A brief history of Bryony Kimmings
FROM SEX IDIOT TO BOG WITCH
In this article we'll take you on a whistle‑stop tour through the landmark works that shaped Bryony Kimming's artistic career all the way to Bog Witch - charting the evolution of one of the UK’s most distinctive performance artists.
Turning Life into Theatre: Sex Idiot
Kimmings’ breakthrough show, Sex Idiot, introduced audiences to the unapologetically personal style that would become her signature. Beginning with the discovery that she had contracted an STI, the show followed her attempts to retrace her “sexual footsteps” in a riotous, pop‑infused cabaret.
Funny, frank and gleefully taboo‑breaking, Sex Idiot dissected female sexuality, romantic myth‑making and the stories we tell ourselves about desire. It established Kimmings as a bold new voice - one unafraid to turn her own life into a lens for examining the world around her.
Experimentation: 7 Day Drunk
Her next project, 7 Day Drunk, pushed that commitment to personal inquiry even further. Over the course of a week, Kimmings drank steadily from morning to night under the supervision of medical and psychological professionals, documenting how alcohol shaped her creativity.
The resulting show was an anarchic, 80s‑tinged collage of filmed footage, live performance, messy stories and chaotic invention. Through her own experiment, Kimmings explored society’s complicated relationship with alcoholn - its allure, its dangers and its deep entanglement with artistic identity.
Real relationships on stage - Fake It ‘Til You Make It
Six months into her relationship with Tim Grayburn, Kimmings learned that he lived with severe clinical depression. Fake It ‘Til You Make It became their joint attempt to confront that reality on stage. By performing together, the pair created a piece that was both tender and unflinchingly honest. The show examined the strain that mental illness can place on a relationship - resentment, exhaustion, loyalty and the fierce hope that love might endure even when illness reshapes a person from the inside out. Touring internationally, it became one of Kimmings’ most talked‑about works and cemented her reputation for turning personal exposure into collective insight.
The Rebirth - I’m a Phoenix, Bitch
This isn’t the first time Kimmings has brought one of her most personal works to HOME. In 2018, she performed I’m a Phoenix, Bitch here, a bold retelling of the year her life unravelled. Drawing on her postnatal breakdown, a collapsing relationship and the fear of caring for a critically ill child, she rebuilt those experiences on stage as a fierce, modern myth of survival.
Blending miniature sets, live camera work and pop‑drama spectacle, the show charted her rise from crisis to a new sense of strength. Its mix of raw honesty and visual invention made it one of her most acclaimed pieces.
Enter the Bog Witch
Bog Witch signals another transformation. This time, Kimmings traces the story of uprooting her life - and her son’s - to move into a crumbling cottage in the wilderness. What begins as a last‑ditch attempt to feel happy and grounded becomes a deeper reckoning with nature, folklore and the body’s relationship to the land.
If earlier shows filtered autobiography through pop culture, this one draws on myth, ecology and the ancient pull of the natural world. It’s about being the least likely eco‑convert: the person who clings to online shopping, Deliveroo, caffeine and convenience until none of it brings joy anymore. Beneath the noise and distraction, Kimmings suggests, we may find creatures - ourselves included - who have been disconnected from their ecosystems for far too long.
This is not a story about dropping out, but about plugging back in. And for Kimmings, that shift changed everything.
Radical Transparency
In an age of curated identities and algorithmic self‑branding, Kimmings’ work feels almost rebellious in its honesty. She has always been drawn to the things we try to hide- shame, illness, vulnerability, rage - and her performances hold those truths up to the light, asking audiences to look again.
From collaborations with children to politically charged solo pieces, she treats theatre as a living laboratory. Bog Witch continues that tradition, offering audiences not just a night out but an invitation into an evolving artistic world - funny, unsettling, intimate and bold.
If history is any guide, it’s a show that will linger long after the lights come up, reminding us that the path back to ourselves, often begins with the earth beneath our feet.
