“I lost my mom before I could get over the embarrassment of her being my mother”

Praise for How To Write a Eulogy that Kills at the Hollywood Fringe
“It is at times funny, at times sad, at times angry, and always touching” CA Highways
WINNER: Encore Producer’s Award

Angela Beevers grew up knowing that one day, by hook or by crook, she would escape from her small town and her hippy-dippy artist, renaissance fair enthusiast parents, and WORK IN HOLLYWOOD; a dream she achieved beginning as an intern at Funny or Die before a long stint as a PA to various powerful Hollywood men, via HBO to currently working as Associate Producer on Beavis & Butt-head on Paramount Plus/Comedy Central. Her CV boasts production credits on shows such as Beavis and Butthead and Primetime Emmy Award winning Silicon Valley alongside renowned innovative filmmaker, director and animator Mike Judge who has become her mentor and friend.

In her early years striving to climb the corporate ladder in Tinseltown, Angela found herself constantly embarrassed by her parents, a feeling that had been compounded by years of childhood cringing as her mum turned up to meet her from school in various costume wigs and sometimes just a gold bra and belly dancing outfit. But then her mum got sick…

After a sold out run at the Hollywood Fringe Angela Beevers makes her international debut with How To Write A Eulogy That Kills. This is a heart-warming story about trying to write the obligatory conventional funeral speech for a very unconventional woman.

Finding that she has written nothing of use on the eve of her mum’s funeral, a ticking clock details the dwindling number of minutes ‘til she’s out of time. Dressed in silk pyjamas and pacing the stage, audiences sense her increasing urgency as she tries to honour her multi-faceted Mum. How do you wrap up the extraordinary life of a belly-dancing, beekeeping, honky-tonk fiddler and professional psychic in a traditional tribute? At a loss, Angela enlists the help of a free online eulogy guide, guiding the audience through the website’s “helpful hints and tips” as she begins to tackle the task at hand…

Angela was just 24 when her Mum died in 2014. By then, she had worked in Hollywood for several years, but had only just secured her first “real” job, one that might start to lead to bigger and better things. The bright lights, glamour and excitement of working in LA had always provided a strange dichotomy to her family life. But now the difference was all the starker. Skills learnt in Hollywood, organising powerful peoples’ lives, were no match to navigating a stage 4 cancer diagnosis, subsequent hospital visits and becoming a caregiver, although there are significant parallels.

In How To Write A Eulogy That Kills audiences will experience a heartfelt tribute to the woman who raised her. Having spent most of her life embarrassed by her mother’s oddball, kookyness, this is a cathartic and celebratory story whereby Angela exposes her vulnerability and grief to the audience but peppers it with precise punchlines. It’s natural for us to be embarrassed by our parents in our teens and early adulthood. It’s something many people only move beyond as they leave their 20s behind and become ‘proper grown-ups’. Losing a parent in her early 20’s means Angela never got the chance to not be embarrassed, never had an opportunity to fully embrace her belly-dancing, spiritual, beekeeping mom. Not until she was tasked with saying goodbye…

With a penchant for finding humour in unlikely places Angela takes the audience on her journey. Learning more about herself by exploring her mother’s identity, taking Angela from being embarrassed by her mother’s creativity and artistic expression (plus her dad’s questionable self- portraits) and being a very organised, creative-adjacent professional, to embracing her individuality and writing and performing for herself.

This is a celebration of acceptance, of love, of coming to terms with grief and of realising perhaps having your mum pick you up from school in only a gold bra can creatively shape your formative years in a million positive ways it will take you years to understand.

LISTING

GILDED BALLOON PATTER HOOSE (SNUG)
23:00 2nd – 27th August (not 14th August) 60 mins
0131 622 6552 www.gildedballoon.co.uk