What did happen, and what might have happened if I hadn’t gone blind ten years
ago…

“An extremely clever one-man show that cries out for a bigger stage” ★★★★ Edinburgh Festivals Magazine (Ed Fest Mag)

Ten years on from losing most of his sight, the ‘deliciously talented’ (Guardian) Tom Skelton looks back at a decade of being blind and wonders what might have been. His 2020 visions explore his regrets, the what ifs, and the realities of life as a VIP (Visually Impaired Person!). Skelton ruefully imagines his sighted self going on to shape the last ten years of history, but would Tom from 2020 really swap places with fantasy Tom with 20:20 vision?

Tom developed Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (a genetic eye condition that runs in his family) ten years ago, leaving him with 5% vision, and first noticed some loss of sight at the Edinburgh Fringe, when fellow performers onstage became blurry, and he started to struggle to read the information on tickets. His sight quickly deteriorated and he was diagnosed weeks later at the end of 2009. This obviously changed the next decade of Tom’s life irreversibly and in this show, Tom envisions the 2010s if he had not lost his sight and contrasts these dreams with the reality of living with his disability.

“A wonderful narrator” (Times); “Exceptionally funny, clever and original”(Weekend Notes); “Skelton is f**king funny” ★★★★ (Funny Tonne); “Uniquely lovable both as a person and an artist”★★★★ (Fourth Wall); “Inventive and very enjoyable” ★★★★ (Mirror).

Tom Skelton is a British character comedian and improviser, who happens to be visually impaired, registered blind.

Tom first examined blindness and disability in his comedy when he told the story of his own sight loss and the history of blindness in his seminal show Blind Man’s Bluff , which had smash hit runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, Perth Fringe World and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. His follow up show, Blind Eye Spy, imagined an improbable adventure in his future as a blind spy in post-Brexit Berlin, and now in 2020 Visions Tom looks at the decade in between; both the blind reality and sighted fantasy. This is Tom’s debut appearance at BATS and at NZ Fringe after numerous successful festivals across the world. 2020 Visions (If I hadn’t gone blind) is his sixth solo show overall after Foolball, the history of the greatest football (soccer!) club that never existed, 2016’s dystopian Orwellian satire 2061, Tom Skelton’s Macbeth, his one man take on ‘The Scottish Play’, Blind Man’s Bluff and Blind Eye Spy.

Aside from his solo shows, Tom has been performing for well over a decade, in a variety of genres – from madcap sketch to experimental stand-up – and he has established himself as one of the stars of the UK improvised comedy scene, being labelled by London improv impresario Steve Roe as “one of my favourite improvisers to watch ever”.

Tom stars in Edinburgh sell-out smashes Adventures of the Improvised Sherlock Holmes (‘Rife with moments of sparkle and intelligence… copious amounts of talent’ ★★★★ – Plays to See), plays with hit London outfit Shoot From the Hip, performs with Melbourne improv giants The Big Hoo Haa, and is a founding member of UK improv comedy sensations Racing Minds: ‘Crafted by the gods of comedy ★★★★★’ (Three Weeks). Racing Minds appeared on BBC Radio 6 Music, were nominated for the 2015 & 2016 Perth Fringe World Comedy Award, and have over 600,000 followers on SoundCloud for their Wireless Podcast.

In terms of writing stuff down with other people and then trying to remember and then perform them, Tom and Dylan Townley wrote, directed and starred in Freshwoman with a cracking ensemble cast of comic actors, which sold out Oxford’s Burton Taylor Studio: ‘It’s hard to describe just how funny the best moments were… An unbeatable hour of comedy’ (Oxford Theatre Review). More recently, Tom teamed up with one of his best friends Tom GK, who happens to be hearing impaired, to write Did You Hear What I Saw? A show about friendship, disability, and being silly on stage aimed specifically at and created for children with disabilities: ★★★★ ‘Honest, beautiful and heartwarming’ (Fourth Wall).

Tom’s monthly London night, Cheeky Blinders, which he hosts with fellow VIP Douglas Walker is taking a hibernation while Tom gallivants about in Australia and NZ. Tom has featured on ABC Radio National, BBC.

BATS Theatre, Studio
28 Feb – 4 March 2020
7:30pm, Sunday At 6:30pm
Full Price $22
Group 6+ $20
Concession Price $17
Preview ticket price $17
Addict Cardholder preview $12
Addict Cardholder $15
BOOK TICKETS

Accessibility
*Access to The Studio is via stairs, so please contact the BATS Box Office at least 24 hours in advance if you have accessibility requirements so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Read more about accessibility at BATS.

Theatre , Solo ,

1 hr