Comedian Joanne McNally looks back: ‘In my 20s, my bulimia was spiralling out of control. My breakdown was the making of me’

The Irish standup and writer on three-day benders, her accidental comedy career, and her feral stage personaBorn in County Roscommon in 1983 and raised in Dublin, Joanne McNally is a standup comedian and writer. Her breakthrough came with the…

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Comedian Joanne McNally looks back: ‘In my 20s, my bulimia was spiralling out of control. My breakdown was the making of me’

The Irish standup and writer on three-day benders, her accidental comedy career, and her feral stage personaBorn in County Roscommon in 1983 and raised in Dublin, Joanne McNally is a standup comedian and writer. Her breakthrough came with the…

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Comedian Joanne McNally looks back: ‘In my 20s, my bulimia was spiralling out of control. My breakdown was the making of me’

The Irish standup and writer on three-day benders, her accidental comedy career, and her feral stage personaBorn in County Roscommon in 1983 and raised in Dublin, Joanne McNally is a standup comedian and writer. Her breakthrough came with the…

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Brassed Off review – stirring tale of coal and cornets moves Yorkshire audience to tears

Leeds PlayhouseIn a cavernous venue seemingly designed for a colliery-based story, Amy Leach directs Paul Allen’s adaptation of the 1996 filmIt’s odd that this most Yorkshire of stories has never been staged at Leeds Playhouse. That’s remedied with gri…

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Relics review – toxic heirloom cues hugely entertaining family clash

Lyric Hammersmith, London Four siblings squabble over an art treasure possibly stolen by their grandfather in this riotous play by Ben OckrentBen Ockrent’s black comedy about a family in mourning has distinct strains of the ludicrous, though the cartoo…

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The Truth review – Florian Zeller’s knotty comedy of deceit is a real delight

Apollo theatre, LondonStephen Mangan, Sarah Hadland, Ardal O’Hanlon and Janie Dee are seat-shakingly funny in this study of adulteryAlice and Michel must conceal their affair from possibly suspicious spouses Paul and Laurence, sometimes under detective…

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The Misanthrope review – Sandra Oh stars in reworked classic that simpers in its satire and woos in its drama

Lyttelton theatre, LondonHeroic but imperfect modern-day version of the 17th-century classic is stuffed full of debates about how we might live differentlyMolière’s misanthrope here is a bestselling writer in a stylish trouser suit, gender-reversed as …

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Hannah Byczkowski: ‘The Traitors helped me become a better comedian’

The Traitors-winning standup talks about quitting palliative care work for the stage and the dangers of mistaking a cockatoo for a cocktailHow did you go from a career in palliative care to standup comedy?I had a bit of a midlife crisis. I was being wi…

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Inexperience review – this ‘no-contact’ romance is incredibly touching

Pitlochry Festival theatreWriter Douglas Maxwell’s playful conceit sparks a funny and superbly acted exploration of messy relationships There is a clever conceit underlying Douglas Maxwell’s sparky romantic comedy. It imagines the possibility of a sexu…

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Ron review – bumbling standup swerves into Tarantino-esque odyssey

Riverside Studios, LondonTed Walliker’s one-man play about a night gone spectacularly wrong is boldly ambitious but we need to know more about the man at the micWatching a comedian crumble onstage is hellish. In Ted Walliker’s new play, the performer’s…

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