Mark Thomas is well known for his amusing stunts, usually fuelled by a strong sense of injustice. He placed a bounty on the head of George W Bush, shackled himself to the axle of a coach full of arms dealers, and his last adventure was to walk the entire length of the Israeli separation barrier – of which he admitted, ‘you can’t just pull on a bobble hat and start walking. Seriously you can’t. We did do homework.’ This year’s show – one that’s already won awards at the Edinburgh Fringe – is fired by the same passion but this time it’s from a more personal place. Thomas has always had a tricky relationship with his dad, ‘a working-class Tory and self-employed builder with a love of opera’, but 10 years ago he was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy – a degenerative disease similar to Multiple Sclerosis; these days his dad’s function is severely debilitated and he’s suffering from dementia, so Thomas decided to stage an opera in his Bournemouth bungalow ‘in an effort to reach out to him before he vanishes’. It’s a story not to be missed.
Mark also plays Bury Met on Tuesday 30 October – click here for more information.
Wed 24 Oct & Thu 25 Oct, The Dancehouse, 10 Oxford Road, M1 5QA, Tel: 0161 237 1413, 8pm, £17.50 (£10), www.thedancehouse.co.uk
- Words:
- Marissa Burgess
- Published on:
- Fri 19 Oct 2012
