A playwright from Toryglen is set to perform his own emotional “rollercoaster” show to coincide with World Mental Health Awareness Day.
Lorenzo Novani’s semi-autobiographical one-man show; Cracked Tiles, is set in a fish and chip shop, and features comedy drawn from real life events.
Lorenzo took inspiration for the play from memories of his dad. He owned a chip shop and like so many people, tried to hide his worries and anxieties from his family but events from his childhood are engraved in Lorenzo’s memories.
Cracked Tiles will run for three nights in Glasgow and tackles mental health themes, especially in males. Lorenzo hopes it will help others by opening up discussions and he is holding a Q&A session after each performance.
The charity Men Matter Scotland will also be on hand offering information and support.
“I want people to explore the true aspects and themes of the show,” said Lorenzo.
The 41-year-old, who grew up in East Kilbride, is also an amazing magician but got into acting to improve his stage presence.
“I’ve been performing for about 15 years now. I was in a boring sales job when I was at uni and someone showed me a magic trick, it sent me down a rabbit-hole of learning magic,” said Lorenzo.
“I started to become the go-to guy for magic tricks but I wasn’t very good at performing – projecting my voice, telling a story and holding an audience. So I started acting classes and realised I loved acting and wanted to pursue that.
“I successfully auditioned for drama school but wasn’t offered a place. They told me to come back again next year, but I decided to write my own story and make it a theatre show instead. So that’s what has become Cracked Tiles.
“It’s set in a chip shop. My family ran chip shops for years and my dad had one in Paisley.
“My dad was very generous and loyal, and the show is a bit of a tribute to him.”
Lorenzo’s one-man show has already earned a host of five-star reviews since he first performed it and has left audiences spellbound.
“The audience can expect a really impactful story that has a real ring of authenticity,” he continued. “It’s a play about a father and son and there’s a lot of humour in it. You can expect to laugh and genuinely cry, it’s a rollercoaster.”
The idea for the play came about through a situation Lorenzo found myself in with his dad when he was 14. It was only after he died that he decided to write about the experience and the unanswered questions he was left with.
Lorenzo added: “I had a very rude awakening and realised something was wrong with my dad. It was a confusing time. It’s only when you get time to out a bit of distance between you and what happened that you realise the impact.
“I’ve also worked with the charity CALM [Campaign Against Living Miserably] before and I’ve used the show to raise awareness of what they do in terms of suicide prevention.
“The nice thing about doing this is you connect with people and share similar experiences. People often come up after the show and tell me how it resonated with them.”
Cracked Tiles will be performed on October 10 – World Mental Health Awareness Day – at the headquarters of Acting Coach Scotland, which is situated at the Old Gym Theatre, Harmony Row, Govan in Glasgow.
The initial performance is already sold out but there are tickets available for two further shows at the venue on Friday and Saturday, October 11 and 12.
Tickets priced from £11 to £16 are available from: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cracked-tiles-award-winning-theatre-show-tickets-920822985337
Or they can be purchased via: www.lorenzo.live
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