling persona, which disguises an adept, subtle use of physical comedy. There are occasional moments of heavy handedness – his spaceship is called The Story, and people are continually being invited into or out of it or getting lost inside it – but overall this is a funny, melancholic meditation on love and loneliness.

Its deliciously bleak humour once again relies heavily on Bowden’s likeability, but luckily he’s charismatic enough to carry it (you can’t imagine many performers telling a story about putting their dead girlfriend’s head on a stick and taking it for a walk, and managing to make it both hilarious and actually quite romantic). But this, too, is a weightier tale than it at first seems; as the story progresses, we see that even the end of the world has not stripped away the survivor’s delusions, as he fetishizes the girlfriend who had left him and the relationship he never, in fact, really had. The apocalypse, ironically, has let him create the life he always wanted and freed him from the inconvenience of everyday existence: dead girlfriends can’t leave you, dead dogs can’t run away.

So when an alien who has been painstakingly constructing a replacement planet (Bowden with a silver cardboard box on his head, entertainingly dotty) offers him a second chance, which he ruthlessly snatches (happily murdering his doppelganger so he can take his place) you wonder if his new life is as much an artificial construct as the world he lives it out on.

Though both shows work as standalone pieces – and have been performed separately – together their cumulative charm is considerable. If you’re going to be stranded at the end of the world, you couldn’t wish for better company.

The Things I've Made

Added on by Stuart.

I'm an Australian theatre maker. I'm currently living in London. I make theatre from home, with homegrown ingredients. I write, devise, direct and perform my own work. 

My latest creation She Was Probably Not A Robot, premiered at Edinburgh Fringe this year. The show was nominated for the Brighton Fringe Emerging Talent Award.  

In 2012 I premiered my third solo show The Beast in the Adelaide Fringe. I've performed The Beast in the Edinburgh Fringe, Brisbane Festival, Melbourne Fringe, Belvoir Theatre Sydney and Auckland Comedy Festival. 

Nominated
Melbourne Green Room Award - Independent Theatre 2012 
Best Male Performer - Stuart Bowden
Best Writing - Stuart Bowden

In 2012 I also co-created The DIY Nativity with Bryony Kimmings and Sam Halmarack at The Junction Theatre, Cambridge.  

Also in 2012/2011 I was busy collaborating with comedian Dr Brown in Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and His Singing Tiger (I'm the Tiger). 

Winner
Best Presentation for Children (Adelaide Fringe 2012) 
Directors Choice Award (Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2012) 
Best Kids Show (Melbourne Fringe 2012).

Back in 2011 I wrote and performed my second solo show The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us. 

Nominated
Arches Brick Award (Edinburgh Fringe 2011) 
Best Performer Award (Adelaide Fringe 2011) 
Best Theatre Production Award (Adelaide Fringe 2011)  
Underbelly Edinburgh Award (Adelaide Fringe 2011)

In 2010 I collaborated with Wil Greenway to create The Lounge Room Confabulators, a piece of intimate theatre performed in people’s homes. We travelled the world with this show visiting peoples homes, meeting friendly and open strangers, wiping our feet, singing songs, telling stories, packing our suitcase and saying goodbye.

Winner
Adelaide Fringe Award (Melbourne Fringe 2010)
Underbelly Edinburgh Award (Adelaide Fringe 2011). 

Highly commended
Melbourne Fringe Performance Award (Melbourne Fringe 2010) 

Nominated
Melbourne Green Room Award - Best Independent Theatre Production
The BankSA Innovation Award (Adelaide Fringe 2011).

Also in 2010 I made my very first solo show Dances with Worms, a very strange, surreal comedy about a man who was in love with a worm.

In 2010 I also co-created The Polar Bearings Songs in the Sea, Major? with Margaret Paul, we performed our nautical musical comedy in The Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne Comedy Festival. 

I've also performed with independent theatre company The Hayloft Project in The Nest (2010) and Yuri Wells (2009/2010)

Winner
Adelaide Fringe Award (Melbourne Fringe 2009).

In 2009 I went to Edinburgh for the first time. I appeared in the Edinburgh International Festival, as writer/performer for the singing-news installation, Hark! As part of The Enlightenments, we won a Bank of Scotland Herald Angel Award.

Also, since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2007, I toured Australia with the Bell Shakespeare Company.

Here are some nice things that have been said about my work along the way.


