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Frank Skinner returns to Edinburgh festival for first time in seven years Frank Skinner returns to Edinburgh festival for first time in seven years
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Frank Skinner will take his new standup show, Man in a Suit, to the Edinburgh festival this summer, it has been confirmed. Skinner is currently on tour with the show, which sold out for five weeks at the Leicester Square theatre earlier this year, and in which the standup has reinvented himself – to a degree. ("Man in a Suit certainly sees Skinner tone down the trademark blokeishness," wrote Brian Logan, "but only so far.")Frank Skinner will take his new standup show, Man in a Suit, to the Edinburgh festival this summer, it has been confirmed. Skinner is currently on tour with the show, which sold out for five weeks at the Leicester Square theatre earlier this year, and in which the standup has reinvented himself – to a degree. ("Man in a Suit certainly sees Skinner tone down the trademark blokeishness," wrote Brian Logan, "but only so far.")
It has been seven years since Skinner performed standup at the festival. He won the Perrier comedy award there in 1991. Skinner told the Guardian: "A three-week Edinburgh run, no nights off: in the old days it would have wrecked me but that's when I'd be in the Gilded Balloon bar till 4am. This year I'm taking my family and will spend much of my spare time seeking out puppet-based entertainment." It has been seven years since Skinner performed a full-length standup show at the festival. He won the Perrier comedy award there in 1991. Skinner told the Guardian: "A three-week Edinburgh run, no nights off: in the old days it would have wrecked me but that's when I'd be in the Gilded Balloon bar till 4am. This year I'm taking my family and will spend much of my spare time seeking out puppet-based entertainment."
Skinner is one of several comedians promoted by Avalon who have announced details of their Edinburgh shows. Skinner's fellow Perrier winner Al Murray will present a work-in-progress version of his 52-date touring show One Man, One Guvnor, celebrating "20 years at the lager top". The ale-loving philosopher will also be hosting The Pub Landlord's Summer Saloon, an Edinburgh variety show with special guests.Skinner is one of several comedians promoted by Avalon who have announced details of their Edinburgh shows. Skinner's fellow Perrier winner Al Murray will present a work-in-progress version of his 52-date touring show One Man, One Guvnor, celebrating "20 years at the lager top". The ale-loving philosopher will also be hosting The Pub Landlord's Summer Saloon, an Edinburgh variety show with special guests.
Richard Herring and Russell Kane will both present dramatic works at the festival. Herring's play I Killed Rasputin charts an encounter between the journalist EM Halliday and Felix Yusupov, the prince supposedly involved in the assassination of Rasputin. "I am very excited to be bringing a play to the fringe for the first time in 15 years," says Herring, who has been to St Petersburg on a research trip and wrote the opening of the play in the shadow of Yusupov Palace. "I have long been obsessed with Rasputin and the incredible life of his supposed assassin Felix Yusupov. His account of the murder is so melodramatic and unlikely that it is surely covering a more interesting and unpleasant truth … For a story of murder, revolution and obscene privilege it is surprisingly funny though. It's a daunting task to get all this together into an 80-minute play but I am relishing the challenge and after several years of writing TV scripts that get bogged down in the commissioning process it is very gratifying to be writing something that will definitely be produced. Even if the economics of Edinburgh mean it will cost me tens of thousands of pounds."Richard Herring and Russell Kane will both present dramatic works at the festival. Herring's play I Killed Rasputin charts an encounter between the journalist EM Halliday and Felix Yusupov, the prince supposedly involved in the assassination of Rasputin. "I am very excited to be bringing a play to the fringe for the first time in 15 years," says Herring, who has been to St Petersburg on a research trip and wrote the opening of the play in the shadow of Yusupov Palace. "I have long been obsessed with Rasputin and the incredible life of his supposed assassin Felix Yusupov. His account of the murder is so melodramatic and unlikely that it is surely covering a more interesting and unpleasant truth … For a story of murder, revolution and obscene privilege it is surprisingly funny though. It's a daunting task to get all this together into an 80-minute play but I am relishing the challenge and after several years of writing TV scripts that get bogged down in the commissioning process it is very gratifying to be writing something that will definitely be produced. Even if the economics of Edinburgh mean it will cost me tens of thousands of pounds."
In Kane's "bleak and viscerally twisted" monologue The Closure of Craig Solly, the audience "become the friends and family of this psychotic gangster's victims". Kane's standup set will explore the British fascination with smallness while Herring's will examine how his "whole career is a failed attempt to top a piece of visual slapstick comedy he came up with at 16".In Kane's "bleak and viscerally twisted" monologue The Closure of Craig Solly, the audience "become the friends and family of this psychotic gangster's victims". Kane's standup set will explore the British fascination with smallness while Herring's will examine how his "whole career is a failed attempt to top a piece of visual slapstick comedy he came up with at 16".
Other Avalon acts confirming Edinburgh appearances include Alex Horne, Carl Donnelly, Chris Ramsey, Hayley Ellis, Lucy Beaumont, Matt Forde and Phil Wang. Tickets go on sale on 13 May.Other Avalon acts confirming Edinburgh appearances include Alex Horne, Carl Donnelly, Chris Ramsey, Hayley Ellis, Lucy Beaumont, Matt Forde and Phil Wang. Tickets go on sale on 13 May.