Vertigo Theatre's DESPERATELY SEEKING THE EXIT Hits Manchester Tonight, July 30

Award-nominated Vertigo Theatre Productions are bringing a new show and its star from New York to Manchester for its UK Premiere prior to a 4 week run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Writer/performer Peter Michael Marino presents a comic autopsy on his £4 million West End flop Desperately Seeking Susan in DESPERATELY SEEKING THE EXIT, directed by Obie Award winner John Clancy.

"We have never taken on a project before that we are not writing/directing/producing/casting etc, but this just felt so right," says Craig Hepworth, the co-owner of Vertigo. "It's rare that anybody involved in a flop musical can laugh and talk about it, Peter does this with such flair that we knew we had to produce this show here in Manchester."

In 2007, Marino wrote a huge musical based on the American film Desperately Seeking Susan featuring the music of the American band Blondie. It opened on London’s West End…and closed a month later. WHOOPS!

This comic solo train ride about a collective train wreck fills in the blanks of how the musical was made and unmade. From hatching the idea, to deals with producers, MGM, Debbie Harry and even Madonna; all the way to thrilling workshops, dangerous previews, scathing reviews, closing night and beyond. This 60-minute true tale not only traces the evolution of the high-profile musical from conception to closing, but the journey of an American writer finding his voice in a foreign country that speaks the same language.

Vertigo Theatre Productions bring the show to Manchester’s Taurus Bar for two nights only: tonight, July 30th and July 31st at 8pm. This is a rare treat for any theatre fan, laugh out loud and a great backstage insight. Desperately Seeking The Exit is one of the most exciting fringe shows of the year.

Peter Michael Marino is a writer, actor, director and teacher. He received the 2010 and 2011 Backstage Reader’s Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Teacher for his acclaimed “Flying Solo” classes at The PIT. He also received the Back Stage Bistro Award for his cabaret spoof, Lance Jonathan: More About Me! He is the co-writer of the lesbian pulp homage Hollywood Nurses. He has directed and developed shows with Delilah Dix (Ars Nova, Laurie Beechman Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe), Mark Giordano’s Mad Man (The PIT), Sheila Head’s Head Games (IO West, Ars Nova), and Alicia Levy’s Chickapalooza (The PIT, Ars Nova). As a performer, he appeared in STOMP for five years off-Broadway and on tour, as well as in numerous regional productions and workshops.

John Clancy is an Obie Award-winning director, playwright, and a partner in Clancy Productions, an acclaimed international theatrical touring and Production Company. He is the founding Artistic Director of The Present Company and a founding Artistic Director of The New York International Fringe Festival. He has directed six Scotsman Fringe First winning productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, including Americana Absurdum (Brian Parks), Cincinnati (Don Nigro), Horse Country (C.J. Hopkins), screwmachine/eycandy (C.J. Hopkins) and his own Fatboy. Both Horse Country and Cincinnati went on to win The Best of the Fringe Award at the Adelaide Fringe in 2004. In 2002 he received a Glasgow Herald Angel for excellence in direction at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. John was awarded The New York Magazine Award in 1997 for “creativity, enterprise and vision”.

Photography by David Rodgers

Craig Hepworth is a former musical theatre actor who now owns and is the artistic director of the popular Manchester Fringe Theatre company Vertigo Theatre Productions. The company have scored big hits with original plays written by him and his writing partner as well as producing, Directing and starring in the UK Premiere of Dog Sees God. Theatre is his number one love (as well as his partner of course) and if not working on a new play he’s normally reviewing other peoples plays for a UK Theatre site.Aside from his love of theatre he can be found In bars, cinemas or gossiping on Facebook, or he will be found embracing his second love....campy TV shows.

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