Comedy: Mark Steel's in Toon
Three stars
MARK Steel has just told an uncomfortable truth. Though he understands why “Scotland might want to do its own thing” we should not think we’re united on the issue – or indeed, on much else. Scots are as divided as the rest of humanity – a legacy of the clans perhaps, but also due to our ability to find a reason to dislike pretty much anyone we want to. There’s the rivalry between Edinburgh and Glasgow (“Where we have REAL Scottish sectarianism,” he bellows in an excellent accent – okay, excellent for someone who grew up in Kent); that between Orkney and Shetland; the rivalry with the Auld Enemy; there’s even rivalries between towns just a few miles apart.
While you can’t fault his no-nonsense logic, his natural affability or performative flair, there’s a feeling he’s treading water just a touch. Fans of his Radio Four programme will be familiar with some of the material here, and you can’t help but want more tidbits from his wanderings. Neither Aberdeen nor Dundee, cities with as much comic potential as anywhere else, get a look in, though that could be down to BBC budget restraints. Indeed, when Steel first set out to research the radio show, the budget didn’t stretch to Scotland at all.
Also, when he mentions the independence issue and tells of his admiration for young SNP politician Mhairi Black, it’s almost with an apologetic tone – a world away from his appearance at a rally in Edinburgh earlier this year organised in support of Jeremy Corbyn in which Steel opened his set by saying: “I know it’s a Labour event, but I’m very impressed with the Scottish National Party getting all their MPs and I think they’re very brilliant in many ways and do lots of brilliant things.” Maybe that’s down to the different demographic at Fringe shows. “Anyone from Leith?” Steel asks to silence, before musing on how a film like Trainspotting was key to the area’s regeneration. Only a handful of people at this busy show live anywhere in Scotland.
“I didn’t expect it to be so conventional,” said one young punter on the way out. That’s likely down to simple unfamiliarity: Steel has always done conventional very, very well. A simple gag about tea, or the frustrations of domestic technology may be Live At The Apollo-safe but they are also on-the-button hilarious.
He doesn’t need a zany or profound concept or a hook to make people laugh, and you’ll learn plenty of about Scotland’s strange histories and work-a-day absurdities; similar elements, he says, to what “makes him proud to be English without thinking it’s better than anywhere else.”
Until Aug 28 (not 15), Assembly Hall, Mound Place (V35), 9.30pm (70 mins), £13 and £14 (£12 and £13 concs). Tel: 0131 623 3030.
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