***** (5 stars)
“extraordinarily powerful”
Well, I guess it helps if you read the programme before you go into a show… I just saw the name Mark Thomas and thought “I have to see this”. I’m extremely glad I did – but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting!
I first came across Mark a fair few years ago. My friend Kathie came to stay one August, so she could see some shows. Learning that I’d never heard of Mark Thomas, she insisted that I come with her to see his show. I never thought I’d nearly wet myself laughing about someone’s experiences as they walked along the wall the Israelis were building in Israel/Palestine – but I was helpless with laughter while also burning with rage at the injustice and sheer stupidity of what was going on.
For a number of years I made a point of going to see Mark’s anarchic shows in which he expressed his own anger – but also took action, often in unusual ways, and encouraged us to follow his example and speak out against all sorts of wrongs. One year he was incandescent with rage about Big Business’s gradual encroachment on to and annexation, in many devious ways, of common ground and public rights of way. Another year he fondly reminisced about the Big Red Shed – the Labour club in Wakefield where Mark began his performing career and woke up to social injustice. One very moving show was about his relationship with his father, his father’s passion for opera, and how, when his dad began dementing, opera music could bring him back to lucidity.
So, I guess I came along expecting a load of laughs and some outraged protest by a crusading journalist who would not simply rant but show the way to take action.
What I found was a stunning performance by Mark of a play specially written for him by award-winning playwright Ed Edwards (The Political History of Smack and Crack). Using Mark’s childhood experiences and his own experiences in jail, Edwards’ extraordinarily powerful piece is a stunning indictment of a nation driven by greed to exploit the natural wealth of nations annexed as part of “our great empire” and the complete failure of society to envisage a penal system that doesn’t criminalise young offenders but offers them loving care and attention, addresses the inequalities in society, and enables them to choose to become whole people, instead of driving them into a downward spiral of alcohol, drugs, and criminal activity. En route we can’t help but see how those who benefited from the annexation of other nations’ wealth continue to enjoy an affluent lifestyle, and fix the rules so they can keep it that way. Their greed for expensive possessions makes them a prime target for the ‘have-nots’, desperate to express their anger and assuage their need.
England and Son is an incredibly powerful piece, and Mark Thomas is an INCREDIBLY powerful actor. You can’t take your eyes off him, you cringe at the violence he experiences from his father, you grieve with him for the loss of his mother. You despair at the times when potential salvation eludes his grasp and he’s sucked back into the endless cycle of alcohol- and drug-fuelled violence which is the only way of life he really knows. And all the time, the wee eight-year-old boy inside him is just begging for his father’s love and approval, for him to smile and ruffle his hair.
A standing ovation from the audience Richly deserved.
England & Son, Summerhall, Roundabout, Venue 26, for info go to: England & Son – Summerhall
ScotsGay Arts 