Born in 1942, writer/performer Pat Griffin grew up in a small rural village on the west coast of Ireland and left school with no formal qualifications. He immigrated to the UK in his early teens and has been a builder ever since.

Expect big laughs, lots of heart, builder’s tea, ham sandwiches and dad gags for this father and daughter caper fusing theatre with comedy and improv. Dad Pat thinks Joanna’s never done an honest day’s work in her life. Daughter Joanna thinks you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Sparked by the death of Joanna’s mum and Pat’s wife, Josie Griffin, Bricking It has grown into a bigger, more urgent quest to ensure no question goes unasked to the ones we love the most. Together, Joanna and Pat want to understand each other’s worlds better.

As a working class builder, Pat’s never stepped foot on a stage in his life. As a middle class artist, Joanna’s never worked a cement mixer or laid a brick before. Over the coming months, alongside the making of the show, Joanna will be learning the tricks of the trade on her dad’s building site. In turn, Pat has been meeting a range of comedians from the UK comedy circuit for writing advice. So far he’s received plenty of pearls of comedy wisdom from Mark Thomas, James Acaster, Richard Herring and Darren Walsh with more to follow in the run up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Upon Josie’s passing, the family home, quite literally, became a building site. Josie was the homemaker, the heartbeat of the house and when Pat set to work, renovating and excavating from the foundations up so arose questions about how to rebuild the home, when the heart is gone. From this personal starting point of the relationship between parent & child asage blurs the distinction between who is caring for who, Bricking It becomes a layered exploration of what theatre could do for those who might not feel it is for them.

Joanna Griffin said: “We’re heading to Edinburgh as it’s cheaper than putting Pat in a nursing home for a month. Collaborating with a non-performer along with the nature of the artistic inquiry behind the show itself, Bricking It is placed at the crossroads of the mainstream and the experimental. Through this, we hope to wave a cheeky finger up to elitism and aim to appeal to a diverse demographic.”

You can see Bricking It at:

Iron Belly, 66 Cowgate, Edinburgh EH9 1JX

Thu 4 – Sun 28 August 2016 (not 16)

Weekdays £9.50 (£8.50), Weekends £10.50 (£9.50)

Previews 4th & 5th £6

Tickets: 0844 545 8252 | www.underbelly.co.uk