CHEWIN’ THE FAT
Scots comic and actor runs rap workshop to boost confidence for vulnerable teens
SHE’S been an entertainer all her life but Covid has finally forced Karen Dunbar from the limelight – and she couldn’t be happier. The comedian and actress, beloved by fans of classic Scottish comedies Chewin’ the Fat and the Still Game live show, watched in despair as a year of work was cancelled when the extent of the pandemic crisis became clear.
Theatre shows, after-dinner speaking, even plans to mount her own play all disappeared as lockdown took hold.
But rather than sitting on her hands and waiting for Covid to pass, Karen seized the opportunity to do something she’d wanted to for years.
She said: “I love rap music but in a really sort of middle-aged woman way.
“I’m no hip-hop aficionado but I’ve always liked it since I was a teenager.
“So this was something I always wanted to do.”
For six months, Karen has been holding rap workshops for groups as diverse as vulnerable teenagers in care and groups of refugees, to LGBT pensioners.
The work is born of the pandemic but for Karen the sessions, which she holds on Zoom, have been among the most fulfilling work of her career.
That’s big talk, considering she’s performed on stage at the National in London, appeared in Hollywood flick Mary Queen of Scots and was the star of the 2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony at Celtic Park.
Karen said: “It’s not that I’m there to do therapy or any sort of deep digging into people’s emotions but that’s what’s coming out naturally. “That’s what you hear in rap music, you only have to listen to Eminem to hear that. “There has been a therapeutic element to it, people seem to be able to express themselves more easily if it’s put into four lines for a rap rather than sitting talking about what’s going on in their heads.” The work at the Good Shepherd Centre in Bishopton, Renfrewshire – a residential school for vulnerable teens – was particularly gratifying for Karen. She said: “That was a phenomenal experience, strong stuff and what a learning curve that was for me as well. They taught me an awful lot. “The slogan for what I’m doing is basically, ‘If you can yap and if you can clap, then you can rap’. It’s about speaking and I do that for a living, so I’ve been able to coach them and that takes people away from the pressure of feeling they have to sing. “I’m not performing at all. I’m not the greatest delegator but I have to turn off the bit of me that’s saying, ‘I’ll just do it’. “Facilitating something for
STAR TURNS HAND TO HIP HOP
someone else to perform – who knew that being out of the limelight would be such a buzz?
“And I can see it is helping build the confidence of the participants.
“People say it’s something they’d never be able to do – but then they do it and that’s a great feeling.”
Karen’s intention for 2020 was to write a play for Oran Mor theatre in Glasgow and its long-running A Play, a Pie and a Pint series of afternoon productions.
Called I F ****** Hate Shakespeare, it’s a story about two women in a Glasgow hairdresser’s and one of their nephews, a budding drama student.
Karen said: “The nephew is only interested in musical theatre and is being forced to do Shakespeare.
“But these two Glesga wummin end up putting Shakespeare into a Glaswegian context for him, because they remember fancying their English teacher when they were at school. They got right into Shakespeare because of that.”
Like many, Karen found the oppressive effects of lockdown hampered her creativity.
She said: “I tried to write it at the beginning of the lockdown but I just couldn’t connect to it at all. But I hope it still happens. It’s been so difficult to make any plans.”
Karen will host the National Theatre of Scotland’s Coming Back Out Ball, for the older LGBT community in Scotland at an online event in June.
And she is back on familiar ground next week, getting in front of the camera to record a new short film called Distance Remaining. Penned by writer Stewart Melton, it follows three characters as they adapt to living in lockdown.
Karen said: “There are three different stories. My story is about a woman who was a manager but has been furloughed.
“She’s lost her identity, so she started volunteering, delivering food parcels. But she wasn’t doing it out of the goodness of her heart, she was doing it to be seen to be doing it.
“It’s following her demise in that, taking selfies, seeking the appreciation that she had from her old job. It’s really clever writing – I recognised some of myself in some of the feelings.” And while she’s hopeful to be back in theatres in the future, Karen suspects things will not be the same in the live entertainment area for a long time.
She said: “I don’t think the world will ever be the same.
“The general freedoms that we had to walk in and out of places without having to consider life and death, that feels like it’s gone for the next few generations.
“I try not to get caught up in the politics of it all. I only think about what I can change in me and let the world get on with what it’s getting on with.
“There’s a lot I can’t do anything about and getting angry about things I can’t change isn’t very good for me.
“It might sound like therapy speak but it’s true – the more I can focus on what I need to do for myself, the better day I have, full stop.
“That’s why doing the rapping workshops has been fantastic in terms of focus and purpose.
“All I’ve needed is a laptop. I can’t believe it’s grown into what it is.”
I love rap but in a middle-aged woman way KAREN DUBAR ON HER WORKSHOP INSPIRATION
MATHEMATICIAN and Countdown presenter Rachel Riley has loved her first year of being a mum – despite the pandemic restrictions.
Rachel had baby Maven Aria in December 2019, months before the pandemic began. After a brief maternity leave she has combined motherhood with Countdown and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown.
In one way, the pandemic has made her life a little easier, as it’s meant her husband, the dancer Pasha Kovalev (they met on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013) has been around a lot more.
“All of Pasha’s work has been cancelled,” she said.
“He was supposed to be on tour, and on stage, but he’s not been able to do any of those things.
“So, when I’ve gone up to Countdown, he’s been able to come with us and he takes Maven out, and brings her in for a feed, so it’s been lovely, family-wise.
“But she’s not seen my parents for three months and she’s just not socialised with other children at all, because there’s not been the baby groups that we most likely would have gone to.
“We’ll have to learn to be parents in the real world when things open up again.”
It can be a worry for parents when toddlers have had such little interaction with other people.
“She’s really unsocialised,” admitted Rachel.
“We had one little friend around in the summer, and it was the first time we’d had anyone here.
“When we’re out in the street, she loves seeing the other little children.
“When my friend’s daughter was here, she was so jealous – she took all her toys away and even shoved her away when my friend was hugging her own daughter.
“But there’s nothing we can do about it.
“They’re malleable, so fingers crossed she’s not a little terror when she has to actually share things.” While Maven hasn’t yet learned how to play nicely with other children, she’s clearly a joy when she’s alone with her parents. “She’s running around now, and she’s in this little phase where she won’t let us sit down for dinner,” said Rachel, 35. “We put music on during dinner, and if a song comes on that she likes, she shoves us off the chairs and forces us to dance.” Football is just one of the sports Rachel enjoys, and her love of sport is one of the reasons she’s involved with the new Always Fuel Her Future campaign, to highlight the long-term benefits of girls participating in sport. She said: “This campaign is about highlighting all the benefits of doing sport that you might not think about, like building resilience and confidence, and being vocal. “I think you need a lot more resilience than you possibly did when I was younger.”
Rachel played football, netball and hockey at school, and was in all the teams.
She said: “I really enjoyed sport at school. Some of the girls in my class would be off smoking and drinking, and me and my mates, none of us smoked, we were training, and at lunchtimes or after school, we’d go to the court or to the pitch.
“We had to look after ourselves because we wanted to do well in the next tournament or sports meet.”
Playing sport wasn’t an option at her girls’ school sixth form, and were it not for sports at Oxford University, where she played football and was college netball captain, she thinks playing sport would have “fallen by the wayside” for her, like it does for many teenage girls.
“Sport kept me out of trouble and I made lots of friends,” she said. “I found it really valuable – learning the value of practice and making improvements.”
We’ll have to learn to be parents in the real world when it opens up again