‘What do you value more – kindness or intelligence?’ A trans couple’s hunt for the perfect sperm donor – one stranger at a time

When artist Krishna Istha and their partner went to sperm banks they were told ‘eye colour, height, PhD or no PhD’; wanting to know a donor’s values led to the creation of their live show First TrimesterGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailFor th…

Continue Reading

Black Hole Sign review – NHS’s critical condition examined with dark humour

Tron theatre, Glasgow Uma Nada-Rajah writes with polemical force from firsthand experience of a health system on its knees A black hole sign is the dark area of a CT scan that suggests a haemorrhage on the brain. A black hole cou…

Continue Reading

Emma review – Austen’s comedy of manners gets an exaggerated Essex makeover

Rose theatre, Kingston upon ThamesAva Pickett’s modern-day adaptation of the novel adds pop music, farce and clowning but lacks gimlet-eyed observationsAn early blast of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance sets the mood of this 21st-century take on Jane Austen’s c…

Continue Reading

Ania Magliano: ‘My favourite gig? I did some material about vibrators and a 92-year-old gave me tips on different settings’

The standup on Taskmaster, her time in the Cambridge Footlights and the geniuses behind Colin the CaterpillarWhat made you get into comedy?
In primary school I wasn’t very cool. I never got Hula Hoops in my packed lunches because my Polish mum would g…

Continue Reading

Eric Idle: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, Live! review – mock’n’roll star’s night of nostalgia

Playhouse, EdinburghThe Monty Python man revisits his remarkable career, with songs dedicated to George Harrison and Robin Williams – and some ribbing of John CleeseA career retrospective fondly remembering a previous career retrospective: who said pop…

Continue Reading

‘It’s a lot darker than Sleaford Mods’: Jason Williamson on acting, rejection and a radical portrait of street life

The frontman is realising his stage dreams by starring in Edgecity which draws on playwright gobscure’s experience of sleeping rough. The pair talk about an urgent, explosive showIn the late 1980s, fresh from being kicked out of school, Sleaford Mods f…

Continue Reading

‘It’s a lot darker than Sleaford Mods’: Jason Williamson on acting, rejection and a radical portrait of street life

The frontman is realising his stage dreams by starring in Edgecity which draws on playwright gobscure’s experience of sleeping rough. The pair talk about an urgent, explosive showIn the late 1980s, fresh from being kicked out of school, Sleaford Mods f…

Continue Reading

Esther Manito review – disjointed dispatches from the frontline of family life

Soho theatre, LondonThe standup has some effective material about the usual middle-aged gripes, but never quite coalesces these scattershot routines into a well-rounded wholeNobody ever listens to what put-upon mums have to say, says Esther Manito, and…

Continue Reading

‘There’s magic, blood and gore!’ Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton on touring Inside No 9 – and being megastars in China

As the show based on their cult TV hit goes on the road, the duo discuss haunted theatres, feeling like arthritic swans and what it was like being mobbed in ShanghaiHow do you make a shopping centre in Woking spooky? I bow before Reece Shearsmith and S…

Continue Reading

Ideal review – stage return for Johnny Vegas’s TV weed dealer fails to score

Lowry, Salford Reprise of Graham Duff’s cult comedy delights the series’ fans but there’s not much here for anyone elseIf you are a fan of the cult BBC Three sitcom Ideal, you should immediately book a ticket for this show. Judging by tonight’s audienc…

Continue Reading