Tony Lidington

Tony Lidington (AKA Uncle Tacko! of Promenade promotions, Poppets Puppets and the Pierrotters) describes himself as a showman, as it is close to the role of shaman – a portal to other perceptions of reality… or illusion

.  For Still Waters, Tony  delivered an illustrated romp through the performative nature of science and showmanship in the guise of knackered-emic –Dr Tacko.

The talk  explored the ways that popular culture and science have fused and confused over the years: how the definitions of what is real, unreal, imaginary, fake or hallucinatory, are all woven together. Our audience at the Laurel and Hardy Museu, learned how pseudo-science and empirical knowledge bifurcate, blur and merge over time, to create a blended muddle of perception that we sometimes call truth, sometimes fakery, or sometimes a show.

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Tony has been a showman for over 35 years – researching and implementing British popular entertainment forms in a wide variety of contexts throughout the country. Founder and performer of the last-remaining professional seaside pierrot troupe “The Pierrotters”, he has performed at countless resorts and events and as his alter ego “Uncle Tacko!”

Tony is a well-respected authority on British popular entertainment forms. His Radio 4 series on Max Wall was selected as Pick of the Week by Radio 4 (“a masterclass in comedy”) and the series on Joey Grimaldi and Dan Leno were then painstakingly recreated as remarkable live performances which toured throughout the country.

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