Review: Nathan and Ida’s Hot Dog Stand at Gosforth Civic Theatre

Ida and Nathan, meet Nathan and Ida

Nathan & Ida’s Hot Dog Stand

Gosforth Civic Theatre

Wednesday 24 & Thursday 25 October 2018

CaroleW Productions and Gosforth Civic Theatre see two klutzes serve up some bow-wows and the goof’ll be a doozy!*

Nathan and Ida Hardwerker arrive with nothing but a will to succeed and a recipe for secret sauce to pursue their dream of opening the finest hot dog stand Coney Island has ever seen! Nathan & Ida’s Hot Dog Stand is a heart-warming, hilarious, making-it-in-America comedy, with a cast of over 25 characters - all played by Ida and Nathan!

The show has won the Best Performance Award at Swindon Fringe Festival 2018 and the award for Best Comedy Event at Buxton Fringe 2018. It also received a nomination for the Balkan/Otherplace Award at Brighton Fringe 2018.

At the start of a food and drink themed season CaroleW and Gosforth Civic kitchen and Nathan and Ida themselves will be serving up a sauce-off!  Each will offer their own their own secret sauces for your delectation.  Which will be your favourite? Hot Dogs available before the show with your choice of sauce – be warned though, how will you know the answer without trying all three?!!

“Nathan Peter Grassi and Ida Berglöw Kenneway tumble with the energy and grace of a couple of accomplished clowns headlong through their story … left me with a warm glow inside, a smile on my lips and a tear in my eye.” - Daily Information, Oxford, 2018

Inspired by the true story of the founders of Nathan’s Famous hot dog restaurants (actually called Nathan and Ida Handwerker), Nathan and Ida’s Hot Dog Stand has been created by long-time comedy collaborators Ida Berglöw Kenneway and Nathan Peter Grassi, using their particular brand of irreverent storytelling – even throwing in a little tap dancing into the mix.

“The show is an homage to The Thirties,” explains Ida, “when European emigrants headed to New York to carve out a new life for themselves”.  Nathan adds, “We’re capturing the spirit of the vaudeville era: telling a comic, and at times touching, story of adventure, determination and romance, using lots of different performance styles”.

And the names? Ida explains: “Nathan and I appeared together in a production of A View from the Bridge and while researching New York in the period, we came across Nathan and Ida Handwerker. It was fate! We began devising a story about innocents in search of the American dream.” The show debuted at Offbeat Festival (Oxford, 2017) and has toured the UK and Europe throughout 2018.

With only three chances to catch Nathan and Ida’s Hot Dog Stand at the Camden Fringe, it’s dollars to donuts you’ll enjoy, cos this ain’t no scash-a-bang.**

* Two inventive actors will be presenting a hot dog themed narrative and the entertainment value promises to be very high.

** You will definitely have fun as this is no second rate vehicle.

“These performers have it all - charm, talent, timing and guts. You gotta admire their moxie! I loved it. The audience loved it.” – Fringey Bits, Prague Fringe 2018

“They made me laugh-cry-gasp and more! Bloody wonderful show! … Most adorable romance since the first 10 minutes of Up!” - Audience reaction, Brighton Fringe Festival 2018

On The Web:

website: nathanandida.com

Twitter: @nihotdogs

Facebook: /nathanandida

Photos: Hannah Wilmshurst

Tickets:

Nathan and Ida’s Hot Dog Stand appears at Gosforth Civic Theatre on Wednesday 24 & Thursday 25 October at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from 0191 284 3700 or https://www.gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk/nathan-and-idas-hot-dog-stand.