Mark Thomas: 100 Acts Of Minor Dissent

Harrogate Theatre

4/5

MARK THOMAS is feeling time-pressured — he’s only got a few days left to successfully complete his pledge to carry out 100 acts of minor dissent in the course of a year. 

If he fails he must donate £1,000 to Ukip, the worst nightmare imaginable.

The south London troublemaker (pictured) has returned to the activist fray, reinspired to take action against corporate power by a love of his community and a hatred of what neoliberalism is doing to it and his passion for change counters his repeated claims that he’s cantankerous at 51.

In a show that continually evolves as more acts are accomplished, illustrated with photographs shown on a PowerPoint presentation, his almost actorish delivery is a fine balance between semi-scripted lecture and razor-sharp spontaneity, as when he challenges an audience member using a mobile mid-set.

The first acts he completed were, he claims, almost instinctive — returning junk mail in freepost envelopes and allowing his young son to blu-tack one of his drawings to the walls of Tate Modern.

But it wasn’t long before they evolved into more elaborate pieces that involved assistance from willing accomplices.

These included forming the Citizens Kazoo Orchestra in protest against the Camden Town crackdown on buskers and taking a flash-mob ceilidh band into Apple’s flagship Regent Street store to protest against the company’s tax arrangements.

As with all of the best agitators, Thomas passionately wants to galvanise audience members into taking part in his campaigns. People are encouraged to use bespoke stickers to modify books in chain stores, signed by the author for copies of the Bible, and he invites submissions for a definition of Nigel Farage that can be entered into the OED, with suggestions including “a confused and angry wank.”

The target and purpose of some of these acts is sometimes confused, though even at his most “childish” Thomas displays a generosity of spirit when his actions bring him into contact with ordinary, obliging workers. 

And it’s certainly the case that acts with a more direct goal have, however, undoubtedly brought about real change, including getting trade unions recognised at London’s Curzon theatre.

It’s this fine line between fun hectoring and real change that should inspire audience members to question their own conformism and take action long after they leave the theatre.

Mark Thomas’s 100th act of minor dissent takes place tomorrow at the Leadmill in Sheffield, details: www.markthomasinfo.co.uk.