Sharif Afifi on Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me)

What better way to wipe away the winter blues than news of Lost Dog’s Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me) coming to Battersea Arts Centre this spring!

An award-winning solo based on John Milton’s 17th century epic poem, Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me) is a one-person show that is slightly surreal, a bit reckless (although intentionally so) and totally entertaining.

Running from 18th March until 5th April – and back at Battersea Arts Centre where it debuted 10 years ago – we sat down with Sharif Afifi who chats about the show, its themes of creation and falling, and the top things he packs when on tour.

Q: Describe your solo role in Paradise Lost.

Sharif: He is a man caught between fatherhood and his need to create and be an artist and so decides to make a one man show based on Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. He may not have fully thought it through though…

Q: The piece combines dance choreography with text and movement – was that a challenge at first?

Sharif: I was apprehensive at first because I really did think it would be hard to pull off whilst keeping it honest and unpretentious. But it ended up feeling like the most natural thing in the world. My character is a dancer; that idea liberated me and allowed me to surrender to the freedom it gives me in the show to move out of text into something more expressive.

Q: You use your hands very expressively throughout…

Sharif: The show is about creation and the most obvious tool we have for physically engaging in this is our hands. I’ve realised this more and more as I’ve performed the show and my hands have become their own entity in a way! It is fun finding new ways to play with them, especially in the movement language of the show.

Q: How do you gauge the audience atmosphere?

Sharif: I’ve become pretty good at knowing what energy the audience may bring after the first 5 minutes of the show, but they have also gone on to surprise me. It’s humbling to be reminded in real time that when you step on stage to tell people a story, it’s your job to carry them through regardless of how they are responding. They don’t owe you anything and you never really know what people are taking away from what they are seeing. It’s a personal journey. So I’m trying more and more to give up any analysis of the audience response. Every now and then ego comes back to play.

Sharif Afifi.

Q: What do you love most about performing this complex piece?

Sharif: The show goes on an unexpected journey. It is like nothing I’ve been a part of before. I love how many different performance mediums it moves through and how it surprises the audience. It’s exhilarating doing this in such a stripped back way.

Q: And what do you think audiences love most about it?

Sharif: I think the show is really relatable and as it unfolds and it becomes a bit clearer what is being explored, I think the audiences enjoy seeing themselves in this man. 

Q: 5 essential things you pack when on tour…

Sharif: Lip balm! Headphones. A little book of Sufi poetry. My favourite coffee cup (that I always forget to use). My copy of ‘Paradise Lost’.


To book your tickets visit: https://www.lostdogdance.co.uk/performancedates