28 March 2012
'Entertaining Dundee: From the Comical to the Comic, the Ridiculous to the Sublime' - 4th April
Dundee humour will be transported south of the Tay next week when experts from the University of Dundee explore the legacy of William McGonagall and DC Thomson comics with an audience in St Andrews.
'Entertaining Dundee: From the Comical to the Comic, the Ridiculous to the Sublime' takes place at The Byre Theatre on Wednesday, 4th April. Eddie Small, an authority on McGonagall, will start the evening with an entertaining and illustrated talk on Dundee's much-maligned unofficial poet laureate before Dr Chris Murray turns his attention to much loved characters from the pages of DC Thomson publications.
He will explore the work of Dudley D. Watkins in 'The Broons' and 'Oor Wullie', and the comedic genius of Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid in 'The Beano' and 'The Dandy'. This will be accompanied by the opening of a new exhibition of original artwork from the DC Thomson archives at the Byre, along with a talk by the company's Morris Heggie.
Dr Murray, convenor of the University's English Programme and leader of the pioneering Comics Studies postgraduate degree, said "Eddie and I are very happy to be bringing a bit of Dundee humour to The Byre, and hope that the talks will be both entertaining and informative. If not, we fully expect a barrage of rotten tomatoes and cow pies!"
Eddie, a Creative Writing teacher at the University, added "How can a night that brings Desperate Dan, Minnie the Minx and William McGonagall together be anything less than amazing?"
William Topaz McGonagall's chosen way of life, teetotal stance, and his unshakeable self-belief set him apart from the rest of the city's populace and conspired to make him the butt of ridicule and jokes.
Eddie will look at the career of McGonagall, from his days as a self-trained actor and tragedian to his relatively late discovery of his unique talent for writing 'poetry'. He will plot the changing and heightening levels of abuse and rejection to which he was subjected, before asking who got the last laugh.
Dundee has long been one of the great international powerhouses of comics production. Dr Murray will discuss the content of DC Thomson comics in the 1930s and 40s, with its raucous humour and working class characters, which initially defied the traditions of British comics, but eventually came to define them.
He will explore the innovations and inspirations that lay behind their success and consider how the particular brand of humour in these comics developed, something that will further be illustrated by the accompanying exhibition and gallery talk. The event is co-ordinated by The Friends of the Byre organisation, and takes place from 7.30-9.30pm on Wednesday, 4th April. The exhibition will be open in The Byre Theatre for a further two weeks.
More details are available at www.list.co.uk/event/245063-entertaining-dundee/.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
