Friday, October 4

Tag: Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas In England & Son – Traverse Theatre
Scotland

Mark Thomas In England & Son – Traverse Theatre

Raw, brutal, honest, comic. Of the latter Mark Thomas is a master but so equally effective is he at the first three elements that the grim message of violence and trauma begetting more of the same, generation to generation, is diluted not one jot. This is heavy, intense, choreographed by Movement Director Simon Jones, its rhythm well-punctuated by sound designer MJ McCarthy and Lighting Designer Richard Williamson. Proceedings commence with an introduction from Mark describing how he met writer Ed Edwards several moons ago at the festival. Ed, serendipitously, was behind Mark as they left his show ‘The Political History Of Smack And Crack’, perfectly positioned to overhear the pronouncement; ‘That’s the best thing I’ve seen in fuckin’ ages.’ Five years later, beyond creating some incred...
England & Son: Mark Thomas – Roundabout @ Summerhall
Scotland

England & Son: Mark Thomas – Roundabout @ Summerhall

The lights fail, but Mark Thomas does not. He shines. Performed in characteristically physical style by larger-than-life Cockney, Mark Thomas in this intimate, in the round tent setting, he gets in the mud with us, he lays out Ed Edwards words for us, and we hear them. From humorous tales of his dad’s waste metal business and his dark previous life in the British army colonising the former Malaya, we get a rich understanding of the legalised violence passed down from returning soldiers to their families, and the debilitating effect on abused partners and damaged children. At turns veering from funny to ferocious, Thomas lays out the inevitable path of his childhood, from dysfunctional home life to youth detention centre, courtesy of Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw’s controv...