England & Son takes a dark but sometimes funny look at Thatcher’s England, a time of high unemployment and crime. Mark Thomas’s journey is one of stolen youth, crime, drugs and even love and the voyage will make cringe, cry and laugh.

The one man show commences with Mark in a foetal position, howling with the pain of drug addiction and the realisation he may just have killed his best friend. The story line soon changes to his childhood, his love and fear of his dad in a very working man’s England.

And the story keeps changing from childhood to teen to adulthood as the life of the child Mark is describing unfolds on many levels, and reverts back at times. All the time Mark is adopting all the characters within the show himself, running from one side of the stage to the other as the characters (and voice) changes. It is a complex story that needs your undivided attention, which is not hard as you get fully engrossed in the story.

The simple white lighting changes are extremely effective and at times add a powerful statement to the story. Mark is also not afraid to venture from the script, when at one stage a comment he made didn’t get a laugh. “They laughed at that in Edinburgh. Oh well this is Adelaide” he laughed to himself.

At one time our character finds love and there is possibly hope for him amongst all the hopelessness of his live, but that too is soon dashed.

Mark Thomas is a seasoned UK comic, actor, writer and TV personality. He also once held the Guiness world record for holding 20 protests in 24 hours and yes, does come across as a “bit of a lad”.

England & Son is a hard-hitting tale of life gone wrong. Once you seen it, you will feel as if you have been put through a wringer. All sorts of emotions flooded me after seeing it.
Quite a departure from the normal Fringe show. Brilliant.