Year of the Horse

Scotland celebrates one of the UK’s finest political cartoonists in a multimedia exhibition of the work of Harry Horse. Horse contributed 52 cartoons to the Sunday Herald before his death in 2006, and Year of the Horse presents them on screen with Horse’s accompanying texts narrated by Tam Dean Burn.

Horse’s work is brutal and disturbing - a vitriolic attack on the Bush/Blair era and the war in Iraq. He viciously and incisively depicts the two leaders during their time in office, along with other political figures such as John Prescott and Jack Straw. His cartoons are full of colour and cynicism; a sobering commentary that opens the eyes of even the most determined optimist to the faults and failures of those in power.

Burn is a charismatic narrator and his enthusiasm for the work lights up the performance. However, he is careful never to break away from the original text, which makes for tough viewing. The cartoons would have been incredibly poignant when printed weekly, but to have them all presented in the space of an hour is overwhelming.

The recurring subject matter and biting satire becomes repetitive after a while, and as three years have passed since the cartoons were first published a lot of the themes are no longer topical – perceptive sketches of David Cameron and climate change are the notable exceptions. This is a sensitive tribute to the work of a talented artist, but one that will probably only appeal to a niche market of Fringe theatregoers.