Meet Bottom at Berkeley

About this event

Nicholas Bottom has always dreamt of being a performer. At Nick’s insistence, when just eleven years old, his father grudgingly bought Nicholas an old keyboard, and he taught himself the fundamentals before attending lessons with a purple-haired grandmother down the lane (you know, the one with the Afghan hound called Baboushka). Always in the background and spurned by his peers, who considered him rather ridiculous and certainly no scholar, Nick put his desire to take to the stage on hold for many years…until now. But, just as a peascod will expand and finally burst when exposed to the sun, so has Bottom at last come forth into the light of day (and moonlight) to share his story with you. With more than generous help from a very famous playwright, Nicholas also explores the nature and environment that surround us all, using several of said playwright’s most beloved characters and moments to highlight what we town-dwellers see, yet do not see , in a passionate invocation of the need to save our planet. Much of this is a story you may know. Join Bottom on his journey as he narrates how it all began, muses upon the environment, falls into a daydream, and finally brings his masterpiece, hidden for all these years in the bole of an oak tree in the forest, to fruition at last. Throughout, Bottom will play you his favourite pieces of live piano music, some of which he must admit to having written himself, then hidden from public view.