Gordon Eldrett

Chris Hannan - Missy

10 Apr 2008

HISTORICAL DRAMA (Chatto & Windus) Missy is the first novel by award-winning Scottish playwright Chris Hannan but on this evidence, he should most definitely return to the theatre. Set in 1860s California, we follow the trials and tribulations of Dol…

Howard Read

23 Aug 2007

Usually seen performing with his animated sidekick Little Howard, this year’s adult show has Read on his tod with a show that in theory is half-clean, half-dirty and you, the audience, decide which is funnier. The answer is that neither half lives up to…

Jerry Sadowitz

23 Aug 2007

The Sadowitz invective seems ever more bilious each passing year. The victims of his ire in this show range from the English (‘feckless cunts’), Heather Mills (‘cripple’) and even Harry Potter (‘fictional cunt’). Outrageously offensive and with a…

Michael McIntyre

23 Aug 2007

Michael McIntyre has the look of someone your mother would like. Unashamedly middle class in his dress, mannerisms and speech, it’s easy to see why he is being heralded as the latest thing in ‘posh comedy’. In terms of demeanour and delivery, McIntyre…

Patrick Monahan

23 Aug 2007

With Feel the Love, Monahan comes across as your archetypal loveable Geordie but you’d be hard pressed to feel anything but relief at the end of this. Devoid of any discernible subject matter, other than friendly audience banter, this is the equivalent…

Umbrella Birds

23 Aug 2007

Set and staged in a portaloo, this series of vignettes veers from the clownishly comical to awkward and tender. Acutely observed and excellently acted by its four-strong female cast, it never takes the easy route to laughs and allows each scene to play…

Jim Jeffries

16 Aug 2007

You may consider yourself not easily offended. You may feel that nothing shocks you, and that there is nothing left to say that is truly controversial or distasteful. If this is the case consider yourself well and truly wrong. Since his appearance at…

Richard Herring

16 Aug 2007

Twenty years since his first Fringe performance, Herring has the nagging feeling that he may have wasted his life. No one who sees this show would agree as he joyfully immerses us in his mid-life crisis, highlighting the dangers of slogan T-shirts.

Sarah Kendall

16 Aug 2007

Back in the heady days of 2004, Sarah Kendall became the first woman to receive a Perrier nomination in nine years, and deservedly so. Having taken time out to trot the globe, she returned last year with a show that was worryingly patchy and left some…

Tim Key

16 Aug 2007

Tim Key wanders distractedly onto the stage and silently but amusingly prepares himself, the long silence irresistibly amusing instead of embarrassingly awkward. He removes one of the many small notebooks secreted on his person and reads out the poem…

Barry Castagnola

9 Aug 2007

We all know people who sit in the pub and regale us with stories and have us laughing like drains. How funny do you think these people would be if you put them on stage for a whole hour with no chance to get another round in and maybe a bag of peanuts?

Idiots of Ants

Sketches and skits with style

9 Aug 2007

A live sketch show is a notoriously difficult thing to pull off. We allow stand-ups to have lulls in their hour but with a parade of sketches we expect each one to make us wet our collective underwear. A stand-up has time to develop a stage persona but…

Rhod Gilbert

9 Aug 2007

Being stuck in a hotel room watching What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is Gilbert’s starting point, as he trails off on various tangents about parental divorce, finding love, having a baby and the trials of growing up in a fictional town. Surreal, rambling…

From Russia, With Love - Ian Fleming (1957)

1 Jan 2005

'My name is Bond, James Bond.' There are few characters of the 20th century that can boast the kind of global renown of Ian Fleming's British secret agent. Widely regarded as the best of Fleming's novels (JFK rated it among his top ten favourite books…