Taking It All Off

Taking It All Off

by Stuart Bentley

Calgary

“Taking It ALL Off" is not about getting naked… mostly. It's an intimate voyage of self-discovery through the issues of yoyo weight loss and feelings of being unworthy of love, to the harsh reality of slowly losing a partner to dementia. This emotional journey explores the fight against bureaucracy, becoming a caregiver, and the heart-wrenching experience of coping with grief while trying to keep an ever-increasing burden precariously balanced on your shoulders. Join me in an unvarnished and very human journey to find joy and meaning from the ashes of a life that was “supposed to be”.

"Taking It ALL Off" delves into yoyo weight loss, feelings of unworthiness, caregiving, and grief amid dementia. An emotional journey navigating life's challenges to find joy and meaning.

Directed by Christopher J. Gamble 

Drama

Location-Hothouse Theatre, Studio 100, 421 Cawston Ave, Kelowna

Shows

Tuesday, March 18, 8:15pm

Wednesday, March 19, 6:30pm

Thursday, March 20, 8:15pm

Note-All ticket holders must wear a Fringe Festival 2025 pin. These are available online or at the venues for $5.

Tickets

Advance Online $20 (+ fees)

Day of Show Tickets $25 (+fees)

Frequent Fringer (5 Tickets or more purchased) $16 (+fees)

Fringe Festival Pin $5 (one time only fee, must wear at all Kelowna Fringe Festival events)

*No Refunds, Exchanges or Latecomers

About The Artist
Stuart Bentley is a Calgary based actor that has performed in Edmonton, Yellowknife, Sudbury, Red Deer, and Dublin, Ireland. He has been acting on stage, in front of a camera, or behind a microphone for over 50 years. Favorite stage roles include My Fair Lady (Higgins), Deathtrap (Sidney), Urinetown (Cladwell), Mary Poppins (Admiral Boom and Bank President), Elf: The Musical (Grrenway), and Frost/Nixon (Nixon).  Stuart received awards for Best Supporting Performance for the stage role of shock rocker Tommy Quick in Norm Foster’s Bedtime Stories, and Best Performance for George, in David Mamet’s The Duck Variations. Other credits include a tough family lawyer in the AMPIA award winning feature film Common Chord, an imprisoned Irish journalist in Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (the winning entry in the 2012 Acting Irish International Theatre Festival in Dublin, Ireland), the crazed killer Gordo in the feature film Herschel Gordon Lewis’ Bloodmania, as well as TV roles in such shows as Damnation, Wynonna Earp, Heartland, Ride and Fargo. Stuart has voiced characters for anime projects that were dubbed into English, recorded a number of Radio and Television commercials, and for the last few years has been narrating audiobooks from his home studio.

Yo-yo weight loss has been a constant struggle since Stuart’s mid 30’s, as life always seemed to find new ways to throw roadblocks in his way. In 2014 while rehearsing for Frost/Nixon and shooting the feature film Bloodmania, Stuart and his wife Laura found out that at the age of 58, she probably had Parkinson’s Disease. Sadly it soon turned out that the actual diagnosis was Lewy Body Dementia, which is a fast moving, aggressive form of dementia that her father passed away from, and which had plagued the last years of Robin William’s life. Stuart has done countless hours of reading to understand this terrible form of dementia, to better prepare him for the rapid progression of changes this disease wrought in the life of his darling wife Laura. She has been in long term care since June 2, 2021. They celebrated their 39^th anniversary on June 22, 2024.