Theatre: Meat Market, Oran Mor, Glasgow
Mary Brennan two stars
CAN you really make laugh-out-loud comedy about selling a bit of your body to the highest bidder? Not all of your body, mind: but a specific organ – in this instance, a kidney. Well, writer Chris Grady, whose comedy background lies in TV and radio sketch-shows and sitcoms, has thrown PC caution to the winds and decided to make organ donation and (illegal) trafficking the basis of his debut play, Meat Market. His first step along the tightrope that stretches across the quicksands of ill-judged humour and questionable use of tragic circumstances takes him, and us, into the realm of internet hook-ups. Flakey, middle-aged Fran (Julie Duncanson) and lean, acerbic Bruce (Robin Laing) have both turned up at an all-night gym. They’re total strangers,it’s 3am – were sexual shenanigans on the cards? When student Alex (Megan Shandley) arrives, the (literal) meat of this encounter is revealed: Alex needs money, she’s advertised a kidney for sale on the net, both Fran and Bruce want to buy it.
Alex will choose the recipient whose story moves her more. When Bruce reveals his Hannibal Lecter tendencies, Grady’s enthusiasm for "noir" toys with bad taste, however Fran’s increasingly ridiculous lies – and the truth of her irresponsible behaviour – leave Alex’s decision hanging on the hook of who will pay more. Part of the problem throughout is that none of the characters are plausible let alone appealing. They’re flimsy constructs for the grey areas of morality that Grady inserts into his determinedly black comedy, such as can money buy anything and everything? What influences waiting lists for transplants? Is profiting at the expense of other’s misery ever justifiable?
Very little of what he wants to say is actually a laughing matter: some sharp ripostes or plain daft antics can’t really change that.
Julie Duncanson (Fran), Robin Laing (Bruce), Megan Shandley (Alex) in Meat Market by Chris Grady at Oran Mor, Glasgow. Picture: Leslie Black
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here