@ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, on Thu 1 Oct 2015
Future artistic director of The Royal Lyceum Theatre, David Greig and Green Party candidate Sarah Beattie Smith have transformed The Traverse into the ideal setting for combining culture and politics by handpicking talented artists and raconteurs to present their Two Minute Manifesto. Their all year sessions evolve alongside current affairs and October 2015 presents us with chat about Trident, Corbyn and a crowd sourced poem about our debauched youths. Luckily, none of ours involved pigs. Post-referendum, we must all ponder the future of our country and here the two presenters engage the audience with the discussion.
This session invites Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Rachel McCormack, food writer and broadcaster to present their ideas. Alongside them is writer Hannah McGill who sparks interesting debate, musician Dan Wilson, better known as Withered Hand, and poet Jim Monaghan to provide the audience with entertainment as well as provoking our thoughts. The mix of poetry, music and ideas stimulates intellectual nourishment and leaves you a little more politically engaged and in touch with your country.
The ideas presented this month were more serious than previous suggestions, such as compulsory midsummer skinny-dipping. When opened up to the vote, the audience were marginally for Barley’s proposal to help with youth unemployment, but didn’t pass McCormack’s proposition for all those employed in the public sector to learn Gaelic or Scots. Unfortunately, her idea will not be later inscribed onto a menhir and presented in the next election.
Taking art and politics hand in hand, current political issues or scandals (such as Piggate) are discussed as well as predictions of what is to come. We are forced to consider the future of Scotland: is Corbyn our only hope? Will there be another landslide for the SNP? If you had two minutes, what would you propose?