Cuckooed NYC Reviews and Tickets

"The show’s core narrative, a kind of loss-of-innocence story, gives the show an emotional spine that makes it a true theater piece rather than just an evening of politically-oriented standup...Thomas does not paint a rosy picture of an activist’s life, nor does he attempt to flatter the audience with the good news that we can make the world a better place. He does, however, provide an honest, and ultimately moving glimpse of life in the trenches."
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"What Thomas does so well is that instead of exploiting that fear for a cheap reaction, he makes you feel comfortable with the idea of standing up to it, to look at in the face and laugh. That it is fine to be hurt as long as you don’t let it keep you down, that it is only okay to move on if you come out stronger. And in doing so, he does something not many shows do, he makes you think both personally and generally about everything around you."
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"Callander keeps the pace fast, partly comic, mostly serious, with a strong tinge of outrage...This is Michael Moore on steroids...A lot of the play - a bit too much for outsiders - involves Thomas discussing with fellow campaigners their reactions to what Martin had done...Political theater has always been among the best theater, telling stories of the issues raised by political campaigners and activists. But in this case, stirring political theater is activism itself."
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"He’s a gifted storyteller, and his affable blokey persona, underscored as it often is, with necessary anger works as well on the Traverse stage as it would in a comedy club. He knows just how to land a line, how to shade it, how to invest what he’s saying with emotional weight...This new piece feels more like his work of old, info-rich yet accessible in its activist agenda, but with the addition of something more personal and emotionally knotty at its heart."
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"Thomas is a raconteur par excellence, who has led a life so staggeringly righteous and exciting that pretty much every anecdote he launches into is gold. But he’s not yet a slick theatremaker, and ‘Cuckooed’ suffers from a certain lack of craftsmanship...A little more thought about the show’s arc and a little less chasing after key content two weeks ago could probably have elevated ‘Cuckooed’ from a heartfelt ramble to something more powerful."
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"Stand-up comedian and activist Mark Thomas is now mixing the personal with his more customary political terrain. 'Cuckooed' is a comic monologue about being spied upon while agitating against the arms industry. And what makes this even richer than Thomas’s earlier political shows is not the sure showmanship, the anger and the issues — though they are all there — but the emotional intelligence and sense of vulnerability that lingers on."
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"His eye for the absurd and sharp sense of irony makes for an engaging hour. But there's a predictability to the story, not helped by the premature exposition of Martin as a suspected spy, which builds to a rather unsatisfying denouement. Perhaps Thomas hopes to inspire us to grab a D-lock and head for the nearest arms fair. But my overriding emotion was a crushing sadness at the pointlessness of protest."
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"A clever, funny and angry show. One that is imbued with genuine sadness too...Part of the power of this neatly crafted one-man show is the way it exposes how easily we believe and how hard it is to accept that we have been duped... His roots in standup are in evidence in his self-deprecating humour, but he also plays mischievously with the pretences of theatre as he explores the uses and misuses of deception and reminds us that you should never believe everything you are told."
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