Vote For Me
Vote For Me
The Arches, Glasgow
Neil Cooper
"BY taking away my choice," Marcus Roche soft-soaps his audience at one point, "you've given me my freedom." Such sentiments may sound like they've been crafted by the snake-oil salesman this writer, director, performer and self-starting multi-tasker extraordinaire resembles.
Given that Roche was actually preparing to flog off his vote for today's Scottish independence referendum as he toadied up to us with such gloriously contrary platitudes, however, he's pretty much on the money whatever the result.
Of course, as with the real-life ebay shyster who attempted to sell his vote online, no back-handers were actually pocketed in Roche's one-night only extrapolation of just how much money talks when politics is involved.
Darting from laptop to lectern beneath two opposing flags of convenience in his contribution to the Arches' Early Days Referendum Festival, Roche does his bit for internationalism by way of soundbites from French and Russian rock-and-roll economists. As soundtracked by cheesy 1980s pop, they might have stepped straight from a special referendum edition of Eurotrash.
Flogging off a Cornetto to the highest bidder is just a warm-up to the reverse auction of Roche's polling card that follows, however, in a show that, like his previous work on Risk and The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, mines the conceits of the lecture circuit to become a piece of live art stand-up.
It has serious intentions too, as a largely young audience tell all about how they'd like things to go after today's vote with clarity and candour.
As borderline illegal exercises go, it's a whole lot more honest than anything any politician ever did, and much more fun besides.
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