'Dark, clever and full of pithy one-liners,' Lorna Irvine reviews the latest Oran Mor production.
With a cheeky, anarchic direction by Gary McNair, this lefty gang show written by OTT, the team behind Demons and The Jean Jacques Rousseau Show, could only be a winner.
And it is delightfully shambolic, whether providing a bitter discourse on apathy, a Swiftian proposal to eat children (sponsored by KFC), Bjork's explanation of Icelandic “democrrrrrrracy” or the complex and divisive legacy left by Thatcher of “right to buy” council houses.
The stage is littered with tax avoidance flags: KFC, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Maccy D's. Don't go looking for subtlety here—it's not gonna happen. But that's all part of the show's charm. Dark, clever and full of pithy one-liners.
Being a satirical cabaret, there is something delightful about watching tall, lanky gentleman of a certain age George Drennan (sans trumpet this time) going, “Oh please, Miss, I know this one! A deficit is…is…a gap in the economy?”
The songs are brilliant, performed by the excellent five strong cast with guitars, accordions and uke, agitprop numbers pitched just right for a mixed age group audience, such as the cheeky Georgie Formby parody Don't You Try and Tell Me (There's No Money) the folky Whistle for It or Sandy Nelson's barnstorming Born In G32, which skewers the swagger of Springsteen and low life-expectancy rate of Glasgow men.
Julia Taudevin really stands out here in fine gutsy voice and camping it up as a patronising Conservative politician and operatic figure of capitalism. She and a raucous hyperactive Sandy Nelson provide the highlights: both have great comic timing.
Another rabble rousing success—it's not just our cheques that are bouncing. We as a nation are all screwed, it seems: best go out singing. It's the Titanic way...
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