★★★★ The Sunday Times; ★★★★The List; ★★★★ Edinburgh Evening News; ★★★★ Fest; ★★★★ Three Weeks; ★★★★ Fringe Review; ★★★★ The National Student
After a critically acclaimed, sell-out 2009 Edinburgh run, triple Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here Now! presenter RUSSELL KANE is to embark on a tour of Fakespeare: The Tragickal Saveings of King Nigel. Kickstarting the New Year with a 32 date run of his brand new bawdy romp in blank verse, RUSSELL will play theatres nationwide from 8th January 2010.
King Nigel is an Essex banker who has lost everything. No options are left (yes - a banking pun), and thus he must himself do in. But can his secret love and PA - Donna of Billericay - save him from himself? Or will she also be pulled in to his bubbling pit of excremental mental evil and that?
“When is
a burger no longer a burger, and
not even bread. Removéd from my bun,
I am but a limp patty, a meat-head.
A false whopper, lying at mine own feet.
The chips are down, all is lost and gambled.
I, unking’d, am mayonnaised with fat lies.
Whopper in name only, thus shallow fried.”
RUSSELL KANE writes, directs and stars alongside SADIE HASLER (Al Murray’s Multiple Personality Disorder ITV1) in a story of financial loss and unspoken lust - set in a modern-day Essex where everyone speaks in Shakespearean verse.
RUSSELL KANE premiered Fakespeare with a hit three-day run at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which was quickly followed by a prestigious performance at the RSC’s main stage in Stratford-Upon-Avon. He returned to Edinburgh this year with his brand new Fakespeare play, The Tragickal Saveings of King Nigel, which he performed to sell-out audiences for the entire run, in the middle of a prolific year which also saw him: receive a third Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination for his fourth sell-out stand-up Fringe show; co-present ITV2’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here Now!; complete his first national stand-up tour with the universally acclaimed Gaping Flaws and embark on his second with the Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated Human Dressage; complete a nine-week national tour of Australia, which included a full run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival; appear on BBC ONE’s flagship comedy show Live at the Apollo; and host series 5 and 6 of Out To Lunch, BBC Radio 2’s Saturday lunchtime comedy show. The start of 2010 marks another busy year for RUSSELL which, in addition to his Fakespeare tour, already sees him continue the twice-extended Human Dressage run.
ends
What the press has said about Fakespeare: The Tragickal Saveings of King Nigel in Edinburgh:
“Kane creates his cross-century mash-up with the joy of language dripping from his lips and echoes of Steven Berkoff at his youthful best. Watch him closely.”
Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
“What Kane overwhelmingly demonstrates is that he's more than a comedian dipping his toe in the theatrical world. There's a dramatist in the making here.”
Evan Beswick, Fest
For more information please contact: Jo Cross or Dan Lloyd at Avalon on 020 7598 7222 / joc@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com
What the press said about…
...Fakespeare: The Tragickal Saveings of King Nigel - Edinburgh 2009
"By'r lakin does this work…His tightly-wrought wordplay is brilliantly loaded with meaning, ranging from hilarious bawdiness to touching subtlety. Dramatically, too, this is genuine drama rather than glib pastiche. Nigel's PA and mistress, Donna of Billericay, is played beautifully by Sadie Hasler: daft enough that she becomes a truly tragic victim (in the classical sense - she is a flawed character who moves unheedingly to her demise), but not so dumb that she fails to inspire empathy…What Kane overwhelmingly demonstrates is that he's more than a comedian dipping his toe in the theatrical world. There's a dramatist in the making here."
★★★★
Evan Beswick, Fest
"Kane’s offering is so fresh that it will undoubtably stand out from the crowd. Fast-paced metaphors, sandwiched betwixt puns, similes and some foul language as well, keep the attentive audience on their toes. This is an ingenious show that illustrates Kane’s diverse talents and the reasons why he is well on the way to becoming a staple, firm Fringe favourite."
★★★★
Rhinannon Jonathan, Edinburgh Evening News
"Most impressive is the word-play and near-miraculous extended metaphors: an unceasing tide of fiscal terminology twisted to drive home the moral bankruptcy of Nigel. The sheer ingenuity and invention on display is staggering. There is also something admirably democratic about Fakespeare. Kane says in his prologue that the whole enterprise began to counter the claim that "pikeys can't do Shakespeare". He's made his point emphatically."
★★★★
Ralph Scott, Three Weeks
"Brilliant. The script is easy going, light and witty and very enjoyable to watch. Virtually every celebrity since the birth of modern culture is named and attacked through simile, and the dialogue is punchy and sharp… Kane himself is a brilliantly expressive actor and stand-up: half of the pieces’ comic genius comes from his facial and physical contortions. He commands the stage and has his audience blissfully balanced on tip toes, eagerly awaiting the next gag, the next plot twist, the next dig at some poor unsuspecting celebrity. The other half of his comedy duo, Donna, is horrendously stereotypical and consequently, comedy gold. This is hilarious. Highly recommended."