She Was Probably Not A Robot


★★★★★
"he creates a hilarious, bittersweet and completely enthralling world"
Three Weeks, UK

★★★★★
"utterly compelling from the start to finish"
Broadway Baby, UK

★★★★★
"Phenomenal one man wonder show... Stuart Bowden is an absolute genius... With live music, bizarre storytelling and perfect physical comedy, She Was Probably Not A Robot will leave you with a skip in your step and a smile on your heart"
Edinburgh Guide, UK

★★★★
"gorgeous notes of melancholia"
The Scotsman, UK

"a subliminal masterpiece"
The Stage, UK

★★★★
"Deliciously bleak humour... laugh out loud funny and heartbreakingly poignant"
Exeunt, UK

The Beast

★★★★
'A story that'll work its way into your soul. Quietly beautiful, a gift'
The List, UK

'An enchanting and very different slice of storytelling'
The Stage, UK

★★★★
'laugh out loud humour, sparks of surreal brilliance and moments of touching melancholy. Unfolding like a dream, this is an off beat gem'
Three Weeks, UK

'effortlessly strong performer... He has us enraptured'
Fest, UK

'an hour of innocent, heartfelt fun with some truly inventive musical interludes... displaying a perfect gift for pathos'
Scotsman, UK

★★★★
'Touching in simplicity'
The Adelaide Advertiser, AUS

★★★★
'Unique and charming'
The Adelaide Theatre Guide, AUS

'Bowden confirms my opinion he is one of the most prepossessing and honest storytellers we have the pleasure of seeing once a year'
No Plain Jane, AUS

The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us

★★★★
'narrative ingenuity and boundless charm as a performer… casts a heady spell and for an entire hour, Bowden holds everyone together in silent reverie'
Metro, UK

★★★★
'This is an utterly charming one-man show, but it is not just an exercise in theatrical whimsy, it is thoughtful and thought-provoking… a glowing endorsement for DIY theatre-making…Bowden will be one to watch as his fusion of live music-making and storytelling is joyous and full of sparkle'
Fringe Review, UK

★★★★★
'Stuart Bowden creates a show of such beauty it will take your breath away… full of wit and charm, this is low-fi DIY storytelling theatre at it’s very best'
Three Weeks, UK

★★★★
What’s On Stage, UK

The Lounge Room Confabulators

‘the narrative ingenuity behind this performance — infinitely clever, insidious and beguiling — is a rare treat.’  
The Age, AUS

★★★★
‘Awesomely talented’
The Herald Sun, AUS

★★★★
'Magical'
The List, UK

★★★★
'Masters of their craft'
Metro, UK

★★★★
'They are by turns funny, touching, macabre and ridiculous'
The Arts Desk, UK

Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and His Singing Tiger

★★★★★
Fest, UK

★★★★★
The List, UK

★★★★★
The Skinny, UK

★★★★
Three Weeks, UK

★★★★
Chortle, UK

★★★★
The Herald Sun, AUS

Something Old and Something New for Brighton

Added on by Stuart.
November 3
The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us
5pm, Brighton Dome

She Was Probably Not A Robot
7pm, Brighton Dome

This is a picture of me when I was young (two years ago), but immensely wise. I was warming up to do the first preview of my first solo storytelling show called The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us - I look nervous. My warm up consisted of staring at a bit of blue tack for half an hour, whilst holding two oranges. It all went pretty well (the warm up and the show). I last performed this show in Edinburgh 2011 but I will be doing it again on Sunday (Nov 3rd 2013) at Brighton Dome. This excites me. As I re-learn the show I remember how much I love it. It has a pretty big heart, it may be my best work, did I peak too soon? Maybe. Has everything been trivial after? Who knows? I don't know, but what I do know is it makes me happy to be doing it again. 
This is me now (a couple of months ago). I'm warming up to do my first preview of my latest show She Was Probably Not A Robot. My warm up has changed quite a bit (I now take 2 hours before the show to try and point at everything in the room).  I know I look happy and confident but I was probably quite nervous (because I still had a lot of things in the room that I had not yet pointed at). I'm also doing this show at Brighton Dome on Sunday.

Tomorrow at the fountain

Added on by Stuart.

The craters on the moon are insignificant tonight. Old things don't mean anything to you
right now. Not when you're feeling like this. The shadows of those trees, the mountains that
stare over you, the occasional left over cloud from a rainy day lit by the moon, 
it means nothing. 

The ancient rain that runs down the hill, fills the puddles, like it always has, wets your feet,
it's irrelevant tonight.

