COLIN HOULT - acclaimed writer-performer who recently appeared in Al Murray’s Multiple Personality Disorder (ITV1), and Pete and Dud: Come Again (West End, The Venue / Leicester Square Theatre) - presents his Fringe solo debut. After the success of sell-out runs as one half of COLIN & FERGUS, and last year’s critically acclaimed action-terror-comedy-adventure Zimbani, he makes a radical shift with Colin Hoult’s Carnival of Monsters, an alternative character sketch show using comedy, story-telling, poetry, and song to evoke a strange twilight world of inimitable creations.
The audience is led on a twisting, unpredictable journey of laughter, terror and surprise with a series of characters - some fantastical, some drawn from real life. One moment you’ll be serenaded by the eerie Lullaby of the Dead, then encounter the ridiculous Wheelie Man Crow, before being haunted by the Mad Priest and his two masked companions.
Alongside this absurdity comes observational comedy with characters such as Len Parker, a Transformers addict from Nottingham who has found a mentor in the midget karate teacher Sensei Steve Marsh, a wise man who looks after his body by avoiding ‘western crap’ and living entirely on samosas; and Anna Mann, the once gorgeous star of stage and screen who unpacks the travelling suitcase of her life and sells her memories to the highest bidder, as she reveals how utterly important spontaneity is, for without it we would literally shrivel up and die in a day (a fact proven by scientists).
A unique combination of theatre and comedy; the show examines how we are all monsters in our way, outcasts and freaks thrown together to form the illusion of society.
ends
What the press said about Zimbani:
“The joys of the Edinburgh Fringe are perfectly embodied by a show such as Zimbani. Hidden away in a tiny venue, this trio perform the rare form of alchemy that turns unpromising elements into an hour of sheer comic gold...likely to raise as many laughs as anything on the fringe.”
Eddie Harrison, Metro
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: The Pleasance - Pleasance Hut
Date: 5th - 31st August 2009
Time: 15:30
Box Office: 0131 556 6550
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Jo Cross, Ben Nolan, Jenny Stewart or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 08700 70 50 50 [Edinburgh office] or 020 7598 7222 [London office]. Email: joc@avalonuk.com, benn@avalonuk.com, jenny.stewart@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com
COLIN HOULT
COLIN is an established writer-performer, with a string of TV, radio and stage credits to his name. In addition to Al Murray’s Multiple Personality Disorder (ITV1), other credits include: Angelo’s (five); Laura, Ben and Him (ITV2); Harry Hill’s TV Burp (ITV1) and The Charlotte Church Show (C4). He also starred in the Chortle Award nominated musical Psister Psycho, alongside ANNA CRILLY (Lead Balloon, BBC TWO), KATY WIX (Not Going Out, BBC ONE) and DANIELLE WARD (Time Out Best Comedy Newcomer).
COLIN is well known as one half of the acclaimed double act COLIN AND FERGUS. The duo have written and performed a special for BBC Radio 2, Theatre Group with Peter and Sarah, and performed in two series of their own show: Colin and Fergus’s Digi Radio for BBC7. They also appeared in Comedy Shuffle (BBC Three), Edinburgh and Beyond (Comedy Central), Comedy Lab (Channel 4), The Milk Run (BBC Radio 1), 28 Acts in 28 Minutes (BBC Radio 4) and previously performed as regulars on the BBC Radio 2 comedy showcase Out To Lunch. They have written and performed in three sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, where they won the Writers’ Guild Award for Comedy with their debut show.
WHAT THE PRESS SAID ABOUT ZIMBANI:
“Lovingly ludicrous slice of secret agent silliness... enormously entertaining and very, very daft indeed.”
Ian Phillips, National Student
“Played out with remarkable style: the stupidity is well-judged, the physical set pieces are skillfully choreographed to look plainly ludicrous, and even the soundtrack is impressively evocative of the era and genre being spoofed.”
Steve Bennett, Chortle
“Performed with great energy ... Ingenious fun.”
Murray Robertson, The List
WHAT THE PRESS HAS SAID ABOUT COLIN AND FERGUS:
“There's plenty of inspired silliness to be discovered here…Great stuff.”
Marissa Burgess, Chortle
“Colin and Fergus are an energetic and oddly dark pleasure… their giddiness is contagious and their sweetness a curve ball to the surreal black humour so professionally showcased. As for the chemistry between the two - it’s like someone set up a lab rather than a comedy venue.”
Mickey Noonan, Metro
“Colin and Fergus are self assured, pervasive, intelligent, cheeky, seductively subversive and downright weird.”
Justin Tilbury, The Guardian
AVALON PROMOTIONS
Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004).
The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics JENNY ECLAIR, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Arena; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as RUSSELL KANE, KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed a highly successful run in Australia; and present 23 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 17 Perrier Award/if.comedy Award nominees in just 20 years.
