One of the more unusual plays on show at the GM Fringe in July will be Ruth Berkoff's returning hit The Beauty of Being Herd (Cockatoo Club, Richmond Street, Manchester, July 16-17)
In the one-woman comedy, Hannah has decided to live as a sheep. She's cool with it. She's also got a song about why sheep are great.
The show uses original songs, clowning and some heartfelt moments to discuss how hard it is to be a human, and how fitting-in and understanding the way the world works can be especially tricky for some.
The play, written by Ruth with Georgia Murphy (former associate director at Bolton Octagon) and Alice Robinson of independent theatre school Performers' Playground, has been doing the rounds of festivals and touring for some months, and was last seen in Manchester at Salford's Kings Arms in January. Ruth admits to adding and subtracting elements of the script so each return is a little different from previous ones.
Beauty of Being Herd is a funny, tender show with comedy, original songs and a few gut punches and will strike a chord with anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. Which is pretty much all of us...
More info and tickets here