You're standing at the bar now, your shoes squeak. 
Your thoughts are loud but you still can't make out the lyrics. 
Everyone around you is percussive.
A timpani of tongues bumping around their mouths, clacking lips smack around their faces,
as they laugh and banter. 
Slapping backs, 
jangling coins, 
flapping notes, 
slugging drinks, 
tapping footsteps.
Quick noise that never stays. 
But then she glides past like a flute in the racket. Like a shark from the fog, sliding down a
grassy hill, swimming through the blades in the night, belly grass-stained green.   

She willingly scatters her glances all over you. 
Her eyes shine like shattered glass in the moonlit dew. 
Your coins twinkle when the moons out like this, 
glorious. 
Coins are counted for one more when the moon's out like this. 
You can't think. You loose your coin count.
It's not a good sign as the barman hovers, 

you can do this, just focus. 

It's done.
Well done.
 But you look around and she's gone like a shark in the trees.

A thick-armed drummer swings around with a laugh. His elbow hits your face. Your own
tooth pierces your own lip. Your own blood dribbles out. 
Where did that come from? It's like you've been exposed to something you cant perceive.
The drumming stops around you, someone places a beermat under your bleeding face, you
don't make eye contact, you can't. You just look down. The barman returns with your drink,
but offers you his cloth instead. Who do you think you are? Sitting in the bar with your
blood face. 
The blood runs from you, but you cannot run from it on a night like this. 

She appears, 
the flute,
the shark,
but this time she's a bird on your shoulder, only she's too big for your shoulder and she's got a tissue. 

You drain into her tissue.

By the time you leave you've stopped bleeding and you have a name: Anna. 
And a number: 4. 
And some letters: p and m. 
And a place: the fountain.
And a day: tomorrow.  

She Was Probably Not A Robot | Edinburgh reviews

Added on by Stuart.
★★★★★
"he creates a hilarious, bittersweet and completely enthralling world with a rag-tag homemade feel"

★★★★★
"utterly compelling from the start to finish"

★★★★★
"With live music, bizarre storytelling and perfect physical comedy, She Was Probably Not A Robot will leave you with a skip in your step and a smile on your heart"

★★★★
"gorgeous notes of melancholia"

"a subliminal masterpiece"

The Stage | Edinburgh Fringe review | She Was Probably Not A Robot

Added on by Stuart.

"

a subliminal masterpiece"

She Was Probably Not a Robot

Underbelly, Cowgate

Theatre

 Reviewed by 

Thom Dibdin

Stuart Bowden does not so much swim through his storytelling show, he positively luxuriates and wallows in it, keeping the audience onside in their expectations of comedy as he allows his quirky humour to shine and carefully negotiates his audience into a splendid silence.

For the opening minutes he simply plays with a Casio piano, singing inane little doodling songs in perfect falsetto then deep bass, drawing the giggles as drops the knowledge that the audience are all dead into his script - to the expected hysterical edge of laughter.

It is this ability to know his audience and play with them that inspires. The story he draws, shaggy dog-style, into existence could be related with quite cruel effect in three or four minutes. A tale of a boy whose love has left him and who survives, alone, after the world ends - only to be picked up by an alien who just happens to have built an Earth replica to pass away the time.

Yet this doesn't feel like self-indulgence. The joy is in the telling. And the punchline reveal, that if someone walks out on you it isn't the end of the world, is a subliminal masterpiece.

The Scotsman | Edinburgh Fringe Review | She Was Probably Not A Robot

Added on by Stuart.

★★★★
"gorgeous notes of melancholia"


Theatre review: She Was Probably Not a Robot




Edinburgh Fringe Scotsman review: She Was Probably Not a Robotat Underbelly Cowgate (Venue 61), reviewed by Matt Trueman

