Outskirts 2019
Bi-Curious George and Other Side Kicks
four stars
In The Corner of My Mind There Is A Small Boy Dancing
three stars
Platform, The Bridge, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
A sunny Saturday – and from mid-afternoon until late in the evening, this joint was jumping with all the creative energies that, as in previous years, make Outskirts such an enjoyable and impressive event. Visual art, live music and performance pieces – for only a tenner, you were richly spoiled for choice.
Worth that money alone was Bi-Curious George and Other Side Kicks, a slice of vaudevillian mayhem with powerful human truths at its heart. Dad Addrian Hutson is an old school Punch and Judy man, daughter Lucy is a thoughtful, provocative live artist. Onstage, they come together in a gung-ho clash of methods, intentions and skills where collaborating on magic tricks and making balloon animals allows memories to surface and old frictions to be aired.
The loggerhead moments are hilarious. Using puppets to ‘voice’ their shared history is – like adopting a huge Curious George costume – a way of perhaps distancing themselves from painful issues but the fall-out from the past nonetheless comes centre-stage as the show progresses. He will say ruefully, towards the end, that there’s still too much pantomime in it for Lucy – and too much honesty for him. It is, however, their balancing act as a team that is so drolly entertaining and also genuinely moving. Things go wrong on-stage, get broken, put back together again, as they do in life - achingly brilliant work, Hutsons.
Eoin McKenzie is a big lad. He knows it, and he shows it - even getting his top off for some wibble-wobble body percussing in one of his dances, Belly Drum. Actually McKenzie can’t dance. He knows it, but what he shows us with In The Corner of My Mind... is how cutting loose, just moving in whatever way he chooses, transcends the shibboleths of body image. Gaun yersel' big man!. Funny, affecting – a real joy to watch.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here