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 returns with Smokescreens & Castles, a brand new stand-up show.
Smokescreens & Castles is inspired by RUSSELL’s childhood home; the only council house in his street which had been privately bought - by his Dad. This attracted the ire of the neighbours, and when Dave Kane built an extension, their home was mockingly christened ‘The Castle’ by incensed Enfield folk.
The Castle could be a symbol for all the funny and heartbreaking stuff that went on in that house. The bricking they put around their love, the barriers they built in place of feelings, the smokescreens in communication which hid the tender truths…
One room at time, KANE whisks us through The Castle, blowing away the smoke of history in a whirlwind of high-energy contortions and pant-spraying hilarious routines.
Smokescreens & Castles sees RUSSELL return to the Edinburgh following a whirlwind year which included: receiving his third Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination for his 2009 stand-up show Human Dressage; touring the country twice, with both his stand-up show Human Dressage and his brand new Fakespeare play, The Tragickal Saveings of King Nigel; co-presenting the TRIC-award nominated I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here Now!; appearing as a regular on BBC TWO’s Grumpy Guides to… and Comedy Central’s Grouchy Young Men; and returning to the prestigious Melbourne International Comedy Festival for a month-long residency. In addition to his year’s Fringe, the summer will also see RUSSELL present his first musical The Great British Country Fete, commissioned by The Bush Theatre for an exclusive two week run. Written with scores from award-winning composer and lyricist Michael Bruce, the satirical comedy is set at a fictional village fete.
ends
What the press said about Human Dressage:
“One of the most intellectually invigorating hours on the Fringe...There’s no doubting Kane’s originality or comic verve.”
Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph
“There is more thought and intelligence behind his comedy than most people could ever get near…He remains a unique voice and certainly a comedian who you feel is capable of being one of the best around whose best days lie ahead of him, and you don't feel that very often.”
Jon Nicholson, Mirror
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Pleasance Beyond
Date: 4th - 30th August [excluding 11th and 18th Aug]
Time: 21:10
Box Office: 0131 556 6550
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Ben Nolan, Fran Cherry, Bea Gwynn, Jo Cross or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 08700 70 50 50 [Edinburgh office] or 020 7598 7222 [London office]. Email: benn@avalonuk.com, franc@avalonuk.com, beag@avalonuk.com, joc@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com
WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID ABOUT:
…HUMAN DRESSAGE
“One of the most intellectually invigorating hours on the Fringe...There’s no doubting Kane’s originality or comic verve - I particularly loved his observation about the way men reduce their life-expectancy through their inveterate anti-sociability (“We think ourselves to death”).”
Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph
“Class-consciousness, pretension and a ready self-deprecation have always been part of what makes Kane such a gifted, distinctive comic…plenty of astute and funny observations in this hour about age, nationalities, gender and sexuality.”
Jay Richardson, Chortle
“Exceptionally well-observed and full of physical as well as linguistic wit and is both high falutin' and base in its tone and subject matter. In other words he talks about psychology and wanking. There is more thought and intelligence behind his comedy than most people could ever get near…He remains a unique voice and certainly a comedian who you feel is capable of being one of the best around whose best days lie ahead of him, and you don't feel that very often.”
Jon Nicholson, Mirror
“His stand-up is as bold and defiant as ever, but shot through with more vulnerability, self-doubt even, than previous years have suggested possible. Unlike last year’s mannered and technical performance, this one is raw and sometimes needy, with tales of fleeing his threatening council-estate father for the cheerful insouciance of his riotous gran, ending in a perfectly formed humiliation that toys with a comedy cliché before stamping it down for ever…Watch him closely.”
Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
“Russell Kane is a smart young man and not afraid to show it. His new show, Human Dressage - nominated for the Edinburgh comedy award - is about the dances we humans do to define who we are. Kane ring-fences the argument with neuroscientific jargon; it's refreshing to hear a stand up unashamed of his learning…We are, in other words, emotionally repressed. Who knew? These are cliches, then - but at least they're cliches in the service of a sometimes interesting thesis. And they are animated by Kane's undeniable comic flair, as with this line about the Australians' laid-back dress code: "Have you seen my theatre vest, Muriel?" "It's next to your funeral shorts."…The funniest routine sees granny walking in on him masturbating: Kane, a hyperactive presence on stage, works the scene for every last drop of its comic (and dramatic) potential.”
