Comedy: the best medicine, the deadliest weapon – or just the perfect way to spend an evening? Whatever its merits, the Merlin has them in abundance this autumn.
On November 5th expect a suitable incendiary performance from Andrew Lawrence, star of BBC1’s Live at The Apollo, Michael Macintyre’s Roadshow and Dave’s One Night Stand. Expect to feel challenged; Lawrence’s Hate Speech Tour is guaranteed to be controversial. (Tickets £14.50 and £12.50, recommended 14+)
On Friday 18 November Lakin McCarthy and Mark Thomas in association with West Yorkshire Playhouse present Mark Thomas: The Red Shed, directed by Joe Douglas. Multi-award winner Mark returns to the place he first started to perform: a red wooden shed in Wakefield, the Labour club, to celebrate its 50th birthday.
The show involves the audience (in a nice way) in recreating the shed and its inhabitants. Uniquely blending theatre, stand up, journalism and activism, it’s the story of the battle for hope and the survival of a community in a small wooden shed. (Tickets £17 and £12.50, age 16+)
The following evening, Saturday 19th November Lakin McCarthy Entertainments also presents Jo Caulfield, with The Customer is Always Wrong. Award-winning stand-up comedian Jo Caulfield takes a humorous look at life’s potential traps in a 90-minute laugh-out-loud show, full of razor-sharp observations; sharp, witty and insightful. (Tickets £15 and £12.50, age 16+)
All the above start at 7.45pm and can be booked at www.merlintheatre.co.uk, or phone 01373 465949. Shows on Oct 30th, Nov 18th and Nov 19th have a pre-show supper option, served one hour before the performance. Please contact Keren Hayden at kerenhayden@gmail.com or 07968 753632 to book supper.
