‘Pumped’ – was not only the name the name of Scottish comedian Craig Hills show that I went to see at the Edinburgh Festival a couple of weeks ago, I guess it’s also one of the more Scottish choice of words I could use to describe how I felt about this being my first day/ night out since lockdown began in March 2020. It feels a bit surreal to even type that las sentence, in many ways the last year has passed slowly but in others it has gone by in a blur.
At times through the lockdown going to a show like this seemed like something that we wouldn’t be able to do again but I didn’t think twice about booking tickets to his show when restriction looked set to be lifting. I have seen Craig hill love 4 or 5 times now each time he seems to be funnier than before if you like that kind of humour. Granted, Craig’s humour isn’t for everyone and can be quite blue at times. He’s a gay man so I am sure you can imagine Craig choses to base his comedy around that as well as his every day experience of living in Leith in Edinburgh, a lot of which people can relate to despite where you live in the country. Each time I’ve seen Craig show up until now I’ve met him afterwards when he’s been outside doing his ‘meet and greet’ afterwards. Unfortunately, not this year with social distancing in place but I’ve included a previous photo I had taken with him in this blog.
I know I’ve only met Craig a handful of times and only long enough for a quick chat and a selfie but when you lived with your disability as long as I have and various experience of meeting new people and how they deal with disability, you get to know quite quickly if a person is comfortable or not and Craig definitely has no awkwardness around disability. Two years in a row when I met him, he chose to lean on the tray of my wheelchair when we posed for the photo. When I pointed this out to him, he said ‘F***k Danielle it will be the same pose every year!’ (it hasn’t been but his relaxed response made me smile)
As Craig danced onto the stage in his usual camp fashion as -part of this years Edinburgh Fringe festival it was clear he hadn’t lost his fun or energy during lockdown. He was soon choosing his ‘victims ‘sorry I mean talking to the audience and homing in on those he was going to make part of his act. This usually means making a couple of guys feel nervous as Craig tells them he’s going to ‘turn’ them and taking the mickey out of the outfits of a couple of women in the front row! One piece of advice I’d give to anyone going to see Craig hill live is NEVER sit in the first few rows…he will get you! Why do you think I chose a seat at the side of the stage – so I could see him clearly but so I was out of his line of vision!
Craig was soon joined on stage by Catherine, his friend and colleague who is also a BSL interpreter. Craig explained to the audience that Catherine has been an interpreter for him before when he has performed live. He then explained that he made the conscious decision to have Catherine interpreting some of his shows with him at this years Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival because he’s very aware that the deaf community have struggled with communication and lip-reading because of the majority of the population having to wear masks during the pandemic
The audience applauded this, me included but having met Craig, I don’t believe he did it for applause. He did it because he wanted to ensure his show was inclusive for all. There was already a buzz about the venue as for many, not just me, it was their first taste of normality since lockdown began but this step representing real inclusion seem to add to the buzz. I don’t know if there was anyone in the audience from the deaf community, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that Craig had acknowledged and taken steps to ensure his show was fully inclusive
The next hour heard Craig ridicule himself as well as the audience . He shared aspects of his experience of living in lockdown from the Thursday night clap for the NHS and frontline workers to his view of ‘daing yer hair at hame or doing your hair at home for anyone who needs help deciphering the Scottish slang (The fact that Craig is bald adds to the humour of this!) These jokes and many more were signed by Catherine the BSL interpreter beautifully. Lockdown was experienced by everyone and although no-one’s experience was exactly the same, we all experienced a lot of the same things too like hairdressers/ barbers being closed and the clap on a Thursday night. If Catherine wasn’t present anyone in the audience from the deaf community wouldn’t have been able to appreciate and laugh at these jokes
I didn’t envy Catherine having to sign Craig's act. I mean it isn’t exactly clean, there’s a lot of blue humour in there that doesn’t leave much to the imagination. However, Catherine took it in her stride and wasn’t phased by signing any of it, even the bits that she maybe wasn’t expecting as much, when Craig would just ask her what the sign was for a rude word or phrase that he wanted to know the sign language for!
As I watched Craig dance off the stage at the end of his show in the same way he had dance on stage at the beginning I couldn’t help but reflect a little. Last weekend I wasn’t anxious about actually going to the show. I was nervous about the practicalities of travelling there in a post-covid world as Edinburgh had been the furthest, I’d travelled for almost 18 months, after shielding during the pandemic. However, it’s not just me with anxieties. The deaf community any other disabled people will have their own anxieties too. However, if more live performers like Craig took steps toward incorporating real inclusion in their shows I guess you could say I would be ‘pumped’ to live in a world like this.
תגובות