Life is about questions: Who am I? What am I doing? Where am I going? And, of course, can I move a cheeseboard four miles only throwing it a hundred times? Tim FitzHigham gives us an energetic, obsessional and historical look at the art of gambling. He trawls through old betting records from the gentlemans’ clubs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, finding oddities like the above cheeseboard bet, and wagering a friend the very same flutter. Mixed with video footage of his attempts to, for example, outrun a horse (a horse, unfortunately for Tim’s reputation, named Cuddles), Tim spins us a wondrous yarn and takes us with him into a world of ridiculous dedication and wilful, bizarre purpose. Highly original.

Pleasance Courtyard, 3 – 28 Aug (not 15, 22 – 25 Aug), 7.30pm (8.30pm), £7.00 – £10.00, fpp158.
tw rating 4/5
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