★★★★
Lizzie Edmonds, Fringe Review
"The script is cleverly manufactured and stuffed to bursting with contemporary jokes and references while the application of iambic pentameter is intelligently and amusingly done without getting too bogged down in the structure of the style. Where Kane has truly gone to work and had plenty of fun is with the many similes littered throughout the play. It’s so full of similes it’s like a big simile filled thing. OK, I’ll leave the similes to them ‘cos theirs are bloody funny and mine are shit, although after an hour of such rich Russell Kane quilled similes you’ll probably welcome the respite."
★★★★
Ian Phillips, The National Student
"This is an original and witty piece by a good writer. Kane has enough talent that he shouldn’t worry about being taken for a dramatist, albeit a funny one."
★★★★
Elliott Ross, The List
"Kane creates his cross-century mash-up with the joy of language dripping from his lips and echoes of Steven Berkoff at his youthful best. Watch him closely."
★★★★
Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
"As a writer, he's got the rhythm and rhymed couplets down, and a few sprinkled “these” and “thous”, along with nice coinages such as a suicidal “self-toppage” catch the cod-Elizabethan flavour. For the pedant, a nice touch is his take on Shakespeare's signature extended similes, with something described as being “as disrupted as a Ryanair passenger with moderately heavy luggage”, while a suggestion is dismissed as “less likely than Jim Davidson in a burka”."
Gerald Berkowitz, The Stage
"Kane rises to the challenge of being the new bard of Enfield with aplomb."
Steve Bennett, Chortle
...Fakespeare: The Lamentable Tragedie of Yates’s Wine Lodge - Edinburgh 2008
"Wonderful play from this very gifted young comedian."
Tim Arthur, Time Out
"The rising star surpasses himself… Clever and funny."
Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
"The script is lightning fast - you’re going to have to work hard to keep up with the huge quantities of simile jokes such as “I shall be like a working class accent on Radio 4: concealed.” This format could get boring were it not for the sheer speed of delivery and creativity of the lines, referencing chavs, alcohol, television and the numerous targets afforded by modernity. Wonderfully enjoyable smut for the cultured classes."
James Murray, Three Weeks
TOUR DATES
January
Friday 8th: TAUNTON Brewhouse Theatre 01823 283244
February
Thursday 4th: BATH Rondo Theatre 01225 463362
Friday 5th: SALISBURY Arts Centre 01722 321744
Saturday 6th: WHITSTABLE Horsebridge Arts Centre 01227 281174
Sunday 7th: BERKSHIRE Norden Farm Arts Centre 01628 788997
Tuesday 9th: SHEFFIELD City Hall 0114 2 789 789
Wednesday 10th: LANCASTER Grand 01524 64695
Friday 12th: ALDERSHOT West End Centre 01252 330040
Tuesday 16th: LEEDS Library (TICKETS PURCHASED ON THE NIGHT)
Thursday 18th: NORWICH Arts Centre 01603 660352
Friday 19th: BERWICK UPON TWEED Maltings Theatre and Arts Centre 01289 330999
Tuesday 23rd: TIVERTON Comedy Hall 01884 253404
Friday 26th: COLCHESTER Arts Centre 01206 500900
Saturday 27th: CHELMSFORD Cramphorn Theatre 01245 606505
Sunday 28th: BRIGHTON Komedia Theatre 0845 293 8480
March
Wednesday 3rd: FAREHAM Ferneham Hall 01329 231942
Thursday 4th: MIDDLESBROUGH Town Hall 01642 245432
Saturday 6th: SOUTHEND Palace Theatre 01702 351135
Sunday 7th: SOUTHEND Palace Theatre 01702 351135
Monday 8th: SOUTHEND Palace Theatre 01702 351135
Tuesday 9th: LONDON Soho Theatre 020 7478 0100
Wednesday 10th: LONDON Soho Theatre 020 7478 0100
Thursday 11th: LONDON Soho Theatre 020 7478 0100
Friday 12th: LONDON Soho Theatre 020 7478 0100
Saturday 13th: LONDON Soho Theatre 020 7478 0100
May
Sunday 2nd: WARWICK Arts Centre 024 7652 4524
Saturday 8th: BERKSHIRE South Hill Park 01785 254 653
Saturday 15th: NEWPORT Riverfront 01633 656 757
Monday 17th: CAMBRIDGE The Junction 01223 511 511
Thursday 27th: CRANBROOK Queen’s Hall Theatre 01580 711 856
July
Sunday 4th: STAFFORD Shakespeare Festival 01785 254 653
Thursday 15th: LEAMINGTON SPA The Assembly 01926 523001
AVALON PROMOTIONS
Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004).
The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics JENNY ECLAIR, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD on a 10-date sell-out arena tour; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret, Jerry Springer - The Opera at the Sydney Opera House, and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK four times and performed a highly successful run in Australia; and present 20 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 18 Perrier Award/Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees in just 21 years.
