Last week marked the start of spring, and I am absolutely ready for it.
As the sun shone, it felt like the city was celebrating.
The V&A’s new show opened with a shout, Dundee United once again packed in the thousands for a thunderous spectacle, and the Dundee Rep began a run of an outstanding show.
On Saturday, I took in the treble, bouncing fae the waterfront, to Tannadice, to the Rep.
It filled me so full of joy at being part of this fine city that I want to share it with you.
First, the V&A.
This place hasnae been exactly flavour of the month with a lot of my neighbours since it opened.
In fact, walking doon the Hilltoon a while back, two guys were actually out protesting against it.
They were dressed like Buckingham Palace guards for some reason.
When I got a blether with them, they said they were protesting the vast cash splashed at the waterfront, compared wi the bawbees spent on improving the lives of Dundonians in Coldside.
Plenty of positives at V&A Dundee
I’ve aye been keen to defend the V&A.
We all mind what came before. The big long weird walking tunnels in the sky that generally had a bad busker and a whiff about them.
The roaring roads. The city wi its back turned to its waterfront.
The V&A is better than all that. But the lack of real quality in its exhibitions and its big empty interior was getting hard to defend.
Pals that travelled up fae the central belt to see it would go away disappointed. Loads of Dundee pals just don’t go.
I feared the place was listing towards White Elephant status, like the Millennium Dome or the old Pictavia by Brechin.
But Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer has just launched, and it is superb.
New exhibition is a class act
It traces the impact of a young guy fae Aberdeen as he heads to London to study ballet, and his subsequent spin into a high-art counter-culture.
The story is told in fascinating fragments.
Some rooms blare deafening rock n roll, some have a multitude of screens hanging at odd angles telling jumbled stories that jostle for attention.
Other spaces draw the eye to fantastical outfits. It is a European-class exhibition, a great story told well.
Plenty of my contacts just havnae ever set foot in the V&A.
I’m encouraging them hard to get down there and gie this exhibition the time of day.
And I’m encouraging you to do the same.
It really is that good.
Here’s why Dundee United boasts the most sun-tanned fans in Scotland
I launched up the hill in time for the 3 o’clock kick off at Tannadice against Hearts.
Peely-wally wee away fans heched and peched their way up the slope, shouting ‘Gorgie rules!’ between snatched breaths.
I met my mate and we took our seat. I took out a bottle of factor 50 suncream and slathered myself in it before kick off.
That’s no a joke. For those that havnae been along to Tannadice for a spring or autumn fixture, you should know that the George Fox is an absolute sun trap.
The same sunny south-facing slope that makes the allotments outside such a gardener’s paradise ensures the Dundee United support are some of the best-tanned fitba fans in the country.
The game was a thriller, a real blood-and-thunder clash.
We sang, the away fans sang, we all harangued the referee.
Dundee hat trick of quality today 🙌
🟡Cosmic Dancer at V&A was class
🟠Dundee United put on a show
🔵The Children at the Rep is outstanding pic.twitter.com/kB5zKdzBUC— Alistair Heather (@Historic_Ally) March 5, 2022
We scored a belter of a long-range goal that had us roaring out our seats.
2-2 at full time, and the seven thousand souls in the stands dispersed through the streets, content with their point.
The beautiful game remains the beating heart of the city.
Dundee Rep show evokes tensions offstage
A quick bite of food at the hoose then I was tumbling back doon the hill towards the evening’s performance at Dundee Rep theatre.
The place suffered badly with Covid, as you’d expect.
They were stuck online for a long time. Even their triumphant Christmas show had to be cancelled mid-way through the run due to Omicron. But the long layoff hasnae removed their sharpness or talent.
The current show is called The Children. It was written in 2016 by Lucy Kirkwood – who also wrote the teen TV show Skins a while ago. It’s already enjoyed tremendous success, becoming a fixture on Broadway.
I wilnae hand oot spoilers, but much of what occurs onstage resonates.
The tensions brilliantly evoked by the play overlapped with tensions within me.
The NATO ships doon the harbour. The named storms skelping us routinely. The shelling at Chernobyl.
The play helped put words to the accumulated static charge all these things were generating in me. It felt good to share concern with a room full of people. I left consoled.
These are strange times. Tensions are high.
But in the background flowers are forcing their blooms up into warming sun, and Dundee’s institutions are calling you out to share escapism, thoughts, imagination and solidarity.
Spring is here, and among the gloom that’s a reason to be cheerful.
