PIECES OF STRAND ...

Glorified Disasters   /   Three sad stories - One funny guy

Consumerist excess at a Christmas toilet paper promotion in New York City. 

The lengths to which a young actor will go to fit into the cut throat world of Sarasota dinner theatre.  

A fight between brothers at the after-party for a children’s musical in Belgium.  

Separately, these stories are at turns hilarious, absurd, touching, sad.  

Together, they constitute a profound meditation on the sacrifices and sources of a life in the theatre. Ashley has performed these stories in Washington, DC, New York City, Cape Cod, Cork City, and Edinburgh. The show works in comedy club, theatre, and festival settings.

---

Strand’s ability to wring the extraordinary out of the banal has a redemptive quality to it.  Stories that are, on their surface, depressing laments become, under the frenzied scrutiny of Strand’s neurotic over-analysis, life-affirming celebrations.

                            - DC Theatre Scene

Commanding … invigorating … Strand needs to go solo, and fast. 
                                                                                                             
                            - Three Weeks

The Vile Blog on Ashley
    (and what I really said)

The Herald Scotland on Ashley
    (and what I really said)
 

Greg Stedman              Aug 18, 2012

Fantastic - best free show I have ever seen. Better than many paid shows too... sharp, hilarious written material, delivered with easy confidence. Think David Sedaris at his confessional best, but better. Talented, very likeable guy - go and see him!


Susan Walton                Aug 7, 2012

God this was really super. Gripping, funny, disturbing, storytelling with no flaws in the delivery as far as I could tell - maybe I was too busy laughing though. Really shockingly clever. Take advice from a complete stranger who can't review for toffee - just go and see this.

link

Emily Badiozzaman      Aug 4, 2012

Ashley Strand: Glorified Disasters 5*

2009 Hong Kong Comedy Festival Winner Ashley Strand has brought Glorified Disasters to Edinburgh and thank God he has. His show focuses on three stories; consumerist excess at a Christmas toilet paper promotion in New York City, the unexpected situation he as a young actor finds himself in whilst in Sarasota and a fight between two brothers ending in humiliation in Belgium. All three are a refreshing approach to comedy. He need not bounce around the stage attempting to make the mundane comical, for his content immediately intrigues and his delivery is perfect.

Whilst it is admittedly difficult to decipher whether it is stand up or spoken word, the answer is irrelevant. The three stories pull you in with their tender yet hysterical climaxes and forge a connection between the audience and the real life characters. Besides which, you are clearly told at the beginning that you are going to be told a story. Each tale, though very different from the last, has a lucidity to it.