Mark Thomas – Black and White
Mark Thomas
Patchy, with occasional moments of levity, was Mark Thomas’s self-deprecating verdict on his performance at the Arts Centre. “Much like the weather,” he added. We were only at the half way stage by this point, and I’d suggest the levity was considerably more frequent than that, but this work-in-progress show was admittedly a tad uneven. I’ve seen Thomas perform meticulously constructed theatrical offerings, such as Bravo Figaro and Cuckooed, and also seen him extemporise amusingly in conversation and interview. This was somewhere on a line between the two – ideas scatter gunned at the audience to see what stuck, as he slipped from casual conversation to prepared material and back again.
Having recently recovered (only just in time) from covid, this was Thomas’s first appearance on stage for a while, as was evident from his bouncing enthusiasm from the outset. Thomas opened with a ferociously splenetic attack on anti-abortionists that made a lot more sense once the penny dropped he was reacting to the US Supreme Courts recent ruling. Thereafter, it should come as no surprise that her Majesty’s government, and specifically our Prime Minister, came in for a few cross words. Thomas went so far as to suggest (actually insist) that anyone who voted Tory should leave the room – not quite how he put it – and was happy to give them a refund. Unsurprisingly, no one took up the offer and braved the walk of shame involved. It’s hard to imagine anyone leaning to the right would come and see Thomas, so this came across as a bit of quasi-collegiate fun, though it did make me wonder at the ultimate value of shooting one’s mouth off in an echo chamber.
Nonetheless, for those of us “onside” there was much to chuckle knowingly about. A run through of the cabinet’s failings, with a few pretty good impressions thrown in for good measure, was pointed and sharply focused. The comedic challenge the current situation presents - and this was something Thomas tackled head on - was how to satirise what is already unbelievably shocking and reprehensible. The woman sat next to me looked to be having serious respiratory difficulties, such was the intensity and helplessness of her laughter as Thomas piled absurdity upon absurdity in illustrating just how corrupt the current government is. I smiled throughout, but confess to being too uneasy to laugh garrulously. As Thomas illustrated what he referred to as “peak satire” I found myself frowning as much as laughing at his illustration of just how far wrong things have got. It wasn’t all about politics – we got to hear about his diabetes and deafness – but even then, Thomas swiftly used his own frailties as a vehicle to illustrate the inequalities of healthcare.
Not all the material he presented worked. His set included a lengthy passage on his Mum’s eccentrics that I don’t think connected quite as well. I saw him try out this material at Latitude last year, and to me it was received in the same muted way. All mums are a bit batty, are they not? And we all think our Mum is the battiest of all. Towards the end, he touched on the complexity of loving someone when you don’t really like them – or least you don’t like their views – and this could have proved fertile ground. For the most part, however, he stuck to “nutty things his mother says” in response to which he noticeably laughed more than most of us in the audience.
But that’s the thing with a work-in-progress show – he was finding out what did and didn’t connect, and the audience was very happy to cut him slack as a consequence. Constantly referring to his notes became part of the fun, rather than a distraction, and the satisfaction when he ticked a prepared section that went particularly well felt like a triumph for all of us. Notwithstanding the material he had brought with him, he seemed to gain the greatest satisfaction from riffing off the audience, building on what he had brought with the steely ear of an accomplished performer. Tellingly, one the funniest parts of the evening sprung from an audience comment regarding tractor love (you had to be there) that I feel sure he’ll want to squeeze into future shows.
An evening spent in Mark Thomas’s company is always a pleasure, and while I found myself uneasily disagreeing with some of his more bellicose opinions, there is no doubt they come from the heart. He is a decent, honourable man sincerely outraged at injustice and unfairness. There are not nearly enough of them about.
