A powerful and tragi-comic one-man play set in a chip shop is coming to North Ayrshire next week.

Cracked Tiles, written and performed by Lorenzo Novani is all about a son searching for his father...in a chippy.

And you can catch the show at Irvine's Harbour Arts Centre (HAC) on Friday, April 12.

While his father seemed like an ordinary, hard-working man, Riccardo knows that somewhere in the grease-stained walls of his crumbling inheritance - a run down fish and chip shop- the truth is hidden.

However, time is against him; the shop is about to be sold and it won't give its secrets up easily.

Battling demented customers, family curses, and supernatural agents of the state, join him on his tragicomic journey as he excavates the ruins of the family business and revisits the past to uncover the truth about his mysterious father. 

The play is inspired by the author's experience as a teenager, when his father’s strange behaviour led to suspicion that he may be hiding dark secrets.

These episodes were framed as psychotic breakdowns, but at the time, the notion that his father was fragile, broken and out of touch with reality was an equally difficult pill to swallow.

In this sense, Cracked Tiles is about the mystery of a father and the confusion of a child.

Irvine Times: Cracked Tiles

Whilst it has been described as ‘bitterly honest, powerful and moving’ (The Scotsman), it’s not without levity. Cracked Tiles is a tale imbued with authenticity: both its tragedy and its comedy.

Lorenzo, the author and actor, studied Writing for Stage and Screen at the University of Strathclyde in 2013 and has written work for himself ever since.

His shows have featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival, MagicFest, Carlisle Fringe, Brighton Fringe, Crossroads Multicultural Festival in Pisa, and the West End Festival. 

You can catch the show at the HAC on Irvine Harbourside on Friday at 7.30pm. Tickets, priced £12 and £14, are available from the HAC box office.