Gig review: Discombobulate

Published on Wednesday 2 September 2009 18:58

DISCOMBOBULATE **** THE ARCHES, GLASGOW

MISCHIEF-MAKING is at the heart of the monthly spoken word experience Discombobulate, and never was that more apparent than during the opening comments from the wry and estimable compere Ian Macpherson. Having sent out a spoof press release to announce that the Rebus-hating and Potter-baiting James Kelman would be appearing to read from his new children's book ("about a serial killer who targets middle-class child readers who appear to like books"), he proudly reads a diary piece from one broadsheet whose online wing fell hook, line and sinker for the gag.

There's mischief too from Iain Heggie with his tale of a babysitter who finds a sex aid among the kids' toys; from Ewan Morrison who lampoons 1990s art poseurs; from Magi Gibson with her windswept tales of wild women; and from headliner Luke Wright who blazes a rapid poetic trail through the hell of touring and overweight children shedding their poundage.

But when Discombobulate does serious, it goes live and direct for the jugular. Alan Bissett performed an agile interpretation of domestic abuse while Suzanne Egerton read a tale with a twist about child cruelty. Ian Macpherson made gags aplenty about the heavy beard lying upon playwright Douglas Maxwell's face before he went on stage, but once Maxwell had performed his compelling and soul-altering short drama based on the true story of a hospital facility in Stafford which provided supervised conditions for self-harmers, Macpherson wisely and respectfully didn't even attempt to stick some levity into the reflective mood that had descended.