She started out doing panto tours of northern garden centres. But Arnstein is now emerging as a thrilling performer, turning the shocks of her life – sexual harassment, her mum’s cancer – into bracing solo showsKatie Arnstein greets you at her theatre …
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonBoris Johnson and his successors Less Trust and Riches Sooner are satirised in a superb political pantomime directed by Patrick MarberKeenly anticipated since its summer announcement, Pandemonium finds the last seven years of Britis…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonBoris Johnson and his successors Less Trust and Riches Sooner are satirised in a superb political pantomime directed by Patrick MarberKeenly anticipated since its summer announcement, Pandemonium finds the last seven years of Britis…
Continue ReadingThe actor, comedian and novelist on being a positive aunty role model and taking unsolicited advice on how to be funnyWhy did you start standup?It was by accident. My background is in acting and when I was coming up to 31, the work kind of dried up and…
Continue ReadingShaftesbury theatre, LondonHi-vis hijinks are here aplenty as the Britain’s Got Talent winner revisits his triumphant routinesIt’s been quite the year for Viggo Venn. Twelve months ago, he tells us, he was playing in a pub across the street to a crowd …
Continue ReadingFestive variety show hosts Sanjeev Bhaskar and Jayde Adams are stodgier than Christmas dinner, with all the chemistry of a broken Bunsen burner To those of us of a certain age, few things are more Christmassy than variety. It’s the cultural memory of M…
Continue ReadingAs our relationship with comedy has shifted, so has the role of comedian in mainstream culture, says author Jesse David FoxWhen Chris Rock wants to figure out if a new idea is funny, he performs without the aspects of his persona that make him distinct…
Continue ReadingFrom Bill O’Neill’s slippery skins to Grubby Little Mitts’ ping-pong eyeballs, performers explain why their comedy leans on more than a mic stand‘I have this illusion that I’m in charge of what’s going on, but there are all these bananas on stage, and …
Continue ReadingThe comedian posted a video of the ‘shocking’ amount of litter left behind after his performance in a panto, saying, ‘You wouldn’t treat your own home like that, would you?’“It’s behind you” is the customary cry from the audience during panto season. B…
Continue ReadingWith 10 shows on and 1m tickets sold, Evolution are panto gods. But how do you work a giant? What will 50kg of glitter cover? And why did a bench almost cause a riot? The giant takes a lumbering step forward, her arms swinging heavily like battering ra…
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