Nic Wright

Abi Roberts to become first British comic to gig in Russian

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Abi Roberts is to become the first British comic to perform in Russia in the country’s native language next month.

The Cardiff-born comic will perform her show Anglichanka, Russian for Englishwoman, at Moscow Comedy Bar on 25-27 February.

Dylan Moran become the first professional English-speaking comic to perform in Russia in 2012, followed shortly after by Eddie Izzard, but so far no British comics have performed a set in Russian.

Anglichanka tells the story of Robert’s time in Moscow in 1990s, where she performed as an opera singer at the Moscow Conservatoire, became a member of the Russian Orthodox Church and lived with temperatures of -17C.

Roberts said: “I last visited Russia in 1998, and this is my first visit to my beloved Moscow since then – I think I might be in for a few surprises.

“The show will be a bit like Eddie Izzard’s first French set, in that the club is bilingual and both native speakers and English expats will be there. So there will be a certain amount of doing back and forth between both languages and some “Ringlish” in-between!”