Self-love and serial dating in hilarious solo show BLOWHOLE at Pleasance

BLOWHOLE is an outrageously raw and brazenly queer new comedy depicting life and love in your twenties. Written and performed by Benjamin Salmon (Soho Writer’s Lab, BBC Comedy Room shortlist) this solo show captures a hilariously relatable yet tender portrait of modern life, flipping the rom-com format on its head.

Exploring connection and community in the modern age of serial digital dating and what it’s like to hit millennial rock bottom, BLOWHOLE tells the story of ‘Him’, a single, sexless, grief-stricken yet undeniably fabulous gay man in London, traversing a lifestyle of self-destruction, IBS, and hook-up apps. Presenting queer culture at its most vulnerable, the play offers a frank and human portrayal of life in crisis and self-discovery.

BLOWHOLE is directed by Tom Wright (Undetectable, King’s Head Theatre; My Dad’s Gap Year, Park Theatre) and produced by award-winning production company Deus Ex Machina Productions (Dust; Ride; The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾).

Writer Benjamin Salmon comments, I wrote this play because I wanted to put a gay man centre stage in all his hilarious, problematic, angry, sexually-frustrated, honest, raw, unfiltered, unlikable yet lovable, imperfect glory. I think it's about time that we allow queer characters to rise to the forefront in a way that they're not just an accessory to a protagonist of another story - that they are, instead, allowed to take up the space within their own messy, complicated stories that absolutely fascinate, relate to and connect with modern audiences out there. Now more than ever, we need hard-hitting stories that can also make us laugh... stories that can find a wayinto our hearts so that we can laugh through the pain in our lives, which is what I hope BLOWHOLE and the character of Him capture rather beautifully.

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