How We Laughed…
Ida Persson
VIDEO LINK INTRO OF A DELIGHTFUL
STORYBOOK, OPENING UP TO REVEAL
THE WORDS ‘TALES OF ST PANCRAS
BEAR’. LIGHTS UP. A DISHEVELLED,
ANTHROPOMORPHISED TEDDY BEAR
ENTERS STAGE RIGHT HOLDING A
CRUMPLED SHOPPING BAG CONTAINING
TAT AND A ‘BOOK’
ST PANCRAS: ‘ello kids. Remember me? It’s
your old friend, St. Pancras Bear. Don’t know
who I am? Well, I’m not surprised. Bet you know
who Paddington Bear is though don’t you?!
[…] You want to hear a story about Paddington
Bear? One sunny day two bears made their way
to popular London train stations in the hope of
being taken in by a nice family. One of them set
off to Paddington station, got taken home by the
Browns, managed to secure himself a lucrative
book deal, and became the nation’s darling. The
other bear [INDICATES HIMSELF] went to St.
Pancras Station and was forced to make the best
of a bad situation by becoming an independent
procurement specialist in the area of urban
pockets.
[HE COUGHS VIOLENTLY, GIVES AN
AUDIENCE MEMBER HIS BAG TO HOLD,
THEN SNATCHES IT BACK]
Now, don’t get me wrong. I wish people well,
[SHOUTS] I’m a well-wisher. But the question
is, does Paddington deserve the luck he had?
[…] Who’s the real bear behind the duffle coat?
Because you have a right to know just who it is
featuring in the bedtime stories of your darling,
fat, little children. You want to know the sordid
truth about your precious Paddington? Well, he
brazenly admits on his own website – that’s right,
he’s got a website! It’s pretty good actually – that
in order to get to England he ‘stowed away’ on a
ship’s lifeboat. Illegal immigrant. Not only that but
Paddington is not even his real name, it’s Pastuso!
And most shocking of all, Paddington describes
himself as originating from ‘darkest Peru’. