Theatre and Culture from Scotland, starring The List's Theatre Editor, his performance persona and occasional guest stars. Experimental writings, cod-academic critiques and all his opinions, stolen or original.
Mark E. Workman's Dramaturgical Aspects of Professional Wrestling Matchessuggests a dynamic tension in the spectatorship of professional wrestling: the event can be interpreted either as a straight up performance - with the result predetermined - or as a sporting event, in which the outcome is open-ended. The contemporary description of wrestling as 'sports-entertainment' echoes this suggestion. Aside from presenting a possible differentiation between sport and art, Workman postulates a dynamic tension within wrestling, a parallel battle to the actual fight, between authenticity (sometime known as 'the real') and theatricality (fictionality, I suppose). His allusion to the 'frames' of Goffman implies that the decision by the spectator to interpret the wrestling event is influenced by the circumstances in which it is presented. A couple of guys throwing down on Sauchiehall Street, for example, is revealed as authentic because it happens in a public place. The 'squared circle' of the wrestling arena, however, imposes theatricality on a pagga between Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy.
There are two things in life that I can't do without: sexy wrestlers and food. It was only a matter of time before someone brought them together - and added Glasgow's greatest rapper, The Wee Man, as a side-dish.
Following all the excitement of the Referendum, the cabaret and wrestling and burlesque and magic and sideshow and comedy communities have teamed up to ' use all that energy and hope and sexiness and turn into into a fundraiser for the incredible, independently run Greater Maryhill Foodbank.'
I not sure I agree with the next line - 'the words sexy and fundraising don't often go hand in hand' - since fundraising has long been the best chance for activists to meet the non-ideological love of their lives. However, the good cause is matched by the quality of the performers.
IMPORTANT INFO
Entry only 5 SMACKEROONIS adv!
DRESS CODE: BE SEXY! DRESS UP, DRESS TO IMPRESS.
THERE WILL BE A PRIZE FOR THE BEST DRESSED COUPLE ♥
Bring non-perishable food items, we are having a raffle with very sexy prizes, you can swap each food item donated for a raffle ticket!
The GMF especially needs: Toiletries, Coffee, Sugar, Fruit juice (carton), Pasta sauces Sponge pudding (tinned), Tomatoes (tinned), Cereals, Rice pudding (tinned) ,Tea Bags/instant coffee, Instant mash potato, Rice, Tinned meat/fish, Tinned fruit, Jam, Biscuits or snack bar....many other non perishable healthy food items. IF POSSIBLE NO DRY PASTA OR SOUP AS THEY HAVE PLENTY AT PRESENT.
Although my usual beat is the hipster theatre underground - you know, I find anything with a script far too traditional - I have a real fondness for the Pavilion. The Celts in Seville is coming up before then, but there is a big fight happening first...
I might be disappointed that they are billing it as 'family friendly,' but the thought of British Wrestling in the Pavilion's rather grand auditorium is thrilling. And they've got two wrestlers - Grado & Jack Jester - who were on TV this week (the programme was called Insane Fight Club, which might give a flavour of their grapple technique).
The real reason that I love the wrestling, though, is that it gives me a chance to catch up with the career of Joe Coffey. Coffey was the 'heel' in Rob Drummond's Wrestling, an event that mixed up hipster underground theatre, a written script and tough guys having a fight in The Arches. I was sorry that he was defeated by Drummond in the climactic battle, and swear that was a fix.
Premier British Wrestling Presents An Evening of Family Friendly WrestlingOn Saturday 15th March @ 7.30 pm We are knocking the stuffing out of this production with Tickets Prices - Adults £13.00, Children £11 or Family Tickets from as little as £18.
First of all, an apology. I discussed Insane Championship Wrestling purely in the context of masculine displays of power. It has been pointed out to me that women are part of this line up, too.
Once again, the unconscious bias of patriarchal hegemony has expressed itself in my blog. I'd like to defend myself on the grounds that... well, frankly, I didn't read the press release properly and I'm not going to argue with wrestlers.
Funny thing is, they are going over to Studio 24: the last time I was there, it was probably at the lamented 1990s club night, Sativa. I was dancing to a different drummer back then - a whole troop of them. And the whole point of this event is that it is the first joint show between ICW and their sister promotion, Fierce Females. Way to miss the point, Vile.
Although I haven't watched the wrestling since Big Daddy flattened King Kong Kurt, I feel the stirrings of the old enthusiasm. ICW has a team called The Bucky Boys. Take that, Edinburgh. Plus there is a death match.
When Rob Drummond did Wrestling at The Arches, he reminded me of the poetry in the square circle, the displays of power that make me believe that those comics I love aren't necessarily just fiction. The passion of the tragedy, man pitting himself against man, woman against woman and then, the inter-gender tag-match.
I'll never forget the day I told Rob Drummond, successful playwright and tough guy about town, that wrestling was fixed. He stared me down, told me it was "sports entertainment" and that it was staged, not fixed. He then got me in a headlock and threw me across the radio studio.
So this month, I have a choice: wrestling or dancing? In the blue corner, the mighty Edinburgh tag-team of Tony "The Hardest Working Man in Scottish Dance" Mills and Jack "GlitterGrid" Webb: representing contemporary choreography and tough enough to remind this critic that he might want to be careful moaning about masculinity in dance. And in the red corner, Insane Championship Wrestling, stars of a feature in Viceand preparing to move from their base in Maryhill Community Hall to the East Coast, giving Edinburgh grapple fans a reminder that no-one is harder that a man who'll wear a unitard in Glasgow. The IWA's arrival in Edinburgh (the show is called Tramspotting) promises "edgy story-lines and episodic story arcs." Not content with being entertainment for those who love seeing a chair being used in ways its maker did not intend, IWA are challenging theatre to be as roughneck as fighting, occupying the space usually occupied by drama. Webb and Mills have a double bill heading north to Aberdeen: Squish / GlitterGrid. Webb has been playing with his celebrity lately, and GlitterGrid has him going all out for Ziggy Stardust theatricality. Mills is working out a dance that happens on a squash court, examining the nature of success - and what it costs. What do these works share? They are all heavy on the masculinity, presenting men in tough environments. And every single person involved in them could give me a doing.
