After 30 years of stand-up, left-wing provocateur Mark Thomas was in pensive mood.

Reviving his award-winning show Bravo Figaro, he hastened to assure the sold-out crowd “The second half is really good. Stick around.”

Thomas acted as his own warm-up man, hilariously recalling the characters he encountered on the stand-up circuit, and updating fans of his previous show 100 Acts Of Minor Dissent about the success of his political protests.

Following the interval, cardboard boxes were reconfigured as a simple theatrical set, featuring a hand-made Noah’s Ark and a small glowing lamp representing Thomas’ dying father.

Colin Alec Todd Thomas was a contradictory character: a working-class self-made South London builder who educated himself into loving opera; an aggressive drinker and hard-working lay preacher now sunken by dementia and degenerative disease.

The recorded voices of Thomas’ family emerged from around the stage, supporting and debating with him – his dad’s wheezing rasp subtitled. The comedian’s eyes shone during the emotive arias, as he relived the final opera concert he staged for his family.

Thomas’s voice switched register from heartfelt to flippant, counterpointing loving kindness with everyday observational humour – and leaving several audience members sobbing cathartically at the conclusion of this powerful piece.