“Basden’s witty updating treats Dostoyevsky’s original with a nicely assured mixture of respect and irreverence… this savagely silly satire is entirely infectious.” —Telegraph
“Tom Basden turns Dostoevsky’s allegory of capitalist inhumanity into a sharp satire on political celebrity in the Twitter age… by turns absurd, charming and subtly sinister.” —The Times
“A snappy little satire” —What’s On Stage
Ivan is an actor who hasn’t achieved the recognition he feels he deserves. But all that is about to change when he is swallowed whole by a crocodile. Based on Dostoyevsky’s short story, The Crocodile is a ferociously funny, eye-poppingly theatrical play about art, animals and what happens when you try to take on the system from within... a crocodile.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky was an 18th century Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher. His best-known works include Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.
Tom Basden has written for some of Britain’s best TV comedies, including Peep Show, Fresh Meat, The Wrong Mans, and Plebs, which won Best New Comedy at the British Comedy Awards 2013 and Best Scripted Comedy at the RTS Awards 2014. He is also a member of sketch group Cowards, who wrote and performed their own TV series on BBC4. For Radio 4 he has made two series of Cowards and three series of his sitcom Party, based on his 2009 play. He has written plays for the National Theatre, the Arts Theatre and the Gate and has taken plays and solo comedy shows to the Edinburgh, Melbourne and Sydney Festivals. He has been nominated for a BAFTA three times, and has won a Fringe First and an Edinburgh Comedy Award.