Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are those who find spending a Saturday night indoors and talking about whose turn it is to clean the bin of its watery disgusting insipid farage* that has congealed at the bottom of the plastic container, somehow an enlightening part of their evening. It is inconceivable but apparently to talk of farage is enough to make them giddy with delight. There truly are much better things to do in life than let farage dominate the conversation.
In 2013 Mark Thomas not only performed one of the great acts of year at the Playhouse Theatre but he was selfishly undeterred by the untimely sounding of a fire alarm making a shrill sound across the auditorium. He took the show outside and played to the audience from the nearby bandstand with an ever broadening smile and charm that cut through the sheer pain of dealing with the establishment in 21st Century Britain.
Mark Thomas doesn’t take prisoners, why would you when so many don’t deserve that social nicety but he is immensely loyal to friends, it is something that comes across just by listening to him for even a minute or two and when that act of listening is utilised, the truth of the moment becomes clear.
The man who committed over a 100 minor acts of dissent against what is at times a more secretive and hideously obscene than the society that fostered so many secrets under the stewardship of Queen Elizabeth I, has himself had an offence committed against him. The nature of spying upon a person, whether by state or business is one, that even at a basic level, we know goes on everyday of our lives especially in a country that has more C.C.T.V. than anywhere else in Europe. However, it still comes as insidious news when you find that the Government or an multi-billions arms sanctioned dealer has got someone to infiltrate your life and sent your secrets to the them for a price.
To watch any comedian of worth is a pleasure, when it comes to someone who has made a life pointing out even the most basic of infringements to that life, to someone prepared to stand up and be counted against the likes of the arms trade, extremism and plain stupidity wrapped up in a suit and with a fake smile is bordering on bravery and brilliance.
This was something new though; this was the plain and unadulterated anger of someone who understands how much betrayal hurts, the long distance and mist covered stare of someone who has seen what wilful sabotage to a friendship can do when it is placed under the microscope of activism. For Mark Thomas and his latest show Cuckooed, it is the ruffled nest, the truism of holding back anger and real tears of frustration and bitterness and turning it into a night of pure gold that makes Mr Thomas such a joy to watch and listen to.
There was no need for bandstands, there was no need to think of faraging the bin in an effort to feel productive or proactive after the show, this was just a performance in which to share the pain, to dissolute it if possible by laughing with Mark Thomas, but understanding what can only be described as grief wrapped up in a bellyful of laughter. A stirring and emotional night of pure brave genius.
Ian D. Hall
* “Farage”, the residue of bin water that collects underneath the sack which stinks the kitchen out when emptying the waste from your home.