Jason Manford, Keala Settle, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Chelsea Hall get set for the glitter and gags of festive seasonPanto was my first experience of going to the theatre. At school in south Manchester, there were free tickets for kids from underprivil…
Continue ReadingMercury theatre, ColchesterAn uneven new play from Mischief Theatre skews darker than their hit comedies, with jarring tragedy amid the clowningThe Play That Goes Wrong’s Mischief Theatre have taken their spoofs of ham-fisted am-dram to the West End, B…
Continue ReadingMercury theatre, ColchesterAn uneven new play from Mischief Theatre skews darker than their hit comedies, with jarring tragedy amid the clowningThe Play That Goes Wrong’s Mischief Theatre have taken their spoofs of ham-fisted am-dram to the West End, B…
Continue ReadingFelicity Kendal, Tracy-Ann Oberman and especially Joseph Millson are comic gifts in this 40th anniversary version that fits our times almost too well Well, here’s a surprise. Michael Frayn’s exquisite farce – now celebrating its 40th anniversary – has …
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe notorious comic and performance artist explores loneliness and the human/animal divide in an intricately assembled scrapbook showIt’s taken Kim Noble seven years to make Lullaby for Scavengers. Just as well: I doubt any of us co…
Continue ReadingToo pricy, too elitist, just too big? After the criticisms of this year’s event, a panel of festival regulars consider the way forward for Edinburgh’s summer spectacularKaty Koren, co-artistic director, Gilded Balloon Continue reading…
Continue ReadingIn Lullaby for Scavengers, the no-holds-barred performance artist returns to outfox and outrage audiences. He talks about trying to snog his mother, bathing with maggots and being an ‘old white dinosaur’To interview comedians, you don’t usually travel …
Continue ReadingSamira Wiley makes her UK stage debut, there’s an urgent counter to antisemitism, plus a fourth King James, refugee dancers and comedic returns Continue reading…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWilson relives her tumultuous turn as a teenage talent show contestant armed with laughter and song, topped with a touching tribute to her plucky younger self‘Why did I? Oh God, why did I?” We can all get embarrassed recal…
Continue ReadingAfter lockdowns kept them out of touch with audiences, standups explain their exhilaration at coming together to raise laughs at Edinburgh fringeThe lights go down signalling the start of the show, but Rob Auton is not on stage. Members of the crowd be…
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