Master of mischief heads to Buxton

Over the decades, Mark Thomas has poked his nose into enough things to cause a politician to resign, arms deals to collapse, reform inheritance tax law, force the odd multinational to clean up its act a little and accidentally become Guinness World Record holder for political protests.
Mark Thomas latest show 100 Acts of Minor Dissent hits Buxton on February 8. Photo: Steve Ullathorne.Mark Thomas latest show 100 Acts of Minor Dissent hits Buxton on February 8. Photo: Steve Ullathorne.
Mark Thomas latest show 100 Acts of Minor Dissent hits Buxton on February 8. Photo: Steve Ullathorne.

Following his critically acclaimed, award-winning and deeply personal theatre show Bravo Figaro, Mark is back to doing what he does best - mischief!

Last May, he set himself the task of committing 100 Acts of Minor Dissent in the space of a year.

His latest show, which comes to Buxton’s Pavilion Arts Centre on Saturday February 8, is a catalogue of those acts, from the smallest action to the grandest confrontations. The results are hilarious, subversive, mainly legal and occasionally inspiring.

In 2010, Mark walked the entire length of the Israeli wall in the West Bank and his subsequent 2011 show, Extreme Rambling: Walking the Wall, went on to tour nationwide and was named the Telegraph’s Show of the Year 2011.

His Edinburgh show Bravo Figaro was his first ever theatre show; a moving account about his father which was originally commissioned by the Royal Opera House and won Mark a Scotsman Fringe First, a Herald Angel and was broadcast on Radio 4. With six series on Channel 4, numerous awards, TV documentaries, three books, a published manifesto, a fifth series of Manifesto commissioned for Radio 4, a Sony Award for his show My Life in Serious Organised Crime, a magazine column that caused a diplomatic incident, the occasional arrest (mainly other peoples, though not exclusively), court cases, giving evidence to Parliamentary Select Committees, stopping multinational infrastructure deals and no small amount of messing about, it’s no wonder that Mark is the UK’s favourite political comedian.

Tickets for Mark Thomas - 100 Acts of Minor Dissent at the Pavilion Arts Centre on February 8, at 7.30pm, are priced £14 and £16. To book, call the box office on 0845 127 2190 or visit www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk.