Page 162 - Katherine Ryan press pack 2015-20

Flight of the Conchords, Eventim Apollo

The New Zealand duo returned to live comedy after
several years away on other projects, separately and together, and it was a pleasure to welcome
them back. They performed songs from their extensive and solid-gold back catalogue, but also
had a slew of new material for their UK dates. FOTC fans first saw Bret McKenzie and Jemaine
Clement at Edinburgh 15 years ago, when they were happy-go-lucky Kiwis just enjoying what
they did and building an audience doing so. Now, with commercial as well as critical success
under their belts, middle age suits them, as some of their new material (although still with a wry
aside or a sting in its tail) attested.

Bridget Christie, Brighton Dome

Feminism is the gift that keeps giving for Bridget Christie and her
audiences, although in What Now? She declared it was all an act; she didn't want to advance the
cause of women, she merely wanted to be famous. It was a neat trick, as by upending our
expectations it allowed her to have more fun on stage, and to inject more of the silliness that
marked her earlier comedy, as she made further examination of what kind of society we now are
two years into the Brexit debate. Christie's comedy just keeps getting better.

League of Gentlemen, Sunderland Empire

They hadn't performed live since 2005, so the
announcement that Royston Vasey inhabitants Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Steve
Pemberton, plus non-performing writer Jeremy Dyson were going back on the road was hugely