BBC EAT YOUR HEART OUT! The winner of the competition, Sam Eley, performed as Basil Crumbwick, in a giant papier-maché head
[Author supplied]
HENRY BELL is fascinated by the underlying curiosities and contradictions of one of the great poets of the Mediterranean
DAVID RENTON recommends a books that explores the ways in which disabled people are made to feel both of and not part of this world
JONATHAN TAYLOR is fascinated by the philosophical problems that permeate the art of life-writing
GORDON PARSONS steps warily in between the lines of Britain’s most famous diarist
SIMON DUFF recommends a recording of Arvo Part that takes the listener on a pilgrimage through seemingly distant times and events of the Bible
Sketch Off Final
Leicester Square Festival, London
DESPITE the crisis in the arts, Britain has a never-ending supply of fresh weirdos. Some come straight from their university improv clubs, and some are doing their recovery in public after a year of being brutalised at infamous French clowning school Gaulier.
And some are here because their anarchic spirit allows them to belong nowhere else.
And many end up in the heats of Sketch Off, a competition dominated by character comedians, with the odd sketch act who surprise everyone by actually winning on occasion, like last year’s Burger + a Pint, who reprise their joyously stupid skits here while the judges make up their minds.
MARY CONWAY applauds the success of Beth Steel’s bitter-sweet state-of-the-nation play
JAMES WALSH has a great night in the company of basketball players, quantum physicists and the exquisite timing of Rosie Jones
