Comedy review: Mark Thomas: Showtime from the Frontline

Mark Thomas has always been sceptical of comedy workshops. But by sharing the spotlight here, he gives a voice to performers who might otherwise be voiceless. In his 33 years as a comic, Thomas’ stand-up has increasingly shifted from the conventional one-man-and-a-mic approach to a more inclusive, communal form of folk theatre. And so it is that his latest show, about establishing a comedy club in the West Bank city of Jenin’s refugee camp, finds him onstage with Palestinian performers Alaa Shehada and Faisal Abualheja, as they recount and clownishly act out their tales and those of their coursemates who cannot leave the occupied territory.