Des Bishop back in New York

“As young kids we thought that was very entertaining. He was not an actor in our lifetime as he gave it up because he thought it was not a stable enough job to raise a family. So I always wanted to tell the story of his two lives and also that sacrifice that he made for us to give up the career that he loved,” said Bishop.

On creating a show that requires him to be very personal Bishop said it took more time than normal “because you have to get the balance right between the emotion and the humor.”

He said, “I did not want to be completely flippant about serious things such as how illness affects relationships in a family. However I did not want it to become a one-man drama piece.”

To date Bishop’s show has been a success. He performed the show in Edinburgh and received rave reviews including five stars in The Guardian.

Audiences have also had a strong emotional response to the show with people sometimes sneaking backstage in tears to share with Bishop why they thought the show had such a strong effect on them.

“It’s not that hard to be funny about it though as telling stories about how three boys thought it was cool that their dad had bits of parts in movies is not very serious.

“Also anyone who has dealt with cancer in their family knows that there are some funny things that happen when a family comes back together for extended periods after not being together for years.”

He added, “Plus it’s a nice way to take something that is quite intense and turn it into something that is a bit of fun for all of us in the family. Cancer sucks and there is nothing you can do about that so you might as well attempt to bring some joy into a bad situation.”

While in New York Bishop will stage five shows from Thursday, October 7 to Sunday, October 10 at the Barrow Street Theatre. www.barrowstreettheatre.com

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Nster.com