Mark Thomas: Walking The Wall, The Stand, Newcastle (From The Northern Echo)

Mark Thomas: Walking The Wall, The Stand, Newcastle

2:05pm Thursday 12th January 2012 in Reviews

GIVEN the title, you’d be forgiven for thinking Mark Thomas was talking about walking along Hadrian’s Wall. As beautiful as that historical monument is, Thomas is an avowed political activist comedian who relishes campaigning against injustice and the wall in question is the 750km, illegal Israeli Separation Barrier.

In 2010, our intrepid comedian travelled to the Middle East and this is his account, starring characters from both sides of the divide and featuring arrests (number one was on the first day) and a stoning.

It is with the Palestinians that his sympathies lie – thrown out of their homeland by the creation of Israel in the 1948 carve-up – and Thomas manages to incite the chuckle muscles with his brilliantly funny observations, as well as evoke anger and disgust in equal proportions while outlining the suffering of ordinary Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli army and the Palestinian mafia.

The last time I saw Thomas, he had been on a horrific fact-finding mission to Latin America and the Indian subcontinent to discover the perils trade unionists face trying to organise in Coca Cola factories. It was scary and heartbreaking stuff, but at the same time the black humour and hope shone through as he reported progress in the struggle.

His Middle East sojourn, however, is effectively reportage on what appears to be at present an unmovable obstacle. Thomas is always good company, though, relating disturbing truths in an entertaining, compelling and memorable way. It is reassuring to know there are still people like him out there.