'The Shy Manifesto'
monologue
August 2021 (Folketeatret)
May 2021 (Literaturhaus)
October 2020 (Bøssehuset)
official webpage
“Last night I tried not to be shy, just as an experiment for one night – and with catastrophic results.”




The Shy Manifesto is a tender, bittersweet coming-of-age dark comedy from 2019, about growing up shy and along with the pressures and double-edged sword of the social media age. 17-year old bookworm Callum, stuck in Bournemouth, is surrounded in life by overconfident people. He has pretty much only his own room for company and decides to face his own demons after the utter chaos of his drunken escapades last night.
This play is as hilarious as it is poignant. Through the digital universe of his vlog, Callum delivers a potent manifesto, which reveals his intimate thoughts about sexuality, society, humiliation, self loathing and ultimately his quest for acceptance.
Shyness has rarely been explored in drama and in this piece, peppered equally by hilarious and poignant moments, “the writing is a gift to actors: light and energetic, lacking in pretension and full of compassion.”(The Guardian).
This piece of theatre coaxes trust from the audience and explores whether shyness should be accepted or whether it is something that needs to be conquered.
directed by: Jeremy M. Thomas
written by: Michael Ross
starring: Daniel Niel Ash
sound design: Karl Heding
light design: Igor Halicki
stage manager: Lakeisha Salto & Aragorn Xavier Nikolei Damgaard
produced by: Down the Rabbit Hole & HIT-Copenhagen
presented by: House of International Theatre & HIT-Copenhagen
venue: Folketeatret & Literaturhaus & Bøssehuset, Copenhagen
photography: Benny Thaibert