The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre
Perth Concert Hall, April 29
Some people have their career plan worked out well in advance and are merely taking one methodical step at a time in order to achieve that goal.
Others stumble by chance on a lifechanging moment that ultimately defines their chosen path.
One example of the latter is Kev F Sutherland, who has been sticking socks on his hands while putting on funny voices for more than a decade.
“I was producing a show, which I still run, called The Sitcom Trials where sitcoms go head-to-head on stage and the audience picks a winner,” recalls Kev, a comic strip artist who has worked for The Beano, Viz and 2000AD.
“I’d written a couple of two-handers and didn’t want the actors to get them wrong so I turned up at the script reading with a pair of socks which were in fact my dad’s. I ducked under the table and let the socks perform it. Suddenly, I found I had a new act. And it turned out they were funnier than me,” he laughs.
And so the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre (or the Socks, for short) was conceived.
It now have a number of shows under its belt in which the puppets have gone into space, headed for Hollywood, and explored the world of fictional TV and movie cops in a pun-heavy set entitled (wait for it), Minging Detectives.
All of this is delivered by a hidden Sutherland who employs a falsetto vocal range and nifty but nuanced handwork throughout.
So, what gets more exhausted during a frenetic Socks show – vocal cords or fingers?
“I’d love to say neither, but to be honest you have to be very careful with your voice doing a show like the Socks,” says Kev.
“One rule I have is to try and avoid anyone with the lurgy within a week of every show.
“Imagine if they were reduced to being a mime show? You’d be hardpressed trying to lip read a pair of Socks.”
For the current tour, Kev and his trusty socks have turned to William Shakespeare as inspiration for their latest whiff of “songs, sketches, socks and violence”.
Along the way, they will be dipping their toes into Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and (wait for it, again), the Two Gentlesocks of Verruca.
“We’d done bits of Shakespeare in our previous shows, with our version of Macbeth and King Lear among others, and they all went very well,” says Kev.
“Then, last year, he had his 400th anniversary so we thought, ‘I bet no one else will be doing a show about Shakespeare’.
“Well we got that wrong, but I bet we’re the only people doing a 401st anniversary Shakespeare tour.”