Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro! at Traverse

Even before Mark Thomas begins this touching but brilliantly funny one-man show, his father Colin dominates the room. As we file in, a giant picture of a burly, bearded figure is projected on to a screen upstage. And as the hour proceeds we get to know plenty more about this hard-working, talented, rude, violent, opera-loving builder from South London. “I was born in the shadow of a genuine character,” his son says.

Thomas’s shows normally depict him needling the status quo. But though he is emphasising the personal over the political, rest assured that this comedian and activist has abandoned neither his critical faculties nor his instinct for a grand gesture. His father, Thomas assures us in words of four letters, may have been a