Life with Oscar

Part on stage confessional, part on stage exorcism, actor and filmmaker Nick Cohen recounts his rollercoaster journey from Edgware Road in London to Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles trying to crack Hollywood. Growing up, Nick had dreams of Oscar glory but when he touched down in La La Land, things didn’t quite go as planned. Life with Oscar is a dark autobiographical comedy that sees Nick come to terms with the feelings of shame, failure and later redemption from his time in Tinseltown via his Jewish roots and a host of larger-than-life characters from the twisted underbelly of the City of Angels. Nick plays 29 different characters as he relates his journey, including a double Oscar winning housemate who worked with iconic filmmaker Orson Welles and promised Nick an Oscar nomination, the man who modeled the Oscar trophy itself, and a potential future bride who just happens to be the daughter of a psychotic producer. Life with Oscar debuted at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Underbelly) in 2023 before then transferring to the Arcola Theatre in London and touring to the East Coast of the USA in 2024 and venues across the UK in Spring 2025.

Nick said, ‘I was always evasive about what happened to me in Hollywood. It took a long time to understand that the mortifying embarrassment and sense of failure, was - not only something that many people feel about their careers - but also very funny. Having received great responses to the show in Edinburgh, London, and the USA, I am excited to bring Life With Oscar back to more locations across the USA.’

Nick Cohen is a writer, actor, director and producer. He trained with Theatre de Complicite and began his career at the Gate Theatre and the RSC and was later Staff Director at the Royal National Theatre under Trevor Nunn. As Artistic Director of Strange Fish Theatre, he directedThe Power and The Glory (Etcetera Theatre), Good Bones (Southwark Playhouse) and The Taming of The Shrew (Bloomsbury Theatre and international tour) as well as producing Blood Knot (Gate Theatre) which was Time Out Critic’s Choice. Later, Nick trained on the BBC DramaDirector’s Academy directing screen works including feature films London Unplugged, The Reeds, Beginners Luck, TV episodes of Eastenders, Doctors, Channel Four documentary Firing Line, and a number of short fiction films and nonprofit films for the Refugee Council and Migrant Resource Centre.

For mature audiences only.

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