Images: 
Total Rating: 
****
Previews: 
August 3, 2012
Opened: 
August 5, 2012
Ended: 
August 26, 2012
Country: 
Scotland
City: 
Edinburgh
Company/Producers: 
Phil McIntyre Entertainments
Theater Type: 
International
Theater: 
Traverse Theater
Theater Address: 
10 Cambridge Street
Phone: 
+0131-228-1404
Website: 
markthomasinfo.co.uk
Running Time: 
1 hr
Genre: 
Solo
Author: 
Mark Thomas
Director: 
Hamish Pirie
Review: 

Mark Thomas is a well-known British comedian, but his new one-person show, Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro!, now in its world premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, offers a lot more than just a string of one-liners. Instead, the charismatic Thomas delivers a monologue about his late father, a working-class bloke packed with enough contradictions to give Sigmund Freud fits.

A big, imposing figure of man, he was a lay Methodist preacher with a nasty temper and ready fists. Determined to better himself and prove himself the equal of any "posh son of a bitch" out there, he subscribed to a weekly music magazine that introduced him to the world of opera. Soon he was not only listening to opera at home but on the job (he was a self-employed carpenter and builder). Next he bought a tux and began attending live performances at such elitist venues as Covent Gardens, English National Opera and Glyndebourne.

Thomas breaks up his always-funny but never condescending monologue with recorded excerpts from an interview he did with his father just before the latter died from the degenerative illness Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). He also plays excerpts from some of his father's most beloved operas.

The climax of Thomas' show deals with the way he paid tribute to his difficult father in the last days of his life. Thomas paid for several performers to come to his parent's bungalow in Bournemouth and stage a mini-opera. Thus the old man was able to die with a famous aria from Rossini ringing in his ears.

Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro! is a remarkable show; one that's as touching as it is entertaining.

Cast: 
Mark Thomas
Critic: 
Willard Manus
Date Reviewed: 
August 2012