Maeve Higgins
Magnus Betner
Malcolm Hardee
Mandy Knight
Mandy Muden
Marc Lucero
Marc Maron
Marc Wootton
Marcel Lucont
Marcus Brigstocke
Marcus Ryan
Marek Larwood
Margaret Cho
Maria Bamford
Marian Pashley
Marie Vagen
Mark Allen
Mark Cornell
Mark Dolan
Mark Felgate
Mark Gatiss
Mark Hurst
Mark Maier
Mark Nelson
Mark Olver
Mark Restuccia
Mark Simmons
Mark Steel
Mark Stephenson
Mark Thomas
Mark Walker
Mark Watson
Markus Birdman
Marlon Davis
Martha McBrier
Martin Beaumont
Martin Bigpig Mor
Martin Coyote
Martin Davis
Martin Hill
Martin Tapley
Martine Pepper
Marty McLean
Marty Wilson
Mary Bourke
Masai Graham
Mat & Faron
Mat Ewins
Mathew Horne
Matt Blaize
Matt Dyktynski
Matt Grantham
Matt Green
Matt Hollins
Matt Kirshen
Matt Lucas
Matt Price
Matt Reed
Matt Rees
Matt Richardson
Matt Rudge
Matt Tiller
Matt Watts
Matt Welcome
Matthew Hardy
Matthew Highton
Matthew Holness
Matthew Osborn
Matthew Winning
Maureen Langan
Maureen Younger
Max Dickens
Max Dowler
Men In Coats
Men With Bananas
Meryl O'Rourke
Michael Ayers
Michael Fabbri
Michael J Dolan
Michael Legge
Michael McIntyre
Michael Mooney
Michael Redmond
Michael Smiley
Michael Tombs
Michael Winslow
Mick Ferry
Mick McGrath
Mick Miller
Mick Sergeant
Mickey Anderson
Mickey D
Mickey Hutton
Micky Flanagan
Mike Belgrave
Mike Birbiglia
Mike Gunn
Mike Landers
Mike Milligan
Mike Newall
Mike O'Donovan
Mike Wilkinson
Mike Wilmot
Mike Wozniak
Miles Crawford
Miles Jupp
Milton Jones
Miranda Hart
Miriam Elia
Miss London
Mitch Benn
Mitch Fatel
Moonfish Rhumba
Moshe Kasher
Mowten
Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer
Mundo Jazz
Mark Allen
Mark Allen's Go Slow |
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There’s an intriguing premise behind Mark Allen’s fourth Edinburgh offering, but unfortunately it doesn’t gel into anything more than a gently enjoyable show. Worried that the pace of modern life with its instant status updates, constant mobile phone communications and general hustle and bustle was making him dangerously stressed, gadget-loving Allen decided to slow down the pace of his life for a month. The idea that he would take one technological step backwards – for example using the bus rather than the Tube – to see if he wound up more relaxed. Whatever he was like before, he doesn’t exactly come across as highly strung now. As an amiable Everyman raconteur, he recounts typical situations such as running desperately for a train, only for it to remain motionless on the platform for minutes afterwards, with a certain elan. But while such descriptions might be relatable, he doesn’t add a huge amount of comic value to them. It’s the same with the results of his experiments. He recalls a few specific instances when things were slightly different, such as the difficulty in contacting his wife via payphones or describing the joys of sending and receiving handwritten letters rather than emails, but we’re not led to feel anything was particularly different in his life either during or after. The routine therefore comes across more as detached commentary on modern life than a convincing description of his personal experiences, so there’s no real journey for the audience to go on. That said he’s engaging company with some nice asides and witty lines (though can we please now have a moratorium on the increasingly hack gag ‘If there’s no one like that in your group – then it’s you!’) And the big joke of the show is a nice touch, though it does rather rely on you noticing the set-up, which I had to admit I hadn’t. It’s a reasonable enough way of killing some time… but then by Allen’s relaxed logic, you should simply have to enjoy that time for its own merits anyway.
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Date of live review: Friday 20th Aug, '10 | |
Review by Steve Bennett |
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Wednesday 16th Jan, '08- | |
Show - Edinburgh Fringe 2008 - |
An enthusiastic and inquisitive talent who's "techniques" border on the kaledoscopic and display a great deal of both respect for entertaining the audience and expressing the more mercurial aspects of both his personality and talent. A natural choice for art centers and theater spaces. Rob Deb, January 2008 |
Mark Allen's Quite Good Britain
Edinburgh Fringe 2007
Mark Allen's Mob Logic
Edinburgh Fringe 2008
Mark Allen's Pet Project
Edinburgh Fringe 2009
Mark Allen's Quite Good Britain [2009]
Edinburgh Fringe 2010
Mark Allen's Go Slow