Saturday, August 10, 2013

MARK THOMAS at THE STAND EDINBURGH






Mark Thomas is in his activist mode for this project.The humour is a little similar to his Election Manifesto tour , funny though , by the very nature it invites audience participation , a little bit of ridiculous mixed in with the sublime , giving an impression of puerility that dissipates some of the hard-hitting ideas.

This review from the Telegraph captures quite well the mood of the performance.


"As with The Manifesto, his engaging attempt to galvanise the public into suggesting things that would make life better, the show is being constructed on the hoof, with Thomas keeping us updated on his activities. By September, when it tours, there will be more to report – but even as it stands, hours of pranksterism have been funnelled into a 60-minute set. Thus far, Thomas (at times helped by willing cronies) has already undertaken quite major stunts – invading the Apple Store on Regent's Street with an Irish ceilidh band to protest the company's tax arrangements and photographing policemen while on duty.
At the same time, he has unleashed more subtle forms of havoc: subverting promotional displays on supermarket shelves and introducing a campaign of “book-heckling”, which involves slipping strips of paper bearing sarcastic one-liners into books on sale in chain-stores. The slip for Dan Brown? “The person who bought you this hates you.” As that gag suggests, Thomas's earnest commitment to fighting the corporate power is tempered by a strong sense of the ridiculous and a welcome degree of self-irony. He admits to getting a bit Victor Meldrew in his old age – a zesty but sometimes testy 50."

This video review is spot -on in describing the project thus far , and how a lot of non-activists from middle England would relate to a lot of his views , which can be a very good entry point to his more profound serious ideas getting into the discourse of those not reached by other social justice radicals.Someone which may suggest Mark Thomas is well ahead of his detractors.



By far the best act of dissent he done so far is captured in the video below:


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