Jock Tamson's Bairns @ CCA Glasgow
Ambitious but unfocused LGBTQ+ theatre that is more sass than substance
What could be better suited to celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month than a piece of theatre/drag show/cabaret? Civil Disobedience’s immersive, multi-faceted performance, Jock Tamson's Bairns, comprises a motley crew of queer artists and aims to celebrate the community, memorialise its past, and challenge the on-going fights it faces.
The narrative structure is vague; there is no central story to speak of but rather a series of spoken stories, musical performances, drag acts and interviews with audience members. They’re casting a wide net and allowing themselves a lot of freedom in the process. This is not necessarily a bad thing; the (intentionally) casual attitude breaks down the typical formality of theatre and bridges the distance between audience and performer. There is an attitude of collectiveness and comfort that few companies achieve.
However, the looseness of the structure ultimately works against the show, as the lack of focus leaves it feeling disjointed and uneven. The cast are too rehearsed to come off as spontaneous and improvised, but too muddled and unpolished to gain merit as a coherently arranged piece of devised theatre. Moreover, there's a great deal of tonal inconsistency; scenes that are intended to be hard-hitting are immediately followed by a clunky transition into a cheery, life-affirming song, or an over-used metaphor, and it ends up being uncomfortable. Even those scenes that are intended to tug at heartstrings are undercut by a disguised disclaimer that not everything discussed on stage is true. When such heavy themes being discussed, there is a responsibility to be upfront about how much is fiction and how much is fact.
In spite of the vibrant outfits the performances themselves are unremarkable, aside from a (slightly out-of-time) lip-synced Theresa May/Nicola Sturgeon impression that relies too heavily on its weird costume for laughs and isn't particularly original. When it comes to the audience interaction, the company seem indecisive about whether they want a drag-show style extravaganza with shock and scandal, or if they want a contemplative discourse about homophobia and past experiences on what it’s like to grow up queer. Ultimately this loose arrangement of theatre forms does not break any new ground and feels like a bit of a mish-mash.
Jock Tamson's Bairns @ CCA, Glasgow, run ended