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Lenny Henry's night off to see a virtuoso
Barrie Rutter Stand Up Evening Dean Clough
ON THE eve of Dean Clough's sell-out production of Othello, Lenny Henry joined a packed audience to watch the play's director, Barrie Rutter, deliver a virtuoso performance reciting poetry and prose, delightfully interlaced with anecdotes from his childhood.
Examining a range of topics including love, schooldays and warfare, Rutter's chosen anthology explored some of the serious works of Larkin, Yeats and Baudelaire, which he delivered with precision and pathos to a spellbound audience.
But the evening's recitals also delved into the lighter side of literature, including pieces by Mike Harding, Ted Hughes, Adrian Mitchell and a hilarious discourse on the world's axis of evil by John Cleese which had us all in stitches.
Rutter introduced us to the absurd and the whimsical, including lurid limericks and an enthralling rendition of The Tay Bridge Disaster by William McGonagall.
The loudest laughs of the evening came at the expense of Rutter's own early life as he reflected on his time at school and recounted moments from his awkward adolescence.
While Lenny Henry has received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Othello, and will surely delight audiences here in Halifax, his sonorous laughter triumphed above all others in the intimate setting of the Dean Clough gallery as he clearly relished his friend's skillful and captivating performance.
Othello is sold out at the Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough, where it runs from tonight until Sunday.
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Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
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Cloudy
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