Suffering from Scottishness is a comedy about the absurdity of life in the ‘best small country in the world’. Joe McDaid is thrilled to be promoted from lowly call centre operator to consultation rep at Citizen Scotland, an absolutely above board and in no way shadowy government think tank. It’s his job to host a consultation with a diverse focus group (the audience) to help decide what questions will make it into the inaugural Scottish Citizenship Test. Thankfully, Joe is a bit of a showman and has decided to jazz the presentation up with all manner of games, songs and poetry. As the consultation progresses, Joe starts to reveal his journey towards nationalism and question the underlying tenets that he’s based his world-view upon – inviting his focus group to take the same journey of deconstruction and self-analysis.
Award-winning writer and spoken word artist Kevin P. Gilday (Sonnet Youth, National Theatre of Scotland) turns a hilariously caustic eye on notions of nationhood and patriotism while chronicling his own journey from Glaswegian-Irish roots to reading at a Scottish independence rally to the toxic mire of present political debate.
Kevin P. Gilday is an award-winning writer and spoken word artist from Glasgow, Scotland. He is the curator and co-host of spoken word cabaret Sonnet Youth, the National Theatre of Scotland’s Breakthrough Writer for 2018 and a member of the BBC Comedy Writersroom 2019. He has published two pamphlets (Notes From A Quarter-Life Crisis and The Man Who Loved Beer), and one collection (Gigantic Lying Mouth), of his poetry. His debut album as Kevin P. Gilday & The Glasgow Cross was released on Iffy Folk Records (Glasgow) and Nymph & Thugs Records (London) in June of last year.