Passers-by revved up and reeled in by Car Men trio
Performance
Surge Merchant City, Glasgow Mary Brennan ****
HIGH noon in the city centre, and those creatures of the night out – the Boom Booms – are well into their stride. Their risque Showgirl fat suits are all wibble-wobble as they trot about in high-heels, squealing with delight as they pinch folks’ chips, stopping short of anything more invasive. The three girlies are brash, grotesque and totally adept at working the crowds, with just enough sauce to add spice to those chips, and the whole Sunday-strolling mood of the Merchant City Festival.
The Showgirls are on the streets as part of Conflux’s Surge programme: all out-of-doors, despite some of the worst July weather anyone can remember. The trio have moved on to hijack other passers-by before the Car Men arrive – three grease monkeys who offer a free snog while they tune your engine. Oops – their mis-spelled notice should have read “free song”. In fact, you get a reduced opera as Christopher Nairne, Douglas Nairne and Alistair Digges deliver their paredback, brisked-up take on Bizet’s Carmen. Forget the overalls – this is no garage music. It’s street-wise larking about, with hints of slapstick from three professional opera singers who deliver the nuts and bolts of the Bizet with tuneful flair and mischievous new lyrics. Digges’s transformation into Carmen is a wrap, courtesy of some polythene sheeting while other props are cunningly appropriated from the mechanics’ toolkit and other cast members are appropriated from the audience. The comedy is spot-on, the singing is seriously good and the three lads are engagingly un-stuffy about an art form usually found behind closed doors. Afterwards, chuckling onlookers were found checking their programmes, and planning to see the Car Men again.
It was only after the Eggmen’s Cirque du Kaka had finished that a quick glance at our watches told us we had been entertained, on the spot, for some 40 minutes. How time passes when you are having fun of a seemingly lackadaisical but cannily engineered kind. Kaka’s bossyboots ring-master insists we are in for a spectacle. His two clowns, their take-up of his orders as raggedy as their faded finery, play the dumb fool to perfection – within minutes, our sympathies have extended to giving them a helping hand. A wee girl took over one clown’s brushing duties, a little lad valiantly wore a feathery head-dress in a ribbon-twirling duet, some folk held up the bunting throughout and those who got showered with water laughed almost louder than the rest of us. There’s real wit and skill in winning by-standers over, and the Eggmen have the knack of making their brand of knockabout farce into a play between three very distinct and engaging personalities. Mind you, the hilarious sight of two bums, in pink lycra, peeping out from frothy tutus, brings howls of glee – and not just from the kids.
Later in the day, Company Chameleon – in a Merchant City Festival co-commission – gave a hint of the work they’ll show on the Fringe at Dance Base. Of Man and Beast, choreographed by company co-director Anthony Missen, looks at the problems men have with showing emotions to their mates. Five male dancers squared up to rivalries with sharp-kicking street moves, the aggression heightened by the need to keep saving face – even a handshake becomes too close to “giving in”. Fast, athletic, but poignant, this was dance-making where fierce physicality resonated with a very human touch.
Fadunito’s prankster Baby – a larger-than-life Devil-wean in horns, tail and enormous nappy – schmoozed cuddles and sweeties from pedestrians and the smiles on the street were radiant.
A beezer end to Surge and the Merchant City Festival.
‘‘ Three grease monkeys offer a free snog while they tune your engine. Oops, the notice should have read ‘free song’