Maria DeCotis Sets London & Edinburgh Stage Debut In BEFORE THE DRUGS KICK IN

A 62-year-old woman in an insane asylum closes her eyes and becomes a 28-year-old stand-up comedian. But not just any stand-up comedian, a comedian who had the potential to become the greatest of all time.

Before The Drugs Kick In is a rare, intimate blend of stand-up comedy and theatre giving the audience access to a voice that could have provided the world with decades of laughs and cultural commentary, if we never locked her away.

Before The Drugs Kick In uses the magical elements of stand-up comedy, theatre plus nostalgia to rewrite history in hopes of creating a little closure and comfort before the lights go out. Inspired by personal experience, the delivery of Dave Chappelle, Netflix's Russian Doll and HBO's Hacks, the show is a tribute to anyone, especially young mothers of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, who society wrote off as crazy instead of giving them an opportunity to live. The show contains distressing themes with strong language.

NYC comedian and actress Maria DeCotis will bring comedian Lynn T. Walsh to life in Before The Drugs Kick In for two preview performances at the Barons Court Theatre in London (28-29 July, 9pm, tickets) before premiering the show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world, for 22 performances with theSpaceUK inside Theatre 2 at the bustling Surgeons Hall (12:55pm, 50 minutes, tickets).

DeCotis recently made her Broadway debut as Mike Birbiglia's understudy for The New One. Her work has been featured in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Guardian, Vogue and shared by Ben Stiller, Stephen Colbert, Natasha Lyonne and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Recent credits include Comedy Central, HBO's Women in Comedy Festival, the New York Comedy Festival.

Before The Drugs Kick In is written and directed by NYC comedian and playwright Mike Lemme, who made his Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2022 with his play Bathroom of a Bar on Bleecker ('enthralling ... a raw outpouring of comedy and drama' *****, The Wee Review). Lemme started performing stand-up at the appropriate age of 14. He has spent nearly 20 years making his unique experiences relatable by revealing everything about himself through his material and characters to sold out, and nowhere near sold out, crowds whenever, wherever he can.

Performance Details: 

Showtimes

London:

28-29 July, 9PM at Barons Court Theatre

Click here to purchase tickets from the theatre's box office.

Edinburgh:

4-26 Aug (Not 13th), 12:55pm (50 minutes)

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall - Theatre 2

Click here to purchase tickets from the Fringe Box Office

For more information on Maria DeCotis:

Twitter: @MariaDeCotis

Instagram: @MariaDeCotis

Website: mariadecotis.com

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