Nineties Woman wins Best Theatre award!

Nineties Woman was named Theatre of the Year at the Planet London awards last night and has been getting more fab reviews, this time from Feminist Times, Female Arts, The Oxford Times (4 stars), Louder Than War, Diva (5 stars), Bristol 24-7, Broadway Baby (4 stars), Remote Goat (4 stars) and on a blog or two! . See it on tour: March 21 at Oxford Burton Taylor Studio, on March 29 at Courtyard Hereford, May 2 at Summerhall Edinburgh, May 4 at Exeter Phoenix, May 17 at Bristol Festival of Ideas and May 30 at Cambridge Junction

Rosie in print again

Rosie has been included in a new anthology of coming out stories published by Accent Press alongside celebrity names Sue Perkins, Gareth Thomas and more. Order the book Its Ok To Be Gay

Multiple Award Nominations!

Rosie has been nominated in several categories in the Planet London awards - for best comedian, for best radio show (Out in South London) and for best theatre (Nineties Woman). Vote here

Is Monogamy Dead? press coverage

Check out Rosie's articles about monogamy for The Independent and Pride Life (look out for another in The Sunday Times Style section soon) and interview with The Skinny and Buzz mag

Camden Fringe performance on 29th July had 4 star reviews from Everything Theatre and James Waygood of What's Peen Seen and more on his own blog Grumpy Gay Critic. And more rave reviews from Diva, Erotic Review, The F Word and Squeamish Bikini. And while Broadway Baby's reviewer had a few reservations about the props (which admittedly weren't highly rehearsed that night) he said 'she has a brilliant and natural comedy mind and future' and enjoyed the 'wickedly cutting jokes and wonderful takes on sexuality' in a 3 star review.

A London performance at Canada Water Culture Space had this 5 star review from Planet London and another great one from Pink News.

Bloomsbury Bonanza

Rosie will be performing, not once but twice, at the fabulous Bloomsbury Theatre in September. On September 11th she has been invited by comedy god Stewart Lee to join him, Shazia Mirza, Rob Newman and others on the bill at Resofit fundraising gala comedy night for Resonance 104.4FM. Then on the 30th she joins the line up for the Stonewall Comedy Gala Girls' Night Out with Jen Brister, Zoe Lyons, Kerry Godliman and more, after a rapturously received set at the event last year.

Rosie on BBC Radio 4 late night sex show!

On Monday 12th August, Rosie was invited to join Susie Orbach, Suzy Godson and more with presenter Jane Garvey in a late night discussion about sex as part of Radio 4's Summer Nights season. She also chatted about monogamy and sex recently on the Three Weeks podcast.

Rosie on the radio

Rosie will be talking about her show The Science of Sex on BBC Radio Wales on Tuesday 16th July at 12.30pm and joining the news panel on the Ian Collins show on LBC on Saturday 27th July

Rosie's article in GAZE

Rosie has an article in the latest issue of Paul Burston and Julie Bindel's Gaze magazine. Download it here

Lovely press for Nineties Woman show

Nineties Woman was featured on The Telegraph Women's page and reviewed by Planet London and The F Word who both said some lovely things  ...
‘If you were ever an angry student, or if you’ve ever looked back at your life and thought that used to really mean something to me, this one-woman show is for you… Witty, empathetically nostalgic, and incredibly well narrated’ Planet London ‘hilarious adventure story involving a blurring of personal and political history grounded by a good dose of twenty-first century cynicism’ The F Word

And, just in, a great 4 star review on What's Peen Seen by James Waygood who tweeted that the show was 'a charming and very funny joy' 

Edinburgh and Camden Fringe press release and a survey for you to fill in!

 

Rosie Wilby: Is Monogamy Dead?

Baillie Room, Assembly Hall
1-25 Aug (not 12) at 17.15
(preview at Camden Fringe July 29 at Camden Head at 9.30pm)

Did you know that only a few dozen, out of the approximately 4000 mammal species on the planet, form anything like lifelong pair bonds? And that, according to recent statistics, as many as 60% of married men and 50% of women have had sex with someone other than their spouse whilst married?* But why haven’t we talked about this? Until now…

Prompted by a rash of monogamy-bashing by high profile authors and thinkers including Alain de Botton, the breakdown of several close friends’ long term partnerships and an unlikely conversation about open relationships in Northampton, comedian and disgruntled serial monogamist Rosie Wilby presents a loose sequel to her Fringe Report Award winning 2009/10 show The Science Of Sex (which she recently performed in New York) after making a pact with her best friend that they are going to become ‘sex sirens’ in their early 40s – whatever that means.

Rosie investigates age-old conflicts between freedom and commitment and between the pace of modern dating and the views of couples who have managed to stay together and goes in search of people who have chosen a polyamorous lifestyle with multiple partners. ‘There’s some great language here’ she laughs, ‘the term ‘polysaturated’ has been coined to describe reaching a threshold of as many partners as one can handle at a given time. Meanwhile a Male-Female couple seeking a mythical bisexual woman to complete their perfect fantasy triangle are known as ‘unicorn hunters’ in search of their ‘Poly Grail’.’