As the last remaining human, Bowden is here to tell his tale: how, asleep on an inflatable mattress, he floated upwards as the floodwater rose and rode the currents around the world. It’s like The Life of Pi, only with an Aussie hipster and a wooden hobby horse instead of an Indian boy and a tiger.Stuart Bowden is reminiscing about the day the human race died out. There was a huge flood, he explains, “You died.” He breaks the news with a soft compassionate smile. “You actually died really beautifully,” he tells a woman in the front: just dancing, oblivious to the ensuing oblivion. Then he looks down at his Casio keyboard and resumes his crappy falsetto aria.
Meanwhile, orbiting the Earth is an alien, Celeste – whom Bowden plays with a tin-foil-covered cardboard box on his head. For 25,000 years, she has been watching the Earth and building a replica. “It’s a hobby,” she says.
Like the inflatable mattress, Bowden’s story pretty much drifts wherever it pleases, but it is elevated above other fashionably surrealist yarns by its gorgeous notes of melancholia. More than other hipster manchildren – fellow Lounge Room Confabulator Will Greenway and Trygve Wakenshaw – Bowden feels like a grown man trying genuinely to recapture the freedoms of childhood. The resulting wistfulness cuts through the whimsy – even surviving his knowing, lackadaisical style that’s all throwaways and mood-killers.
It allows him to balance both humanity and humour. He has got a real intuition for clownish cycles and he’s better than ever at getting us playing along and joining in. Within ten minutes, we’re singing along and being clambered over by Bowden and his mattress-to-bear.
Running gags – Celeste’s abrupt exits, a dead dog on a stick – keep the momentum up and he’s happy to deviate for the sake of liveliness.
Yes, it’s idiot theatre – too wacky, too wispy – but Bowden injects just enough profundity to give it reason to exist.
The end of the world, he suggests, isn’t what bothers us, but the end of our world – our ex-girlfriends, our cosy flats, our favourite pets. Way up on Celeste’s replica world, Bowden takes a deep breath: “It smells a bit different.”

Edinburgh Guide | Edinburgh Fringe Reviews | She Was Probably Not A Robot

Added on by Stuart.
★★★★★
"Performer and writer, Stuart Bowden, is an absolute genius"


She Was Probably Not A Robot Review

By Alex Eades - Posted on 13 August 2013
5

It has to be said that I had pretty low expectations for She Was Probably Not A Robot. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was because the leaflet handed to me just showed a man with his head stuck in a box covered in silver foil. Perhaps it was the rather uninspiring title. Or perhaps it was because I had not come across a truly terrible show yet and felt that I was due.
Of course, perhaps as usual, my initially instincts proved to be completely and utterly wrong. Not only was She Was Probably Not A Robot a total delight, but it’s likely to be one of the best shows I see at the Fringe this year.
Everyone in the world is dead. All, that is, except one man who sets out to find the one he loves….and his dog.
If you are looking for an experience to just make you smile I urge you to go and see this phenomenal one man wonder show. Performer and writer, Stuart Bowden, is an absolute genius. Insanely surreal yet touchingly true, he has created a piece that can both crush and lift you in the blink of an eye.
With live music, bizarre storytelling and perfect physical comedy, She Was Probably Not A Robot will leave you with a skip in your step and a smile on your heart.
Endlessly inventive and superbly performed, I honestly cannot envision there being a funnier piece of theatre at the Fringe this year. An inspired piece of magic that needs to be seen to be believed.

Broadway Baby | Edinburgh Fringe review | She Was Probably Not A Robot

Added on by Stuart.
★★★★★
"utterly compelling from the start to finish"





Broadway Baby Rating:

Stuart Bowden expertly manages to perform a rather sad and dark story in a completely hilarious way. This low-tech, DIY one man show about the end of the world and a woman from space manages to be funny, endearing, sad and absurd simultaneously. Alone on stage, describing the one he loves, Bowden shows vulnerability that is not often seen within comedy.The story takes place in the distant future, where Bowden is the sole survivor on Earth. He clings to the memory of his dead ex-girlfriend Victoria and his dead dog, Jasmine. He speaks to the moon and has an encounter with an outer space being, Celeste. Celeste has lived for 25,000 years and is quite an unusual character.
Even before the show starts there was a smattering of giggles at Bowden’s sheet-clad presence on stage. The giggles and laughs continue when he describes in detail how the audience members will die. Then the laughter never dies. Having seen some of Bowden’s previous shows I can say that this performance is much more comic than his earlier work. He is first and foremost a storyteller and this surreal story carries a dark undertone, even touching on themes such as insanity. Bowden’s character copes with his loneliness in a very disturbing way but the sincerity and innocence of Bowden’s portrayal makes it light-hearted. Just when a scene is starting to become too serious or tragic he undercuts it with a joke. Transitions between Bowden’s character and Celeste’s character are hilarious and use of music is fitting. If you are familiar with the work of Phil Burgers (Dr. Brown) and his clowning skills then you will find similarities within this play, seeing as Bowden and Burgers have been collaborating on this show and Bowden has included some clowning skills, listening to every sound from the audience and including it in the performance.
Combined with his soft musicianship and immediate likeability this show is utterly compelling from the start to finish.

ThreeWeeks | Edinburgh Fringe reviews | She Was Probably Not A Robot

Added on by Stuart.

