Crying Into Bins

Crying Into Bins comes to Komedia Studio on Thursday 8 October, a surreal spoken word theatrical hybrid that takes the audience on a cathartically funny journey through twenty years in the hospitality industry. The show is performed by Lia, who spent two decades serving food and drink, and it's built from tales she collected over those years.

It's a poetical exploration of mental health, societal structures, terrible rage, and bittersweet acceptance. The title itself points to the kind of quiet, behind-the-scenes breakdown that anyone who's ever worked a busy shift will recognise, and the material draws on the specific, often absurd pressures of a life spent on the other side of the counter. It's billed as more than just one woman and a microphone, so it's a theatrical piece as much as it is a spoken word one.

If you've spent any time in hospitality yourself, the subject matter will likely hit close to home. The show looks at the mental toll of the industry, the way it's structured, and the particular kind of anger that builds up when you're the one taking the heat from a room full of customers. There's a thread of bittersweet acceptance running through it, too, and the whole thing is described as cathartically funny, so it doesn't shy away from the lighter side of the chaos.

It runs at Komedia Studio, part of Komedia Brighton at 44-47 Gardner Street, BN1 1UN. The performance is on Thursday 8 October at 7:30 PM, and tickets are £15.