FringeReview Scotland 2025
Goner
Marikiscrycrycry part of Buzzcut-Glasgow
Genre: Dance, Dance and Movement Theatre, Experimental
Venue: Tramway Theatre, Glasgow
Festival: FringeReview Scotland
Low Down
Choreographed with a large amount of repeated movement which was then discordantly developed into challenges to the audience this has at its heart a communication which is physically obscured at times. A lot of the narrative therefore finds difficulty in translating across the footlights but at the same time manages to engage sufficiently to making us very curious. Technically it’s generally well thought through with a few glitches.
Review
On entrance there is a pounding soundtrack. Eventually Marikiscrycrycry, also known as Malik Nashad Sharpe, is thrown onstage, landing face down. He rises in dance. We are in full lighting mode with the auditorium fully lit. the initial dance is repeated over a six minute section which establishes our guide, protagonist, solo artist. They have their back to us enticing and intriguing with minimal costume stripped back with a noose around their neck hanging at the back. It looks as though this is a condemned character, the physicality hinting at that whilst a voiceover suggests that character 2-22 should go and get a shower or they are being tortured. There is little or no hope for this Goner.
The beginning lags in its repetition – it is too long. Once it becomes discordant you begin to really feel that this is something quite different and worth the attention.
Technically, there are a number of enlightening more than enthralling staged areas used to add to the aesthetic. This is something to be explored and challenged rather than simply accepted as an artistic piece on its own merits.
The set includes, at the back, a screen which is made use of in the second iteration. Once we move to the second iteration, this black radical horror manages to hint at and suggest darker and deeper meanings. The Goner appears behind the screen. There are some exceptionally vibrant shapes being made and great use to provide a stark reminder of humanity up against what seems to be the horror. What is less effective is the sequence of throwing the blood because it starts to overemphasize something which I don’t think is picked up elsewhere.
Downstage left round rug is filled with trash – we know it’s trash because there is a handwritten note to that effect – above which is a basket that looks like something that would come out of a trawler but it’s clearly nothing to do with fishing and then there is what looks like a projector or some sort of technical equipment that’s heavy. This is where we get our third iteration. Here The Goner gives us an amusing and interesting story of how he killed seven of his best friends using poison. As it is delivered with his back to the audience once again the ideal of us being removed from the truth and having to accept a version is clearly made. Exactly what is going on is unclear with elements of the story asking questions not just of truth and honesty but also of exactly how we ought to view horror in this context.
Downstage right there is an archway which is like a down at heel car wash where the pink /orange brushes are so worn that they’re almost completely not there. Above is sits a sinister object that’s a bit like a sinister gonk from the funfair. It’s the size of a large radio with eyes and mouth which are lights and it’s all hairy and lit at various points. It is to here that the Goner is then sent singing which is beautifully imagined. It suggests more than it delivers until there is the use of gunshots to halt our protagonist literally dead in his tracks.
Once he is back up, he is taken to the back of the stage, up against the wall. Sight lines become tough. It becomes very difficult to see because of the way in which the set has been established. Perhaps in another place, another time, with another venue thought could be given as to just exactly how far back should be the screen. Of course, The Tramway has such a fantastic wall at the back of Tramway One, you wouldn’t want to miss that opportunity.
The final iteration brings that radical visual culture to the fore. Told to dance, the Goner dances.
It was very interesting in the context of how a black male character was being objectified prior to being made to entertain and perform elements of the original dance giving us a connection between beginning and end.
The issue for me was at times, there were elements of this which were ponderous to the point at which the pace was lost. There were lots of hints towards an idea which I would like to have seen more developed. But I was being challenged. This is nuanced and yet at the same time radically different. It worked as a piece of contemporary art. It had plenty to say and deliver however as a piece in itself, I think there were issues it could do with further development in order to make it more about abuse, alienation, belonging, addiction and violence. Perhaps being drawn into a world to be confronted with reality which for many of us who nod and sympathise, believe we are allies, we need guides. I was looking for more than a hint, here we got the beginning of visceral, an essence of horror – perhaps we needed more confrontation.
