After walking the wall in the West Bank, becoming Guinness World Record holder for political protests and chasing arms dealers around the country Mark Thomas turns his attention to matters closer to home with a show about his father.

First commissioned by the Royal Opera house Bravo Figaro is the true tale of a self-employed builder’s love of opera, degenerative illness and how to put opera on in a bungalow in Bournemouth.

It is about love, death and the search for peace in an imperfect world ... with some gags thrown in for luck and told by one of the finest storytellers in the country.

'Next up was Mark Thomas, who was nothing short of astounding. After a couple of jokey reminiscences about the early days of alternative cabaret, he started telling us about his dad – a full-on rough, but hard-grafting working-class Methodist, Thatcherite builder from South London – and the difficult relationship he has with him. This has been a fertile ground for comics of late, most notably Russell Kane, but it’s never been covered as expertly as this. This powerful story was packed full of emotion, taking the audience on an incredible ride through the decades and, more significantly, the contradictory, complex feelings he had for this brusque character. Always surprising as it deftly nipped between the moving and the funnies this was a ride that left the audience drained in the best possible way, having come through an amazing tale. Absolutely superlative stuff.' - Chortle.co.uk

http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/performance/nov-2012/mark-thomas-1.html