When you think of Scotland, it’s almost certain you think of icons such as tartan and kilts, stirring folk songs (such as Auld Lang Syne, The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond, and The Skye Boaty Song), highland dancing, single malt whisky, shortbread, deer hunting, the rugged highlands, the ‘shitty’ weather, and of course salmon fishing.
If you are actually a Scot, there’s bound to be many other images and issues that wash through your psyche, such as your ‘dislike’ for the English (which goes way back to the wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th and 14th Centuries, and more recently to the so-called Highland Clearances of the 19th Century), through to the desire for independence from Great Britain, and Brexit.
This show – Scotland! – covers most of the abovementioned territory in fifty-minutes of oh-so-funny madcap tomfoolery performed by three skilled artists. They are The Latebloomers, and not one of them is Scottish, but you wouldn’t know it. They hail from the UK, Sweden and Australia and they first met at the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris. They are exponents of physical theatre, clowning, and mime, and they are extremely good at it.
From the time you enter the venue, they can be seen lurking in the shadows pulling funny faces and gawking at the audience, almost baiting us to respond, which we do of course, by laughing, because they are immediately funny. The scene is set and on they come, a human tsunami of three, but with the energy and passion of three score and more!
They are dressed in tartan and one quite quickly answers the question: What does a Scotsman wear under his kilt? No spoilers here! And from this point on the pace is frantic and the smiles on our faces get wider and wider. Occasionally our smiles shift into worried looks as the trio look for ‘volunteers’ from the audience but that almost shifts to ‘pick me, pick me’!
A highlight of the show is their mimicry, and particularly the sounds they make (amplified through personal PA systems). They mime fly fishing, playing bagpipes (using stools as props!), birds of prey swooping down from the crags of Ben Whatever high above, fighting the English at Culloden, and the list goes on! It’s exhausting, and the volunteers from the audience are a hoot as well!
The person who sat alongside of me casually remarked just as the show was about to start that she had no idea what the show was about or what she was in for, and hoped that it would be OK: “ I have an hour to kill, so I’ve taken a chance”. She left thrilled, and laughing, as did I. This is true Fringe.