‘Ya bass!’ was the battle cry of ‘60s gangs in Glasgow. The aggressively loaded phrase was shouted before attack – ‘Fleet ya bass!’
Though not actually uttered in the play, it is about the only real element missing from this stark and brutal tale of the tragic results of blade culture in Scotland.
Using the format of writer Paddy Cunneen’s beloved Greek plays, Glasgow based company Tumult in the Clouds exposes the worst elements of maleness - mad mental vengeance and the hideous and destructive cycle of so-called honour.
The heightened poetic language, within which gang vernacular is prevalent, is used in Cunneen’s words "to encourage the audience to see the people as characters . . . rather than stereotypes or clichés.” This desire is achieved to terrific effect.
The story focusses on the murder of a middle class white boy who has been stabbed to death in the street as he allows his Asian friend, the real target of the gang, to escape. The gang members’ hatred of ‘the other’ is raw and ugly.
But ‘the other’ is not just someone whose skin is another colour. It can just be someone from another scheme, another street, another town.
Neil Leiper was head gang member Kenzie to his being, his physicality entirely embodying the fierce alpha male. Anita Vettesse as the victim’s mother captured the heart wrenching grief of being pre-deceased by a child and Stuart Bowman held the duality of menace and control as the police officer who himself had escaped from deprivation.
But it was Scott Reid’s impassioned performance as Mackie that leaves a mark as powerful as the imprint on the eye of his character’s murder victim whose final sorrowful image is that of his killer. His depiction of Mackie’s agony at facing up to the consequences of his actions is utterly soul felt.
The stark reality of inflicted wounds is powerfully delivered in the verbal fight scene. The lack of hope in people’s lives can result in horrors and the perceived insurance of living ‘somewhere else’ is no guarantee of safety when these separate worlds collide.
Violence and crime among young males is everywhere so it is unfortunate, particularly when playing to an international audience, that Glasgow is still the backdrop for the display of harsh violence, perpetuating its negative stereotype. This is all the more disappointing when Cunneen acknowledges in the programme that his writing was inspired by experiences of social inequalities in Edinburgh.
Maybe setting it in Anytown, Anywhere would be better. Wherever it takes place, the call should be not ‘ya bass!’ but ‘ya basta!’ (Enough already.)
This deservedly award winning piece of theatre poignantly says this loud and clear.
7-9 May 2013