Doris Day Can F**k Off
Greg McLaren
Mayfest 2011
Greg McLaren is a really nice chap. The kind of bloke you would want to go out for a pint with, or play computer games with on a rainy day. He has a gentle charm and light-hearted enthusiasm that puts his audience at ease. It’s this ease that carries the charmingly titled Doris Day Can F**k Off, a show as much about McLaren as it is about his desire to make a one man opera.
For Doris Day, McLaren set himself the task of singing his way through an entire week of his life. As a result he sang on the street, in meetings, on the phone and apparently even in court. He sang to his friends, colleagues, traffic wardens, buskers, shop assistants and total strangers. It is immediately clear that McLaren also intends to sing his way through tonight’s performance, which initially puts me in mind of a TV musical I saw in the late 1990’s, a sort of low budget Hollyoaks with the script set to music.
Within moments of opening, McLaren is attempting to sing his thoughts to his audience, embellishing and extending words as his voice flows casually up and down the musical scale. Almost continuously throughout the piece a recording plays of the people McLaren met whilst creating the project. At times he loops and manipulates these recordings to create backing tracks for his own songs, to which he adds his live vocals and an array of instruments. The result is funny, charmingly haphazard and at times surprisingly moving.
As a performer, McLaren comes across as playful and very likeable, never taking himself or his audience too seriously. The performance feels fluid and has an openness which makes room for the less successful moments to be absorbed by the overall ambiance of the work. He carries the one man show with confidence and humour and I feel like the occasional contributions we make (or refuse to make) are warm and welcome; there is space for gentle improvisation and provocation.
Doris Day Can F**K Off is a charming new work that left me feeling quietly optimistic about human nature. I am left pondering whether or not there can be a car park within a car park and I too wish to run away to Doris Day, the top-ranking female box office star of all time. With a glass of wine and excellent company, this was a lovely evening out.
Michael Jones
12th May 2011
