David Leddy logo In the Shade - David Leddy Reekie - David Leddy Susurrus - David Leddy. Image: Beverine Neeper On The Edge - David as Cluedo characters. Image: Niall Walker
The List: Glasgow & Edinburgh Events Guide

MODERN PARODY
ON THE EDGE

David as Cluedo characters. Image:
               Niall Walker

 

counter culture

Let's get the bad news out of the way at the up. David Leddy is a noted performance artist, who sites Derrida and Baudrillard among his major influences. Wait, keep reading, Leddy is well aware of the potential borefest that these influential deconstructionist thinkers can create when presented to an unsuspecting public in unadulterated form. So it's not at all what you expect.

"It's a parody of all the whodunnits that Cluedo was based on," says Leddy of his one-man show. "I play six parts, with all the old clichés to the fore. There's the maid, the butler, the dodgy foreigner; the usual collection of murder suspects. There's also a detective who says almost nothing, but claims to know all the answers."

The detective is not only a figure of fun, but a prime example of the unreliable narrator, allowing us to reflect on the purpose and function of art as it is presented in older, ossified forms. "The characters are very self-reflexive," Leddy says. " They are almost aware that they're clichés and they're placed into contexts that alter our perspectives on them."

But is it fun? "The earlier work I've done in this kind of form saw the audience really enjoying the humour. The point of the whole thing is to use these ideas behind the shows, but make them accessible and primarily very entertaining."


Steve Cramer