The world was cruel to Simeon Duff
Mad and mired in the deepest slough
Nobody seemed to give a stuff
'bout Simeon, Simeon Duff

Simeon Duff is working class, unemployed and desperate. His wife works. He's lost all self-esteem. He's on the scrap heap and wants to end it all . . . and so begins this brilliantly insane comedy about a man on the edge.

When word gets out that Duff is going to top himself, a host of ne'er-do-wells crawl out of the woodwork, each wanting to claim his grand gesture for their 'noble cause'. Let's face it, why waste a death? But which cause shall it be . . . love, politics, religion, or the rising price of fish?

Will the disillusioned Duff go through with it? Will he really top himself for a dubious cause? Is he worth it?

An adaptation of Nikolai Erdman's The Suicide (1928), The Grand Gesture is a witty satire of lobbyists seeking political control.

Deborah McAndrew's first break as a writer came in 2004 when Northern Broadsides produced her adaptation of The Bells by Leopold Lewis. Deborah's adaptation of Oliver Twist (directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo) played at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton as their 2009/10 Christmas show. Her play, Flamingoland, is published by Nick Hern Books and her adaptation of Gogol's A Government Inspector is published by Methuen Drama.