Abi Roberts to become first British comic to gig in Russian

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!”