Testosterone-soaked clowning show Furiozo: Man Looking for Trouble spikes fun with fear – but the hooligan’s knife-edge moments of vulnerability lead us somewhere differentClowning is about vulnerability. Hyper-masculinity is about invulnerability. Wha…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonLenoir’s mischievous charm is infectious, and she plays with skill on the heartstrings and funny bonesClowning may be silly, but it is seldom, these days, insubstantial. Paulina Lenoir is performing Puella Eterna as part of the Lond…
Continue ReadingAs a veteran of the festival, Richard Gadd captures the mix of heady promise and bleak reality that awaits another influx of acts this summerNothing prepares you for performing at the Edinburgh festival fringe. It’s the largest arts festival in the wor…
Continue ReadingWith manga circus, a Jaffa Cake musical, silly science and a llama adventure, there is something to entertain audiences of all ages this summerThe jaw-dropping, dreamlike animations of 1927 linger long after the final curtain. Now, the restlessly inven…
Continue ReadingFive-star standup, late-night debauchery, staggering circus tricks … as the arts spectacular approaches, here are some of the shows rated by our writersGary McNair builds a joyful one-man show from interviews with ordinary people about what they think …
Continue ReadingInvestment management firm cancelled deals with UK literary festivals over links to Israel and fossil fuel companiesThe chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has robustly defended its sponsorship by Baillie Gifford, after the investm…
Continue ReadingMarylebone theatre, LondonKiell Smith-Bynoe and Martha Howe-Douglas ably embody Gogol’s schemers, but this show doesn’t hit any 21st-century targetsYou can see why, in 2024, one might revive Gogol’s play about rampant government corruption, and adaptor…
Continue ReadingThe pair, whose final season of the hit horror-comedy will air on the BBC this month, say the West End production will feature familiar characters and fresh surprisesAs the ninth and final series of their BBC hit Inside No 9 begins this month, Steve Pe…
Continue ReadingSpeaking at launch for West End adaptation, Cleese complains about literal-minded viewers ‘not playing with a full deck’John Cleese said that he decided to cut the N-word from a scene in his West End Fawlty Towers revival because in contemporary Britai…
Continue ReadingSpeaking at launch for West End adaptation, Cleese complains about literal-minded viewers ‘not playing with a full deck’John Cleese said that he decided to cut the N-word from a scene in his West End Fawlty Towers revival because in contemporary Britai…
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