Review: 7 Day Drunk

AS far as ideas for an art project go, it sounds like something dreamt up by a group of teenagers at 2am, after a heavy night at the students’ union.

And 7 Day Drunk does exactly what the title suggests, with performance artist Bryony Kimmings spending seven days in a studio, drunk on spirits, apparently with the aim of seeing if intoxication improves her creative output. The show mixes video footage of Kimmings’ drunken week with explanations of the project, on-stage stunts, songs performed on an 80s-style children’s keyboard and audience participation – with one young woman being invited up on stage to see if downing six shots of vodka makes her drunk. (It does).

But while Kimmings is undeniably amusing at times, the main problem with 7 Day Drunk is that the project is neither as funny nor as innovative as she thinks it is.

As much as she tries to dress it up as a worthwhile experiment, bringing in psychologists and scientists to lend it extra gravitas, most of the video footage from her drunken week is something you could see first-hand by popping into any bar in Broomhill at closing time.

It’s clear that Kimmings has a troubled relationship with alcohol, but while attempting to be deliberately “kooky” she comes across not as entertaining or shocking, but as irritating. However, by coming up with such a patchy show, Kimmings has at least proved one thing – vodka doesn’t seem to improve an artist’s creativity.