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Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Precious
Theatre
Ian McKellen is captivating throughout. He delights in the play’s gallows humour, yet is also maudlin and poignant
Waiting for Godot
Theatre
Slight quibbles notwithstanding, this will set the West End’s stock riding high
Enron
Utterly, utterly brilliant. You really are in for a treat
Though 'Trilogy' has won rave reviews, I personally found myself exasperated after about an hour
We went on a quiet sunday evening and the food was excellent, but the experience let down by the service and ambiance
London,
Bruce Dessau's rating
Reader rating
Description: Robin Ince hosts an evening of talks, music and comedy, with guests including Simon Singh, Marcus Chown, Ruth Padel and Martin White.
Trains: Tube: Euston 
, Tube / Bus: 10, 18, 24, 29, 73, 91, 168, 253 
Phone: 020 7388 8822
Robin Ince may not be the most mainstream comedian in the country but he is certainly the most intellectually audacious.
After staging a religion-related gig featuring Richard Dawkins at Christmas, last night’s sequel homed in on astronomy, physics “and other scientific distractions”. A cocktail of gagsmiths and boffins went into the test tube and out came a thing of sprawling beauty.
As compere, Ince was on manic form, passionate and provocative and frantically namedropping cultural references from Schopenhauer to Natasha Kaplinsky. Star of In The Loop Chris Addison was in similarly garrulous mode, mixing philosophical observations with dinosaur impersonations. Josie Long was lovably enthusiastic if a little unprepared, yet scored high-brow brownie points by sporting a D-I-Y Kurt Vonnegut T-shirt.
One of the most engaging aspects of the evening was that while some had familiar material — Helen Keen’s quickfire run-down of her fave rocket scientists was entertaining and informative — others came up with new night-specific stuff.
Lucy Porter unearthed a school book boasting a self-penned poem about a boy in which she tried to mention elements from the periodic table (“You can copper feel of my titaniums in bed”).
The scientists might have lacked the stand-ups’ stagecraft but they rose to the occasion. Cosmologist Marcus Chown delivered his top five bonkers facts about the universe (number five — the sun would be the same if it was made out of bananas), while proceedings closed with renaissance thinker Simon Singh electrocuting a gherkin, which we nearly didn’t see after a fuse blew. In the end, though, the experiment worked, adding a final flash to a night of bright sparks.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
