Mark Thomas: Cuckooed (Edinburgh Fringe)
Flanked by filing cabinets, Thomas opens the show by swivelling round in a corporate leather chair, Blofeld-style, with a Cheshire cat grin. "I'm a very good liar, but what I'm about to tell you is true." He proceeds to tell us how, as a regular face on the protest lines against the arms trade, he came to be spied on by leading 'defence' manufacturer BAE systems.
He demonstrates D-locking himself to a bus containing delegates at a 2003 arms fair in London (which he wittily describes as the protesters' "Ascot"), and tells stories of derring-do with his mates, all members of the Campaign Against Arms Trade. Perhaps their greatest coup is duping an Indonesian military leader into confessing acts of torture on camera as part of a 'media training' sting – and he shows the video to prove it.
“The presentation is warm, funny and peppered with colourful language”
“The presentation is warm, funny and peppered with colourful language”
When his partner in protest and best friend Martin is accused of spying on CAAT, Thomas and the gang – who appear on video screens neatly slotted into the aforementioned filing cabinets – are initially incredulous. But with the evidence mounting they're forced to face up to the dark reality of governmental snooping.
As you'd expect of Thomas, a multi-award winner on the Fringe, the presentation is warm, funny and peppered with colourful language (he describes a campaign of stings in the wake of Martin's betrayal as "revenge fucks").
His eye for the absurd and sharp sense of irony – he grimly reflects on how poorly his friend appears to have been paid for turning cuckoo in the nest – makes for an engaging hour. But there's a predictability to the story, not helped by the premature exposition of Martin as a suspected spy, which builds to a rather unsatisfying denouement.
Perhaps Thomas hopes to inspire us to grab a D-lock and head for the nearest arms fair. But my overriding emotion was a crushing sadness at the pointlessness of protest.
Cuckooed runs at the Traverse Theatre until 24 August
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