Lisa Wolfe , Brighton Fringe Review , May 2023 |
David Stubbs. Journalist/Writer. 'Arts on the Green', Stoke Newington, London, October 12th 2024An excellent evening last night at the Unitarian church in Stoke Newington with Roshi Nasehi. So glad to have been a plus one to this. The event was called Toy Stories, a sort of lecture-cum-stand-up routine-cum-memoir-cum-political tract-cum artwork by Chris Dobrowolski. Ultimately, he is an artist and his lavishly illustrated talk, featuring hundreds upon hundreds of slides as well as video clips showed the logical workings of how artists arrive at their practice, their recurring motifs and preoccupations, chief of which for Chris is Scalextric. Using that, and a plethora of accessories associated with Scalextric - plastic track marshalls, etc - he presented a piece full of fun callbacks, great silliness, repurposing of unconsidered trifles but also Nazism, the aftermath of World War II, the detestable modern-day Tories and the distinction between Nazis - rigid in their outlook and fascism, which is more insidiously fluid. Funny, moving, arresting, extremely pertinent. It should be a film, a narrative voice and series of images a la Robinson In Space.
I bought one of his tea towels! Also, the Unitarians, now there's a church I can get along with. They are actively involved in promoting arts events - and they don't believe in God. Cool, all round. |
Richard Jordan
|
CHRIS NEVILLE-SMITH'S BLOG ON THEATRE REVIEWS OF STUFF THAT'S GOOD
|
“Keen sense of the absurd” Reviews Aug 15, 2024 by Natasha Tripney. Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh The Stage |
"Reviewing the reviews " a note from me
(Chris Dobrowolski) The Stage wrote a nice review with little in it that could be read as negative. However Natasha Tripney only gave the show 3 stars. In the competitive environment of the Edinburgh Fringe festival anything less than 4 stars is about as welcome as a cup of warm sick. I've had a four star review in the past that was far more critical than this one. It would have been nice if people had read Tripney's review at the time but sadly it was behind a pay wall and the only thing you could see were the derisory 3 stars and the word 'rambling'. Not quite sure what the intention was with this review but it made promoting the show at Edinburgh a bit of an uphill struggle. This review was quickly followed by another mediocre one in Broadway Baby where I think the author mistook me for a stand up comedian. The reviewer chortled all the way through the first half but didn't 'get' the second half which diverges into the intricacies of right wing politics. I actually noticed them pull out their laptop midway through the show and start writing there and then. As a result I got the feeling they didn't give it a lot of thought. One line in the review describes 'Toy Stories' as 'whimsical' - An odd turn of phrase for a show about sociopaths, Scalextric and Nazis! Annoyingly, out of all the reviews 'Toy Stories' received, it's this 'half arsed' shit one that comes up first in a Google search. Ironically one of the subjects touched upon in 'Toy Stories' is 'advertising and marketing'. With two unhelpful reviews under our belt the only form of marketing open to us at this point was to use our flyers to engage with the public. Myself and my colleague Paul Bourne quickly realised however that as two miserable, middle aged men we probably weren't the worlds best marketing tool. |
There was a lot of very positive feedback from members of the public that came to the show (often turning up by chance). Some of them were even motivated to write some glowing accounts on the Fringe website. The following are a selection of these:
Geoff Stevens What does it mean to succeed as an artist? Big bucks in an auction room, or pursuing your obsessions to connect people, places and the past? Chris D took me on a trip through 20th century history, showing how art practice, sincerely performed, enriches us all. I closed my eyes and Charlie Croker played by Michael Caine was telling me about a failed escape down the Humber. Definitely worth seeing if you've ever thought that Art has disappeared up its own arse. Not all of it has... |
Juliet May
What a great show! It was funny, intriguing, surprising and inspiring. We booked by chance and after four long days at the fringe, this show was my highlight. Possibly my favorite public review on the fringe website was written by a very sweet American couple with a great sense of humour: Scott Leventhal What a terrific show! Chris was very funny, self-deprecating and entertaining while presenting a thoughtful and personal story arc. It felt like he was talking just to us, and we were thoroughly engaged and amused. An absolute joy! I was talking 'just to them!' - They were the only people in the audience that day. Rather belatedly I discovered I had a contact in the Edinburgh art scene - Neil Davidson aka 'Thermos museum'. We are mutual fans of each others work. Having seen the show, Neil set about rallying his support base to come and see it. The audience size suddenly swelled and we had a sense that numbers could continue to pick up from here after this boost. Unfortunately this was the very last show of the run. We finished on a bit of a high but we had no choice afterwards but to pack up the set, bundle it into the car and go home. |