DIGITAL DARK AGE
WHAT is it with mode rn te chnology? W hy can we not sit down and e njoy e ating dinne r with our family without be coming more caught up in the ide a of posting a pic of the food on social me dia?
That’s one of the questions posed in this week’s Oran Mor play, Second Hand, by Paul Charlton.
The central theme however is the generation gap, or rather the gap widened by technology, and filtered through the prism of electronic devices.
Second Hand tells of 71-year-old Jim (Finlay McLean) who lives alone in the back room of his low-end antique shop that barely makes ends meet.
Without any family around, and only the occasional visits from homecare worker Lorna (Elaine MacKenzie Ellis, above,), Jim lives a lonely and grumpy existence; that is, until the young Ash (Cameron Cunningham – secretly squatting in Jim’s loft – comes, literally, crashing into his life.
“Jim is a loner, and his daughter is in Australia, his only contact being on Skype once a year,” says Cameron.
“He’s a wily old fox, quick-witted, but can’t quite get the hang of technology.”
Ash, we learn, is fairly radical, anti-government and a political demonstrator.
Jim is none of the above. The pair come at the world from very different directions.
“It’s a feel-good comedy, but with serious undertones,” says Cameron.
“For example, Jim says at one point how important a newsagent is to a community. But Ash doesn’t absorb any of this because he gets the news on on social networks. “When I got the script it reminded me of conversations with me and my papa, who’d go to the bookies to put on a line whereas I showed him how he could do it with an app. “What the story in the play highlights is how social interaction is being removed in life. You can go into a supermarket now and pay for your groceries without speaking to a soul.
“It makes you wonder if in 10 years’ time we’ll see anyone outside our door.”
Cameron appreciates technology can be ruining life.
“Christmas time, for example, should be about enjoying the company of your family. But instead, you see people taking pictures of their dinner and putting it online.
“I love my family, I love interaction, but when your girlfriend takes pictures of her steak you find yourself saying, sit the phone down, man!’”
Cameron never set out to become an actor. He had plans to join the police. But cadet intakes were cut back that year and he had to return to school.
“I went back and took drama, because I thought it would be a skive,” he admits, smiling. “But I really enjoyed it and went up for auditions for Neds (the Peter Mullan movie of 2010.) Off the back of that, I landed a part in the Jamie Bell movie, the Eagle.”
Cameron applied for drama school, and didn’t get in to the RSAMD, but he did land a place in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.
From there he studied for a BA in New College, Lanarkshire and since graduating he’s appeared in panto at the Alhambra in Fife.
Such was his performance, the 24-year-old has been asked back this Christmas, and he’s delighted the progress of his acting career.
“But it’s always been a dream to do Play, Pie and a Pint,” he says, “And with a script that makes comment on society, and offers up laughs, it’s incredible.”
Cameron says this is a play that will cut across the generations.
“It will have you laughing, but also tug at your heart strings and make you think.”
The actor could have reapplied later to the police and been accepted, but by this time the acting bug had bitten.
Does he think, however, what life would have held for him had the recession not brought about Police Scotland cuts?
“What I do think is it all happens for a reason,” he says in ebullient voice.
“And I certainly think I’m having a lot more fun now than I would have done had I spent the past eight years in the police.”
He adds, grinning; “Maybe I’ll get a part in Scot Squad,” he says of the BBC Scotland comedy.
“In that way I’ll at least get to pretend I’m a cop.”
Se cond Hand, O ran Mor, until Saturday.