Brian Logan, The Guardian
“Russell Kane is one of the many fine performers who just grow in stature each year and each time they are a pleasure to watch… He talks at a million miles an hour and this means that one has to listen intently to try and absorb every word he utters, and you just wouldn’t want to miss a single one… don’t miss the chance of a ticket, buy one today.”
Geoff Williams, one4review
…Gaping Flaws
“Russell Kane is an exceptional comedian, his pace is relentless and his material beautifully observed and exquisitely crafted...This is inspiring and brilliant stand-up…perfect.”
Corry Shaw, Chortle
“A fierce intelligence with an irreverent streetwise line of patter… Kane's background provides the richest seam of anthropological material and a compassionate context for his more cutting observations. Delivered at a break-neck speed, his set flits easily between the crude and the cerebral and makes telling points with both approaches. Gaping Flaws is one of those rare shows that makes an hour seem a very short time.”
Jonathan Trew, The Scotland on Sunday
“‘Gaping Flaws’ marks Russell Kane’s stand-up ascendancy.”
Ian Phillips, The National Student
“A streetsmart intellectual, taking the everyday and adding his literate, sideways spin.”
Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard
“The kind of gags that make you snort beer out of your nose… An impressive punchline rate.”
Mickey Noonan, Metro
“Passionate and relentlessly punchy in his delivery.”
Jay Richardson, The Scotsman
“Hip-thrusting his way across the stage, Kane fires out anecdotes and witty asides with machine-gun frequency, his pitch-perfect observations hitting the mark every time… Anecdotes are not simply told, but illustrated with hilariously drawn impressions of the characters that inhabit them, and Kane's gloriously charismatic performance exudes energy and spark.”
Hannah Thomas, Fest
“His 60-minute meditation on the flaws of humans has a thumping heart and a burning soul.”
Brian Donaldson, The List
“Well on his way to rock-star status… Kane springs and struts around the stage like a boxer, and sounds like a Ben Elton who actually is working class… he's getting better and better.”
Nicholas Barber, Independent on Sunday
“There's enough bawdiness in his relentless, energetic material to please the less discerning punter, but it's underpinned by subtly serious points.”
Stephanie Merritt, The Guardian
…Easy Cliché and Tired Stereotype
“Jaw-achingly faultless… cements Kane’s status as masterful observational comic.”
Alison Lutton, Fest
“The best show we’ve seen.”
LBC
“The Perrier nominee is about as smart a young comic as you’re likely to find.”
Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
“It's his quick-fire, spur-of-the-moment jokes and comments which prove that the man is genuinely hilarious.”
Three Weeks
“Great skill and huge laughs… it’s refreshing to find an hour where the conceit never feels strained.”
Mickey Noonan, Metro
“At one point, Kane refers to a loud noise outside as the stars falling off his reviews. Only the one Russell.”
Marissa Burgess, The List
…The Theory of Pretension
“Kane is an intelligent, confident comedian who can make us look at ourselves and laugh, regardless of the sometimes unpalatable view. His ferocious, rapid fire delivery and needle sharp observations are accurate and genuinely funny. A proper stand-up comedian; a lot rarer these days than you think.”
Drew Tosh, The List
“It’s also hilarious from start-to-finish, as he thrusts about revealing Shakespeare as the rubbish comedian we all knew he was at school, exposing the fallacy of the jobsworth, and explaining how the ultimate antidote to pretentiousness is silliness. Kane has a rambling, hyperactive style, though it’s clearly a very carefully constructed narrative, flexible enough for ad-libbing with the audience and quick-witted brainwaves that leave the audience floored with laughter.”
Ally Brown, Skinny Fest
“Few Edinburgh newcomers make performing look this fluid… It looks like his rise to meteoric heights is about to begin.”
Sharon Lougher, Metro
“Stand-up Russell Kane is one to watch.”
Jonathan Trew, Scotland on Sunday
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 CHRIS ADDISON, SIMON BIRD, JENNY ECLAIR, DAVE GORMAN, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD, LEE MACK, and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Stadium; 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 and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed highly successful runs in Australia and London’s West End; 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.
