Writer: Linda Duncan McLaughlin in collaboration with In Cahootz
Directors: Kate Black & Annmarie Strain
Taking as its inspiration Glasgow 850, the year-long birthday celebration of the city. In Cahootz Creative Citizens have, in collaboration with playwright Linda Duncan McLaughlin, created a new play in celebration of all that’s wonderful about being a Weegie.
The work is a combination of the group’s cultural walking tours, their 2024 exhibition and material gleaned from their outreach workshops with Glasgow’s Recovery Community. The workshops explored the relationship with the city and what it meant to the participants and the city’s landmarks that had the most meaning, hoping that the play would encourage its’ audiences to explore further.
The People’s Place takes the form of an unofficial (and certainly unorthodox) walking tour, highlighting the famous, not so famous and downright infamous best of the city. It begins with a promenade through the venue to the auditorium where we begin our “tour”. While on the tour, Kim, Alex, Jo-Jo, Mags and Dee come to the aid of old pal Stevo who’s returned from a 20 year sojourn in Spain in order to right an old wrong.
There are stops at The Necropolis, where the statues of the city’s great and good come to life; The story of The Barras founded by Maggie McIver, just one of a number of strong Glasgow women whose stories are featured here, another being Mary Barbour and her part in the now forgotten Glasgow Rent Strikes of 1915; we are taken to Jim Lambie’s Album Pathway just off The Barrowlands, celebrating the musical giants who have played on its hallowed stage; the urban legend of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is debunked, to the Riverside Museum to the banks of the Clyde and its beating heart design.
The action is punctuated by some familiar tunes: I Fought the Law and Bad Romance with some absolute crackers written by the group members, John, Paul, Bobby Jo and Gordon. Each original song encapsulates not only the spirit of the people involved but the city itself.
The feeling from the whole endeavour is inclusive, spirited, joyous, warm, welcoming and just down right bloody brilliant – just like the city itself and In Cahootz as a collective. They never fail to put a smile on your face and warm your heart. They don’t stray away from the ugly truth but deliver it all with such passion and heart that you can’t fail to be moved.
Reviewed on 1 March 2025 | Image: In Cahootz