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It’s Day’s night, and no one is going to spoil her story
A Sentimental Journey
Film
This is a shocking, replenishing film, not to be missed
Green Zone
Restaurants
It is great that Bruno Loubet is back — and at prices that are eminently fair
Bistro Bruno Loubet
The action and direction are superb and the acting good, but the plot is so pathetic it defies belief
Wonderful - beautifully acted and gloriously funny, particularly Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw
Probably the most important photography exhibition london has ever seen
London,
Bruce Dessau's rating
Reader rating
Jane Bussman: wickedly funny
There comes a point in every showbiz hack's life when writing about vacuous celebrities is just not enough. Jane Bussman hit that point when she had to interview Demi Moore's toyboy Ashton Kutcher. Shaken by the inanity she decided to become a foreign correspondent. The story of her career gear-change, Bussman' s Holiday, is an illuminating, entertaining and sometimes chilling hour.
Bussman decided to dive in at the deep end, googling "most evil man in the world". Up popped Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, who uses kidnapped children as soldiers and cuts off his enemies' lips. So armed with only a laptop and a DKNY safari suit, she set out to meet him, along the way falling for dishy mullet-haired peacemaker John Prendergast, a man George Bush once mistook for Bono.
What unfolds on stage is a delicate balancing act between the disturbing and the comic. The petite Bussman, part-Tinkerbell part-PJ O'Rourke, has previously written for Brass Eye and is clearly drawn towards the dark side. Gags about rape, Aids and amputees jostle with brisk one-liners - she hides her notes on discs marked Coldplay, because no one would ever want to steal those.
There is not much in the way of performance, but it is a terrific tale and if half of it is true you cannot fault Bussman's nerve.
With her credit cards maxed out and suffering from diarrhoea, she could be excused for bailing out: "I could be at Entebbe Airport having a nice Martini on the toilet." But like any good journalist she sticks it out to get her story.
At times this feels like an extended Hollywood pitch, but despite the lack of any real stagecraft the narrative is compelling. The only weak section is an overfamiliar debunking of factual inaccuracies in Do They Know It's Christmas?
Bussman is not a natural stand-up, but she has two formidable skills: a deadly way with words and the ability to buy make-up under enemy fire.
. Until 14 October (0870 429 6883).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
