I'M NOT BEING FUNNY Extends Run at Bush Theatre

Due to box-office demand, I'm Not Being Funny by Piers Black has announced an extension to its run at Bush Theatre. Piers Black's play about hope, endings, and how to survive if a knock-knock joke hits you in the gut, previews at Bush Theatre from 7 May before transferring to Bristol Old Vic.

I'm Not Being Funny follows a couple of young parents who face a cancer diagnosis, and their determination to use stand-up comedy as a tool to wrestle with their mortality and cope with the situation.

I'm Not Being Funny is written based on Piers' own experience of living with cancer in his 20s, but is not an autobiographical play. With a noticeable increase in cancer cases in under-30s, it is an authentic and unique portrayal of living with cancer.

It is estimated that there are currently more than 3 million people living with cancer in the UK, rising to 4 million by 2030 and 5.3 million by 2040, and there is a noticeable increase in cases amongst those aged under 30, prompting a reassessment of a ‘typical' patient and their circumstances, an aspect explored in I'm Not Being Funny, which challenges the image of infirmity.

In I'm Not Being Funny Billie and Peter lock themselves in their living room until they've got a ‘tight five', delving through their past for material. But some jokes hurt, and laughter isn't always the best medicine. With the clock ticking and nothing but a baby monitor for an audience, they wrestle with the spotlight as questions about their future are forced to the surface. 

Piers Black is a writer and director, and Artistic Director of award-winning Ransack Theatre. His play My Dad Hunts Bears was a finalist for the Papatango Prize and developed on attachment at The National Theatre Studio. His show Catching Comets was nominated for a Fringe First, won an OffComm Award, and toured nationally following its Edinburgh Fringe premiere. He won the BBC Alfred Bradley Bursary Award for his radio play Human Resources, which was later broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as Drama of the Week. Other work has been staged at HighTide, the Royal Exchange, HOME, and the Bolton Octagon. He has been invited to the Soho Theatre Writers' Lab and BBC Northern Voices, shortlisted for the Kudos Writers' Award, and named a finalist in the Shore Script Short Film competition. As a director, Piers has worked at The National Theatre, Almeida, Royal Exchange, Lyric Hammersmith, HOME, The Yard, and Theatre503. He is currently developing new work with The National Theatre Studio and The Lowry and will direct at Soho Theatre later this year.