Choirs and comedians among recipients of £76m Covid arts aid

Almost 600 cultural groups across England to benefit from latest funding roundComedy clubs, circuses, choirs and theatres across England are in line to receive a share of £76m of government funding for the cultural sector.The Military Wives Choirs, Som…

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‘This room’s not ready for me’: improv as a BAME comic

I’ve worked as the only person of colour on improv nights for years and found problems – and potential. Now diverse groups are finding laughs a more inclusive wayIn improv, when one comic decides another performer’s scene has run its course, they dart …

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Don’t mock the pasties!: Inside Cornwall’s standup scene

In the UK’s most southwesterly county a burgeoning standup scene thrives everywhere from remote village halls and old bakeries to the cliffside Minack theatre A cliff edge, an old bakery or the space next to the tea-hatch in a village hall aren’t stand…

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Nimax to reopen six West End venues with social distancing

Adam Kay to launch series as theatres plan to host smaller audiences and run at a lossCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNimax Theatres will reopen all six of its West End venues from October for a season of socially distanced …

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Our culture has lost its appetite for risk and making people feel uncomfortable | Kenan Malik

The debate about the BBC reveals that even when it comes to comedy we are stuck in echo chambers‘A real comedian – that’s a daring man,” Eddie Waters, an old standup turned evening class tutor, tells a group of would-be comics in Trevor Griffiths’s bri…

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Let the BBC’s new boss do his worst – with comedy, I’d rather be offended than bored | Suzanne Moore

New director-general Tim Davie will reportedly steer TV comedy to the right to correct years of perceived anti-Tory bias. But it was Brexit, not the BBC, that put a spanner in British humourJust as I couldn’t work myself up over what anyone sings at th…

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Let the BBC’s new boss do his worst – with comedy, I’d rather be offended than bored | Suzanne Moore

New director-general Tim Davie will reportedly steer TV comedy to the right to correct years of perceived anti-Tory bias. But it was Brexit, not the BBC, that put a spanner in British humourJust as I couldn’t work myself up over what anyone sings at th…

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Parks, pubs and pitches: where to watch UK theatre in September

Shakespeare at a cricket ground, a festival in a bombed-out church and park-bench drama – plus more socially distanced shows to enjoy this monthAugust is over but there’s still time to enjoy open-air theatre season. Presented in York’s Rowntree Park, M…

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‘Canary in the coalmine’: Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph theatre reopens for autumn

John Godber’s B&B drama – performed by the playwright, with his family – launches programme that includes one-woman Christmas showA play written by John Godber during lockdown is to be performed by the playwright, his wife and their daughter at the…

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Russell Howard walks out of standup gig after audience member films him

The comic, who was testing out new material, said ‘You’ve ruined it’ before leavingThe comedian Russell Howard cut short a standup set in Bristol on Wednesday night after discovering an audience member was filming the performance on her cameraphone.How…

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