T 2018T
he hottest ticket at the Edinburgh
festival circuit this year is not by
a much-talked about young
comedian searching for a spot on a panel
show. Or a world-renowned author
making a rare appearance after years of
quiet solitude.
Rather, it is by a Glaswegian author-rapper
who digs into social mobility issues and his
own battle out of poverty.
Such were the four-star reviews for Darren
‘Loki’ McGarvey’s Poverty Safari Live that
tickets were rarer than a coherent
governmental Brexit policy.
The title is drawn from McGarvey’s wealth
gap-probing book the live show takes its name
from. The 2017 bestseller picked up the
Orwell Prize for political writing this year and
propelled the 34-year-old to mainstream
fame as a political commentator, informed
by his own turbulent upbringing and
experiences of extreme poverty, addiction
and homelessness.
Just five years after working his way out
of that very situation, McGarvey
entertained audiences across Britain on
Question Time, introducing many to the term
“jakeball” during a discussion on the
introduction of minimum alcohol pricing.
With the success of his unflinching
depiction of a childhood draped in violence,
alcoholism and extreme poverty, McGarvey
used his book to examine the wider societal
issues that he saw deeply rooted across the
country, so it was natural that Poverty Safari
Live came next.
A unique blend of poetry, rap, comedy and
social commentary, the show allowed
McGarvey to tell the story of a working-class
boy, not unlike himself, trying to “cross the
ravine” into the world of his middle-class
university-educated girlfriend. Interspersed
with his own polemic challenges, the new
commentator of our time examines the
possibility of social mobility (a term he notes
an immediate dislike for) when you live in a
place of extreme poverty.
His argument that poverty is complex is
one that we at The Big Issue know all too well.
Every day we uncover new challenges in our
mission to give a hand up. It felt right to ask
one of our vendors, in the world of which
McGarvey writes, to go along and review.
We took vendor Floare Cirpaci, 27
(pictured below), to give us her unique take
on Poverty Safari Live. Arriving from Romania
just two years ago she has her own experience
of “crossing the ravine”.
“I can’t speak for everyone in Romania but
it was a bad place for me to raise a family, you
don’t have a lot of opportunity to grow there,”
she said.
With a pitch outside the Edinburgh
Book Festival this summer, Floare has
seen for herself the gaps in wealth within
the city.“It can be dicult in Edinburgh to be
around so many wealthy people,” she said.
“But I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’m
doing now without being here.
“There’s a lot of poor people in Scotland
too. But it’s better here and people have
the chance to change their life if they
want to.”
Poverty Safari Live is littered with side
notes. McGarvey addresses the crowd and
admits his own shortfalls, his own battle with
learning the ropes of feminism, privilege and
all that comes with the growing minefield of
“what is OK to say”. But with humour and
humility, he challenges us all to admit
our own preconceptions in a somewhat
uncomfortable hour.
“I liked the rapping,” Floare said. And
while some of the more Scottish specific
nuances may have been lost on her (the show
opens with a trigger warning for the working
class that the bar sells juice with bits and a
joke about the dental nightmare of Wham
bars), she understood the complex conflict
of self that comes with finding a way out of
poverty that Poverty Safari confronts.
“I know things are still bad at home, which
is difficult sometimes. But I’m trying to
improve my life for me and my kids.”
Floare’s enjoyment of the show came
from her first-hand experience and personal
understanding of some of the issues
that McGarvey has honestly laid
bare, but she recognises that she
too has found a way to improve
her circumstances.
“I can’t change everything. But I’ve got
a job here on my pitch and I like it. I’ve
changed what I can and I’m
still learning.”Words: Dionne Kennedy and Floare Cirpaci
@bowliekidsWatching Darren McGarvey live,
the hottest ticket in Edinburgh