THIS performance was a sell out, and Mark was on top form. He pulls no punches. Straight in with a joke about Durham's "flat pack theatre", he then teased students and locals alike. The former were "Oxford rejects", while North-East women are reputedly "as orange as satsumas".

After this cheeky warm-up, Mark moved on to national issues. His depressing prognosis that "there's no God, John Peel's dead, and Bush is about to be re-elected" was balanced by obvious glee following Mark Thatcher's arrest. He attacked the Countryside Alliance: "Classless sport? Let's take them at their word and invite boys from the estates in tracksuit bottoms, riding nicked ponies!"

"If you're offended, see this as friendly fire," Mark reassured any Americans in attendance. "It's not about you, just your country's foreign policy."

The second half of the show covered corporate exploitation. Multinational giant Coca-Cola was the chief target of Mark's ire. I was shocked to learn that Coca-Cola sponsored the Bush election campaign, and that they hired paramilitaries to eradicate workers' unions in Columbia.

Mark's genius lies in taking the political and corporate abuses of our times and transmuting them into comedy. Rather than preaching to the converted, he ensures that issues usually only discussed by those deeply involved in campaigning now reach a huge variety of people.

Entertaining and inspiring, Mark Thomas is a catalyst for political change. If you're after a laugh and a jump-started social conscience, go and see his new show.

Published: 04/11/2004