I Am Thomas

Presented by I Am An Idiot, The National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in association with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse
Directed by Paul Hunter
Liverpool Playhouse
19th - 27th February 2016

Reviewed by Colin Serjent
Photograph by Manuel Harlan

This was a mishmash of a production, containing totally unrelated themes thrown in, almost seemingly at random, to the true essence of the story in hand.

The play was supposedly centred around the last person to be executed in Britain for blasphemy in 1697, 19-year-old medical student Thomas Aikenhead from Edinburgh.

Bu for some bizarre reason there were far too many references to football, God knows why!, including a cast member adorned at one time in an Archie Gemmill Scotland shirt,and several sketches of women pretending to be pundits on Match Of The Day. How tiresome it all became.

As with the banal dialogue poet Simon Armitage used in The Odyssey: Missing Presumed Dead staged at the Everyman last year - again in that production there were a proliferation of allusions to football - his song lyrics proved little better in I Am Thomas. Methinks he should stick to what he is professed to be best at, poetry.

He is also a great admirer of the ultra racist magazine, the Charlie Hebdo publication, which he spoke about in the pre-publicity to this play. He was originally going to call it 'Je Suis Thomas.'

He pontificated about freedom of speech and its values. Abusing someone else's religion and cultural beliefs in cartoon form is by any definition not freedom of speech.

Everyone in the cast played Thomas at one time or another, making the point that blasphemy is still widespread around the world on many different levels, sometimes with fatal consequences.

Musical director Iain Johnstone played a nifty piano but the rest of the musical ensemble (ie the whole cast) left a lot to be desired, sounding amateurish at certain periods, with one member trying to hit the high notes when singing, but failing to do so.

The thirty minute second act was an improvement on the meandering 75 minutes opening set. The most notable aspect was the noose of a rope being looped around every cast member's neck, signifying that we are all capable of speaking ill of God (Whatever/whoever he, she, it is).

But all in all I am Thomas was an unholy mess.

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Comment left by Jimmy S. on 8th March, 2016 at 9:34
"He pontificated about freedom of speech and its values. Abusing someone else's religion and cultural beliefs in cartoon form is by any definition not freedom of speech." Quite what this section of the review has to do with the play at hand, heaven (pardon the pun) only knows. Stick to reviewing the production please, Colin. You're right in one respect, though. The play's rubbish.