Pegabovine is a comedy theatre company based in London and Exeter, UK, which performs in London and at the Edinburgh Fringe. The company is built around a core of four writer-performers: poet and winner of an Eric Gregory Award[1] Luke Kennard, Jenny Sutton, Matthew Henry Johnson, and Tom (Davis) Wateracre.
"A Meeting About Laughter", precursor to Pegabovine, was created in 2001 in Exeter after Matthew Henry Johnson and Tom Wateracre, two students in the Drama department at Exeter University, had the idea of setting up a comedy company. Using the basement of a local pub,[2] they held a fortnightly open forum for comedy writers and performers. Their show "The Freudian Slip" at the National Student Drama Festival in 2003 won two awards—a Judges' Commendation for Comic Writing, and the Festgoers' Prize for most popular play.[3] In early 2005 the company renamed itself "Pegabovine" and relaunched with a series of projects.[4]
The name "Pegabovine" comes from their adaptation of the Aleksandr Griboyedov comedy Woe from Wit. In Act Four, the character Repetilov decides to read some of his poetry to the main character, Chatsky:
REPETILOV: Will you hear ‘The Turkey Takes Flight’ or ‘Occurrence in a Nunnery’?
CHATSKY: I really couldn’t choose.
REPETILOV: I’ve also a short dramaticule called Pegabovine about a flying cow. But I’ll begin with ‘The Turkey Takes Flight’. "Oh turkey, with your strange beard of flesh / And yellow eyes knowing nothing of your destiny / How art thou? And how dost thou dance?"
Their play "Pegabovine: The Slush Pile"[5] was performed at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Pleasance Dome. In August 2007, Pegabovine returned to the Pleasance for the Edinburgh Fringe with their new show "Pegabovine: Coat Of Arms".[6][7]
In February 2008 a podcast, "Pegabovine: House Of Mirth", started; all three episodes to date have also been syndicated on the Comedy 365 and 404 Funny podcasts. The podcast follows hot on the heels of an appearance on BBC Radio 4's 28 Acts in 28 Minutes.