Some comics flare up on a new theme for each show. Josie Longthe theme remains the same: his shows are a diary of his personal and political life (the two still intimately linked) since the last time we spoke. Re-Enchantment traces his journey from the crushing disappointment of the 2019 general election, through lockdown, to the revival of his optimism on Kenmure Street in his adopted hometown of Glasgow, where community events stopped the arrest of two men for alleged immigration violations. Now 40 years after a life of political hardship and demands, she begins to live in “the real world”, idealism and irrepressible pleasure are never far from the surface when Long takes the stage.
So it’s here, in a show outlining Long’s personal stages (second child; move to Scotland; ADHD diagnosis) before the lens widens to address life under and resistance to the endless supremacy of conservatives. If her 10-minute confinement feels over the top, the ADHD material is self-aware and delightfully silly as she engages in childish role-playing with her neurotypical oppressors. An encounter with an angry Glasgow pest controller sparks ruminations about culture wars, the real reasons people feel less free these days, and a funny pidgin-Spanish skit punching out those right-wing bogeymen, “the awakened brigade”.
The second act delves into his reasons for moving to Scotland, including shrinking space in the south for something other than fatalism. remember her Ed Miliband fangirling At the time, I eagerly awaited Long’s take on Starmer, which is well-judged: even “Sir Keir” enthusiasts could hardly argue against his (very funny) analysis of its limited appeal. Or so I thought, until the first of two snappy heckles jumped to the Labor leader’s defense.
A belated routine challenges the image of the 1970s as a historic low point — quite the contrary, Long says, happily romanticizing that era of perms, zero surveillance and “complicated rooms” on TV. Its rowdy may be dissenting, but I found pleasure in submitting to Long’s stubborn faith in progressive perspectives, and the way she deftly deploys her own misadventures and boundless imagination to bring it comedic to life on stage.
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Tonight at the Contact Theatre, Manchester, then tour.