Gone To The Dogs

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 | Gilded Balloon Wine Bar | 2nd - 27th August | 4:00pm

Alone in her shabby bedsit, a forgotten Britannia sits, haunted by tunes on the radio and memories of a faded past, singing grief and lost glory.

Moving through a world of shadows from Arthurian myth to Brexit malaise, this mesmeric mix of theatre and song cycle explores imperial nostalgia, war memorialisation and the impossible longing for a lost golden age. Looped madrigals and cabaret cantatas mix with violin odes to evoke the fractured rituals of a magpie past.

Written during and inspired by the isolation of lockdown, this new work from ‘Brechtian Kate Bush’ TSarzi is a study of England as it is now: hooked on the past and wary of the future. A genre-defying piece both astute and absurd, Gone to the Dogs is a show about nostalgia and lost identity – both of self and nation; of the tyranny of memory and the fear of irrelevancy.

  • ★★★★

    “Compelling and unique… a must see”

    Neurodierse Review

  • Highly Recommended Show

    "An absurdist take on the welcome demise of faded pageantry… Tsarzi has fully embraced the dichotomy of Empire and made this very much a piece about emotional pull."

    Fringe Review

  • ★★★★

    “A ramshackle, half-arsed cabaret for a nation in decline… a warped, bitter memorial service… razor sharp.”

    The Scotsman

  • “A satirical reflection on empire and propoganda, emphasising the need for individuality and creativity… bold and intruiging… an interest and thought-provoking piece, one that will leave you thinking about it long after attending.”

    The Wee Review

Meet The Artist

Tzarsi, a white woman with wavy brown hair and a fringe, stands against a yellow background holding up a vintage radio to the left of her face and smiling into the camera. She is wearing a blue, white and orange patterned kimono with wide sleeves.

TSarzi is the stage name of award-winning multidisciplinary music artist Sarah Sharp. Her 2018 debut album Last Decade of Love was praised by Glastonbury Emerging Talent judges as ‘wonderfully observational, witty and blissfully imaginative’. On BBC 6Music, Tom Robinson selected the track Bad Indie Movie as the ‘most imaginative record’ he heard all year. In 2017 her music video Ornaments won the South Yorkshire Filmmakers’ Network grand jury prize. She has opened for alt-folk acts including Laura J Martin and Richard Dawson and been dubbed ‘Kate Bush at her most Brechtian’ by Now Then Magazine (Sheffield) for her theatrical stage manner. Frequent comparisons by live audiences and listeners reference acts such as Amanda Palmer, Nina Simone, Regina Spektor - and Victoria Wood.