03/01/2015

Preview: Mark Thomas - Cuckooed at Northern Stage




Mark Thomas - Cuckooed

On Tour including:
Newcastle Northern Stage
Friday 20th February 2015.

Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award winner - 2014
Scotsman Fringe First winner - 2014
Scotsman Fringe First winner – 2012    
Bank of ScotlandHerald Angel winner – 2012
Sony Award for Radio Comedy winner - 2008
Guinness World Record Holder: Most Number of Political Demonstrations in 24 Hours – 2006 MediActivist Awards (MISTY) – 2005 
UN Association Global Human Rights Defender Award - 2004
Kurdish National Congress Medal of Honour – 2002
Time Out Comedy Award – 1990

Following a total sell-out Edinburgh Fringe run once again, one of comedy’s elder statesmen and all-round arty mischief-maker continues his 8th nationwide tour with a comedy of betrayal. Mark Thomas tells his true story of how Britain’s biggest arms manufacturer, BAESystems, came to spy on a comedian in this five star, multi-ward winning, critically acclaimed tale of hubris, planes, demos and undercover deceit.

Mark Thomas - Photo: Steve Ullahtorne
In 2012,  Mark’s first ever one-man theatre piece, Bravo Figaro, a touching and poignant tale first commissioned by the Royal Opera House about his opera-loving father which sold out its entire Fringe run, won Mark a Herald Angel award, a Scotsman Fringe First, and was recently broadcast on Radio 4. The show is set to tour Australiaand New Zealandin 2015. With Cuckooed, his second theatre piece, Mark was awarded his second Scotsman Fringe First, as well as the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression award, an honour for which Mark declared was “a very inspiring experience and I feel very humbled”.

Mark’s shows have always been entirely different from each other; he’s stopped arms deals, created a manifesto and brought the winning policy to parliament, walked the entire length of the Israeli wall in the West Bank and most recently completed 100 Acts of Minor Dissent, which included taking the police to court over surveillance and finding a new definition for the word ‘Farage’.

We all know that it’s not just his live shows for which Mark creates the trouble he has become famous for; his Channel 4 series The Mark Thomas Comedy Product ran for six series, he’s published three books and a manifesto, had various series commissioned by Radio 4, won a Sony Award for My Life in Serious Organised Crime, been a regular contributor to political magazine The New Statesman, won numerous awards, holds a Guinness World Record, investigated everything from Coca-Cola to inheritance tax avoidance in various TV documentaries, given evidence to Parliamentary Select Committees and stopped multinational infrastructure deals. Oh, and of course he’s been arrested countless times in one day. Fortunately, he has just enough bastard in him to prevent him from becoming a national treasure.

On The Web:
Website:        www.markthomasinfo.com
Twitter:           https://twitter.com/markthomasinfo

Press on Cuckooed:
★★★★★A brilliantly crafted hour… beautiful and heartfelt” METRO
★★★★★A brand of comedy that carries a far weightier purpose than to simply generate laughs…Cuckooed leaves a lasting impression” SUNDAY HERALD
★★★★★A masterful piece of storytelling and an engrossing hour” THE ARTS DESK
★★★★★Political theatre at its very best…takes the breath away… impassioned but lightened with underlying witBRITISH THEATRE GUIDE
★★★★★A very funny show about a serious, indeed deadly, business. This is vintage Mark Thomas – seriously funny in all the best senses, and as he so often is, bang on the money” EDINBURGH GUIDE
★★★★★Impassioned delivery, emphatic gesticulations and wry sense of humour… Thomas’ charisma is also inspirational and sparks a feeling of wanting to follow in his mischievous footsteps” TV BOMB
★★★★A clever, funny and angry show… an excoriating, heartfelt monologue” THE GUARDIAN

On Tour:

FEBRUARY                                VENUE                                                               BOX OFFICE
Tues 10th-Thurs 12th                               GLASGOW, Tron                                                                  0141 552 4267
Sat 14th                                                   TUNBRIDGE WELLS, Trinity                                                    01892 678 678
Weds 18th                                               LEICESTER, Curve                                                                 0116 242 3560
Thurs 19th                                                MILTON KEYNES, The Stables                                              01908 280800
Fri 20th                                                   NEWCASTLE, Northern Stage                                              0191 230 5151
Sun 22nd                                                  IPSWICH, New Wolsey Theatre                                          01473 295900
Weds 25th                                               SALFORD, The Lowry Quays                                                0843 208 6000
Thurs 26th                                                SHEFFIELD, Crucible                                                              0114 249 6000
Fri 27th                                                      COVENTRY, Warwick Arts Centre                                      024 7652 4524
Sat 28th                                                   HUDDERSFIELD, Lawrence Batley Theatre                         01484 430528

MARCH
Thurs 5th                                                  BRIGHTON, Corn Exchange                                                 01273 709709
Fri 6th                                                        STREET, Strode Theatre                                                         01458 442846
Sat 7th March                                        NORTH FINCHLEY, London Arts Depot                                 020 8369 5454

APRIL
Weds 15th-Sat 18th                                 EDINBURGH, Traverse                                                            0131 228 1404
Fri 24th                                                      FOLKESTONE, Quarterhouse                                                 01303 858500
Weds 22nd – Sat 2nd May                     LONDON, Battersea Arts Centre                                          020 7223 2223

BRAVO FIGARO
Mon 4th-Sat 9th May                             LONDON, Battersea Arts Centre                                           020 7223 2223

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