Unity date for Mark Thomas Fringe Festival favourite

Mark Thomas returns to Liverpool's Unity Theatre this month – this time appearing in a new one-man play written especially for him.

England & Son, by playwright Ed Edwards, comes to the Hope Place theatre on October 26-27 and has been described by the award-winning political comedian as “a psychological Greek tragedy set within the context of the British Empire.”

Set when 'The Great Devouring' comes home, England & Son emerges from characters Thomas knew in his childhood and Edwards' lived experience in jail.

Prepare for the 60-year-old to take you on a kaleidoscopic odyssey where disaster capitalism, empire, stolen youth and stolen wealth merge into the simple tale of a working-class boy who just wants his dad to smile at him.

Thomas, who studied theatre arts at Bretton Hall, first met Edwards in 2018 after seeing the playwright’s work The Political History of Smack and Crack at the Edinburgh Fringe.

England & Son, which is suitable for those aged 14 and over, is the first play the comedian has appeared in that he has not written himself.

It was performed at this year’s festival where it won the Holden Street Theatres’ Edinburgh Fringe Award and The Scotsman Fringe First award.

England & Son is at the Unity Theatre on October 26-27. Tickets HERE

Top: Mark Thomas in England & Son. Photo by Alex Brenner.