Warwick Arts Centre

Theatre

The £1million Warwick Arts Centre first opened its doors in 1974 and presents over two thousand, three hundred events and performances a year, with music, drama, dance, mime, comedy, film, visual arts and literature all featuring. The venue is annually visited by over three hundred thousand people. 

Warwick Arts Centre,

The University Of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Rd,

Coventry

CV4 7AL

warwickartscentre.co.uk

Telephone: 02476 524524

Email: Box.office@warwick.ac.uk

It’s been a couple of years since Andy Parsons quit comedy panel show Mock The Week, but judging by this energetic performance the raspy-voiced comic has lost none of his razor-sharp wit during the intervening period.

Indeed, absence from the TV screens not only makes the heart grow fonder, but ensures Parsons’ act stays fresher, so it was a treat not to hear material previously aired tidbit-fashion during the ‘wheel of comedy’ or similarly contrived element of the semi-topical quiz show.

Not only that, but the likeable comic was also able to stretch his traditional one-line quips into lengthier routines – an exasperating tale of NHS bureaucracy a case in point – as well develop an overall theme, namely the ‘Peak Bullsh*t’ of the show’s title.

The label covered a multitude of sins and sinners, from Brexit and Trump to HS2 and Theresa (with a ‘h’) May, the “guff speaking” Prime Minister one of many politicians from across the spectrum to earn the master satirist’s ire. He also took aim at Jeremy Corbyn, Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and the re-emerging Tony Blair – “someone who can unite the nation, as we all hate him” – and if his targets were predictable, then at least hit the nail on the head every time.

Better yet, despite admitting that comedy never started any revolutions, his passion – and compassion – for topics ranging from education to integration to privatisation (healthcare and the railways) added a little weight to proceedings without ever being earnest or overbearing. Or more importantly detracting from the laughs, which were a constant throughout a consummate performance from a comedian at the very top of his game.


4 Stars on Fri, 28 Apr 2017