Ken Campbell's progeny stages a solo show about him

Ken Campbell's daughter Daisy is to perform a surreal show about what it was like being brought up by such a larger-than-life figure.

Pigspurt’s Daughter will be her first one-woman show, and marks ten years since the death of her father, the master improviser and  trailblazer of experimental performance, known for his one-man shows that mixed stand-up, surreal theatre and lecture.

London’s Hampstead Theatre, which is staging the new show, says it ‘follows Daisy’s surreal quest to go farther than her father – when Pigspurt, the daemonic side of Ken’s personality, is summoned by Daisy through an accidental act of gastromancy, the rectal invocation of dead spirits, there’s no telling what he might goad her to do…’

In an interview last year, Daisy, 40, said of her dad: ‘He could be an arsehole. But he was funny enough with it. If there was an interesting, imaginative and exciting way to do something he would always do that. 

‘He was just like he appeared on stage. The arsehole recedes and the legend rises after his death, but he was all of those things.’

And she revealed she was planning to follow in his footsteps on stage, saying: ‘There is such a rich vein, and it seems to have passed to me. It’s my inheritance. It’s my legacy.’

The show – which is being staged from July 11 to 14 – follows the play Ken, written by Terry Johnson and also developed at Hampstead. 

Published: 20 Jun 2018