RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
Latest editorial
Old Hands and Lingering Boomers
JAMES WALSH takes the temperature of a middle-aged comedy format
merton
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
New releases from The Tenementals, Nik Bartsch’s Ronin, and Kuunatic
SCOTT ALSWORTH hears the call to burn down and rebuild the video game industry from the bottom up
The Chinese language only introduced a feminine pronoun in the 1920s. Now, it might adopt a gender-inclusive one, suggests JANET DAVEY
Paul Merton and Suki Webster’s Improv Show
Comedy Store, London
THE Comedy Store is showing its age. The logo is very ’80s, as are much of its regular clientele. Most are here to see Paul Merton, him off the telly, who has been doing improv for longer than your correspondent can literally remember.
But here, on a Wednesday, Merton is branching out without (Richard) Vranch and co, and is performing alongside fellow improv legend Suki Webster and a revolving cast of younger improvisation specialists, who have millions of TikTok views but not as many homes in Suffolk.
This feels like Webster’s show. She hosts and comperes, while Merton lurks amiably in the background during the changeovers. The show is in the short form “game” format, one considered a bit basic bitch by long-form aficionados, but perfect for a Wednesday early evening crowd who are already on their second bottle of wine.
More from this author
While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership