Glasgow International Comedy Festival Announce Comedy Commission with the Alasdair Gray Archive
Here at Glasgow International Comedy Festival we are proud to announced our partnership with the Alasdair Gray Archive as part of the Glasgow 850 Festival programme.
Comedians and self proclaimed Alasdair Gray fans, Alan Bissett, Ashley Storrie and Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, will create and stage work celebrating the Alasdair Gray Archive as part of GICF, with scratch performances during the festival and on ‘Gray Day’ on the 25th January.
All three comedians were invited to spend time at the Alasdair Gray Archive in Glasgow, researching his words, images and art, and speaking to custodians at the Archive as part of their research to create their shows.
The final show Gray Matters: A Laugh for Glasgow’s 850 Years is supported by the Glasgow 850 Festival Fund which celebrates the city’s 850th birthday as part of a yearlong, citywide programme of events and community activities, and will take place on 23rd March 2025 during the festival. The work of the three Scottish comedic artists will be staged at one big event with performances encompassing stand-up, digital and scripted, all inspired by Alasdair Gray and his work.
The show will take place at Oran Mor, where one of Gray’s greatest projects lives on, in the ceiling’s stunning mural decoration. Tickets are priced at £5, as part of GICF’s Comedy Connects initiative to host comedy shows at more accessible pricing.
The Alasdair Gray Archive and GICF will collaborate for the first time ever to present the show in tribute to one of the city’s most beloved artists, in a year which would have been Alasdair Gray’s 90th birthday, with the commission inspired by the fact that humour was a defining thread across his work.
Gray Matters: A Laugh for Glasgow’s 850 Years
Sunday 23rd March
Oran Mor
