A word of warning before we begin: turn your phone off before you go in to watch Mark Thomas’s new show, Cuckooed (and anything else in the theatre, frankly – come on people, manners). He does not appreciate being interrupted, and will not hold back from telling you so. The poor lady whose phone went off in the middle of the show was subject to a Mark Thomas rant and branded what is possibly the worst thing he could call a person: a Tory.
And so to business. After an informal first half updating us on events since Thomas’s last show (where he was challenged to commit 100 acts of minor dissent, which included some hilarious acts of UKIP-baiting) we get into the serious, and seriously funny, main act.
On the surface it is the true story of how BAE Systems, a ‘multinational defence, security and aerospace company’, i.e. Britain’s biggest arms manufacturer, spied on the Campaign Against Arms Trade, a group that Thomas was passionately involved with (the stories of his protests against arms dealers, leaving him labelled a ‘domestic extremist’ by the police, are fantastic). This invasion makes him angry, naturally. But the real pain comes from the fact that it was a close friend of over ten years that was exposed as the spy. Cleverly integrated interviews from friends and fellow activists examine the impact of the betrayal. The final confrontation between the pair happened only recently, and Thomas is still visibly upset by it.
Cuckooed opens with Mark Thomas saying, “I’m a very good liar, but everything I’m telling you today is the truth.” He then plays with us a bit, adding “apart from a bit you’ll hear later involving the number 12.” Issues of trust are at the crux of this show – trust is the basis for relationships, for politics, for civilisation itself. And when someone breaks that trust it has devastating consequences. The human aspect of Thomas’s betrayal hurts the most, but it’s the wider reaching issues of trust in modern society as a whole that stay with you afterwards.
Thomas is a brilliant performer – he’s quick, he’s witty, he’s angry. Sometimes his brain, and mouth, seems to work so fast that it’s hard to keep up, but it’s exhilarating trying to. ★★★★☆ Deborah Sims 16/10/14
