The much acclaimed comedian Abi Roberts has the honour of being the first UK comedian to perform in Russia, in Russian. Take that Eddie Izzard (not that it’s a competition). In her new Edinburgh show Anglichanka Abi shares some wisdom about Russia and she’s giving us a preview on the Good Ship Benefit this Thursday!
Abi’s stint at the bilingual Moscow Comedy Bar and Club came about years after her first visit to Moscow in the 1990s, where she went to study because her dad was a diplomat there. Whilst living in Russia Abi became an opera singer at the Moscow Conservatoire, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church and an expert on how matches and sawdust are vital to the country’s plumbing when it is minus 17 degrees outside!
Returning to Moscow as a comedian was a crash course for Abi in the new Russian culture, with signs of wealth and cars other than the Lada everywhere. Find out how Abi got to grips with a heady mix of being monitored, crossing the paths of gangsters, overwhelming hospitality, fear of Putin and the strange disappearance of street kiosks. The show climaxes with a spectacular finale where Abi recounts almost performing opera for the Russian President and dignitaries and how she narrowly escaped with her life during the attempted military coup of 1991.
You can join Abi Roberts for her show Anglichanka on Thursday 14th July at 9.00pm on the Good Ship Benefit. For more information and tickets click here!
Abi will be at the Voodoo Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from the 6th-26th August. For more information click here!
