DENNIS BROE observes how cutbacks, mergers and AI create content detached from both reality and history itself
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No laughing matter
DENNIS POOLE sees a thought-provoking show about father and son comics whose careers are compromised by racist gaffes
SAHAR MARANLOU explores a novella, newly translated and republished in English that tells the history of Iran through women’s bodies
DAVID NICHOLSON applauds the revival of a joyous production that deals with choirs, competitions and communism
New releases from Peruvian Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical, Leve Leve: Sao Tome & Principe, and South African BCUC
MARY DAVIS welcomes a remarkable documentary about the general strike — politically spot on, and featuring accounts from the strikers themselves — that is available for screenings
MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review The Stranger, Undertone, and Outcome
End of the Pier
Park Theatre, London
THE PROTAGONIST of Danny Robins's new play exploring the nature and purpose of comedy within the parameters of race, class and identity is Bobby Chalk, surviving member of 1980 comedy duo Chalk and Cheese.
Chalk (Les Dennis) is now consigned to threadbare obscurity in Blackpool following a misjudged and well-publicised racist gaffe, his place in the comedic firmament inherited by his estranged son Michael Armstrong (Blake Harrison), one of the new breed of “observational” comedians.
Michael’s career trajectory is about to gain greater momentum in a new project but it's imminently compromised by an unfortunate drunken incident at the end of Blackpool pier which could reflect his father’s fate and scupper his burgeoning ambition.
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