Some of the most interesting comedy in Edinburgh can be found where stand-up meets theatre. Daniel Kitson has pioneered this recent cross-pollination and now veteran agitator Mark Thomas muscles in with Bravo Figaro!, a funny, poignant show that beautifully blurs genre barriers.
The usually political Thomas is in personal mode here, exploring his turbulent relationship with his opera-loving father Colin, who is now frail and suffering from progressive supranuclear palsy. A huge photograph of Thomas Senior — “Moses with a hangover” — dominates the stage, echoing the way this violent, heavy drinking builder dominated his south London family.
A few props, most notably a Noah’s Ark carved by Colin for young Mark, add some evocative theatricality, as does the way the performer movingly chats to his father’s recorded voice.
But Thomas is a comedian at heart and there are plenty of laughs here too.
He skilfully paints witty verbal pictures as the tale builds to a touching partial rapprochement with his staging of a classical concert at his housebound parent’s home. And, inevitably, satire elbows its way in as Thomas skewers a less radical gagsmith. The firebrand funnyman was surprised to discover that he had inherited his father’s love of Rossini: “I play it while doing the VAT, because we are not all Jimmy Carr.”
(Until August 26, 0131 226 0000, edfringe.com. Also Sept 10-22, Tricycle Theatre, NW6, 020 7328 1000, tricycle.co.uk; Nov 29-30, Royal Opera House, WC2, 020 7304 4000, roh.org.uk)