She also presents the results of her anonymous online survey on fidelity and her own Family Fortunes-esque quiz to ponder what actually counts as infidelity, whether any of us agree on this and what other secrets monogamous couples keep from one another and asks ‘now we have same sex marriage, where are the married dating sites for lesbians?’ Plus her disastrous attempt to find some sexual misadventure at a supposedly erotic ‘lesbian sauna’ (everyone ended up chatting and cleaning) and a dash of erotic cereal eating to test out abstinence advocate John Harvey Kellogg’s theory that a balanced diet including cornflakes would reduce sexual feelings.

Rosie says: ‘I’ve started wondering if in order to be happy, human beings need both the loving security and companionship of a partner and the passion offered up by a lover. These two distinct sets of needs are rarely met by the same person at the same time. If we could ever establish a society where having one of each was the norm, then maybe we could eradicate the need for affairs entirely.’

Funny Women Finalist 2006 Rosie has appeared on BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends, Midweek and Woman's Hour and at festivals including Glastonbury, Latitude and Green Man. Her writing has been published in The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Time Out and more.

Get involved in the discussion! Fill in Rosie's survey here.

'Excellent and a bit posh' Time Out

‘…a whole host of laughs, mostly laugh out loud belly laughs. Rosie rocked it’ **** Geoff Evans, one4review

For further info please see www.rosiewilby.com and / or contact Liz Hyder on 07939 372 865, liz@lizhyder.co.uk or on Twitter @LondonBessie

*Barker, Meg – Rewriting The Rules, p99 (Routledge, 2013)

Science Of Sex at Larmer Tree Festival

The Science Of Sex will be on at Larmer Tree Festival on Friday 19th July at 2pm in The Playground area

Rosie's piece opens new anthology Queer Episodes

Rosie's piece was selected to open new poetry and prose anthology Queer Episodes from publisher Little Episodes. Other featured contributors include Jonathan Kemp, Clayton Littlewood and more and proceeds go to the Albert Kennedy Trust.

Edinburgh Fringe 2013

Rosie's brand new stand up show 'Is Monogamy Dead?' appears at Assembly Rooms at Edinburgh Fringe 2013 this August and investigates polyamory, infidelity, married dating sites, the neuroscience of long term commitment and the results of her own sex survey.

Watch trailer for Nineties Woman

Rosie's latest multimedia storytelling show Nineties Woman received support from Arts Council England and premiered in March at Shout Festival in Birmingham. Part documentary, part live show, she traces the collective of women who produced York University women's newspaper Matrix to find out what they're all doing now. If you were involved with Matrix, particularly in the late 90s, please get in touch via the contact page. The show appears at the Exhibit Cinema in Balham on May 16th and on July 2nd as part of the Face to Face festival of Solo Theatre at the Lost Theatre in Wandsworth. Post show discussions about DIY publishing saw Rosie meeting a group of Birmingham women had to duplicate their earlier feminist zine on a Banda machine (google it)

Watch the trailer here

New York New York!

Rosie's spoof lecture on love and attraction The Science Of Sex has been selected for Fresh Fruit Festival in New York in July

Photos from What The Frock showcase at WOW fest

See What The Frock! Facebook page for lots of lovely pics from the event on Sunday 10th March which was a real blast

Brand new multimedia solo show AND exciting new Femmes line up

Rosie's popular Femmes by the Thames night returns to Battersea Barge as part of Wandsworth Arts Festival this May with guests including Diane Morgan (Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe, Two Episodes of Mash). At the festival you can also catch a performance of her brand new multi media show Nineties Woman that traces what happened to the collective of women she produced a feminist newspaper with at University. Nineties Woman premiered at Shout Festival at mac in March. Read the full Wandsworth brochure here.

Rosie will be MC at a What The Frock comedy showcase as part of the South Bank's annual Women of the World Festival with Shazia Mirza and Danielle Ward on Sunday March 10th from 3.30pm - 4.30pm

Final ever dates of Britpop show this March - tickets onsale

March sees the final mini tour of Rosie's autobiographical storytelling, music and comedy show How (not) to Make It In Britpop. It visits Brighton Marlborough Theatre on the 1st, Halifax Square Chapel Centre for the Arts on the 2nd, Stafford Gatehouse MET studio on the 16th and drops in for a special performance at the LGF building in Manchester at 7pm prompt on Sunday 17th

Rosie's article about testosterone and comedy

Rosie's latest article for Bitch Buzz is in response to a recent article in Wired linking high testosterone levels with risk taking behaviour

Planet London review of new work in progress show

Katie and Naomi from Planet London came along to Rosie's work in development performance of new show Absolute Love at the Canal Cafe Theatre last week. Read their review here