Comedy fans who can’t make Harry and Meghan’s big day at Windsor Castle can experience a ‘Royal Wedding’ with a difference in Kendal this May.
Top comedian Arthur Smith will be in the town performing a brand new show entitled In the Footsteps of Coleridge and Princess Meghan as part of a the Brewery Arts Centre’s Freerange Comedy Festival on May 20, 2018.
The show, which takes place the day after the actual Royal Wedding, will see Arthur lead a fun-filled historical stroll around Kendal telling the incredible story of the new Princess and her “connection with the town” ending up at the Factory Tap pub for a special stand-up performance.
The show forms part of a new Fringe-style revamp for the festival which this year runs from May 18-20 and has been attracting some of the UK’s top comedians including stars such as Al Murray, Jason Manford, Lee Evans and Jack Dee to the Brewery since its inception in 2011.
The Brewery is collaborating on the festival with Julie Tait, the woman behind The Lakes International Comic Art Festival and the Mintfest Street Art Festival, who is using her contacts and experience to introduce a different dimension to this year’s event.
The full line-up includes a rare opportunity to take part in a special series of stand-up comedy workshops run by a legend of the alternative comedy scene. Tony Allen, often referred to as the Godfather of Alternative Comedy, was a major figure in the early days of London’s Comedy Store which gave early comedians such as Alexi Sayle, Keith Allen and Rik Mayall their first platform.
Allen will be leading a special crash course in stand-up comedy, consisting of four, two hour sessions, entitled ATTITUDE which is designed to equip participants with enough technique, know-how and self-confidence to devise and perform an original five minute act to a live audience.
Participants will be then given the opportunity to showcase their new-found skills doing a special stand-up performance MC’d by Allen (May 20, 2.30pm).
Another of the highlights of the festival is a live show straight from the pages of anarchic adult comic Viz.
Barney Farmer, the creator of the darkly hilarious cartons The Drunken Bakers, Scum Mothers: Who’d ‘Ave ‘Em and many others will be doing a special comedy performance entitled Barney Farmer Buys Everyone a Small Drink (May 19), featuring a special animated film of the Drunken Bakers and his own humorous observations about creating some Viz’s most compelling characters.
Madcap comedy performer John Robertson presents his surreal show The Dark Room (May 19, 7.30pm), originally an interactive YouTube ‘Crystal Maze-style’ game which went viral and attracted more than 4 million views. He then transformed the game into a live show, and so far, has enjoyed sell out shows at Insomnia Gaming Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The festival line-up also includes:
– Mark Steel: Every Little Thing’s Gonna Be Alright (May 18, 8pm)
– Freerange Comedy Club – line-up includes award winning political satirist and feminist Sameena Zehra, anarchist poet Johnny Fluffypunk and winner of the Edinburgh Fringe’s prestigious Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt Award, Becky Fury (May 18, 8.30pm)
– Nick Revell: BrokenDreamCatcher – premiere of a new show written for BBC Radio 4 (May 19, 7pm)
– JoJo Bellini: Agents Provocateurs – risqué, one-woman cabaret show about history’s greatest female spies (May 19, 9pm)
Comedy loving kids will also be catered for with a special young people’s version of the Dark Room (May 19, 2pm); Jay Foreman’s musical comedy show Disgusting Songs for Revolting Children (May 19, 2pm) and a Comedy Club 4 Kids (May 20, 2pm).
Brewery head of programming Mike Jones said: ““I’m delighted to be working with Julie Tait from the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival on Freerange 2018. Her enthusiasm, excellent contacts and instinctive funny bones have helped us give the event a different spin this year”
Julie Tait said: “I love festivals and I love comedy so I couldn’t resist the chance to work with my favourite venue to come up with a twist on Freerange and offer an even better range of comedy experiences”
For full details of all the Freerange Comedy Festival shows visit the website www.breweryarts.co.uk or call box office on 01539 725133.