★★★★★
"It’s richly emotional, quietly beautiful, and an absolute joy to watch"

Thursday 8 August 2013 | By 

ED2013 Theatre Review: She Was Probably Not A Robot (Stuart Bowden)


Superb solo storyteller Stuart Bowden returns to the Fringe with a comedy about the end of the world, and what happened after. It’s a familiar set-up given an offbeat and appealingly twisted telling, full of daft slapstick, impeccably timed comic understatement and shiver inducing, straight-to-the heart observational poetry. Bowden’s performance is amicable and absorbing as both the pleasantly deranged sole survivor of the apocalypse and an androgynous alien with an interest in arts, crafts, and building replica planets. With the aid of some tinfoil, a bed sheet and a few simple musical loops, he creates a hilarious, bittersweet and completely enthralling world with a rag-tag homemade feel. It’s richly emotional, quietly beautiful, and an absolute joy to watch.
Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 4.10pm.
tw rating 5/5 | [Dave Fargnoli]
Have a listen to the Podcast Extra:

These are the shows I'm doing in Edinburgh this year

Added on by Stuart.

She Was Probably Not A Robot




















This is my shiny new tin-foil-clad solo creation. If you saw The Beast or The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us, this is a much darker but sillier show than those. It's stupid, sad and strange. It has more of a tormented (playfully) quality to it. Out of all of my solo shows I've had the most fun making this one. And I have the most fun performing it. If you're going to be in Edinburgh or know anyone who is, please come and invite anyone you think might be into that sort of thing. This is the Facebook event if that helps

I'm also doing this show:

Dr Brown Brown Brown Brown Brown and His Singing Tiger













This is back for it's third year, but this time only for two shows so please book in advance. It's a show for everyone.

And down here you'll find a secret:

The Lounge Room Confabulators
















This is a last minute addition to my Edinburgh offerings. A show that comes to you. My good friend and master storyteller Wil Greenway, is bringing his solo show A Night to Dismember, to Edinburgh. So we're re-uniting to re-kindle the show that we performed two years ago The Lounge Room Confabulators. This show is performed in peoples homes. The way it works is one person invites us round, they invite their friends, we show up and perform to them and then we leave. And it's pretty cheap too, you just have to pay £5 per person (minimum 6 people) and £20 to cover our taxi to and from your place. If you are interested in booking this show please send an email to talesinyourloungeroom@gmail.com and we can work out a time and date.

The Week After Andrew Left

Added on by Stuart.

(Continued from The Night Before Andrew Left)

Hotel. Andrew sprawls on top of the bed. Naked, stretching his arms and legs like a poorly broken egg, surrounded by the sea of blanket whites. Sun sizzles through the shitty blinds and the blankets get whiter. Andrew flips himself under, to avoid the light.

Lucy's not there, she's in a different country, a different time zone, she's walking with the horizon's old sun in her eyes. The familiar footpath to the post office, in her hand a slip of paper that says she has a parcel to collect. There's a relaxed pigeon in the gutter ahead, soaking up the last bit of sun after a big day. As Lucy approaches, the pigeon, let's call him Steve, Steve freaks out, starts walking away. Freaks out a bit more, starts running. Shits itself and flies into the air. Swoops around and flies straight for Lucy.  Lucy flinches first and the pigeon claps with delight into the distance.

Andrew jolts out of bed, like he's been burnt and his day begins. Shower, slow, like a carwash, he stays still and everything seems to happen outside of him. The rest of the day is like that. He's in the car, he takes his hands off the wheel and he is guided through. 

Lucy sits in the park, holding a shitty tin whistle. She's pretty happy with herself. Blows on it a little too hard and it screeches loud across the park. A dog gets mad and thinks violent thoughts. Lucy's oblivious, happy and foot-tapping like some sort of medieval folkie, it's sickening to watch.

Steve, stands in a circle of friends (and some passers-by who have stopped) beside the fountain and recounts his recent interaction. There is cheering at his victory and a general insurrectionary outrage among most pigeons there. Their day in the sun will come. 

She Was Probably Not A Robot | Edinburgh Previews | Battersea Arts Centre

Added on by Stuart Bowden.




JULY 16 -17

7.30

Battersea Arts Centre


Multi award-winning Australian theatre maker Stuart Bowden (The Beast, The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us) presents his latest prototype invention, a lo-fi-DIY-sci-fi-off-beat-storytelling experience.


Stuart is the co-creator of The Lounge Room Confabulators and also the Singing Tiger in his award-winning collaboration with Dr Brown.


His newest creation is a rambunctious live music/storytelling combo; a surreal, soulful comedy about a decomposing world and a cosmic visitor.