My Tutu Went AWOL - Entertaining HM Forces in war-torn Iraq
Iestyn Edwards
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: I have a sliding scale of fees based on the nature of the event. Please ask.
- Category:
- Entertainment
- Updated:
- 17th November 2023
- Tagged:
- Military | Storytelling | Comedy Odd Couple | Cabaret
Drawing on material from my best-selling memoir, "My Tutu Went AWOL", and making full use of my background in vaudeville, I tell the story of being the Combined Services Entertainment ‘experiment’, sent out to entertain British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan during the conflicts. Wearing what 42 Commando called my ‘frock of many doilies’.
'Achingly funny.' Daily Mail
'The audience howled with laughter.' The Times.
‘Well, A.I. couldn’t replicate this man or his work. SO well done. The loudest applause we’ve ever had.’
U3a Halstead
'Move over Dame Vera, the new Forces' Sweetheart is an eighteen stone bloke in a tutu!'
BBC Woman's Hour.
'It doesn't come any better than this!' Ruby Wax
'He is in a class of his own and his appearance at Stansted will live long in the memory.' Sue Bradbury, Chair, Stansted U3a
'Iestyn Edwards is a phenomenon.' Sir Humphrey Burton
‘Only the divinely unique Iestyn Edwards could be in a tutu in a war zone and tell about it so perfectly. He is a portal for joy. Fascinating, moving and completely hilarious.’ Miranda Hart
'Hilarious...wonderful bass-baritone...he wowed us!' Leigh-on-Sea U3a
'Spreads a bow-wave of happiness!' Dame Joanna Lumley
'Unmissable...a force of nature.' Chepstow U3a
'A storming talk at Olympia. I didn't think it was possible to experience such a range of emotions - from hilarity to heartbreak and back again - in such a short space of time.' Peg Downes
‘An hour and twenty-four minutes of corporate sponsor crowd "requests" – has to be some sort of record, surely?’ Ali Mawle, Cheltenham Festival
‘The most informative, most brilliant talk of the festival!’ Professor Vanessa Toulmin, Sheffield Head of Engagement
‘A stone-cold highlight of Wilderness and then Sunday Papers Live. LOVE LOVE LOVE Iestyn!’ Ben de Vere
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Views: 1094 | Enquiries: 5About Iestyn Edwards
'The audience howled with laughter, stamped and cheered.' The Times
From the Royal Opera House Covent Garden to a tent in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan.
I regularly headline in West End venues such as the Hippodrome Leicester Square, Café de Paris and Duckie; also the Royal Opera House, the Barbican, The National Theatre, Home House, Soho House and the Hurlingham Club. My Channel 4 series of shorts "Madame Galina's Rough Guide to Choreography" was twice broadcast worldwide. I’ve toured throughout Great Britain in the one-man shows Anything for a Tenor, Madame Galina Ballet Star Galactica/New Forces’ Sweetheart and the award-winning play Along Came Bill.
Following a private recital onboard H.M.S. Victory for Queen Elizabeth ii, I auditioned (by mistake) to perform my variety turn Madame Galina Ballet Star Galactica for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Launched at the Hippodrome, my memoir about these accidental tours, "My Tutu Went AWOL", was published by Unbound Books in 2016 and appeared as a self-narrated Audible audiobook in 2018. It topped the Amazon Gay and Lesbian biography chart and reached number two in Comedy.
I've toured the book to all the major literary festivals.
'The book is achingly funny!' Daily Mail
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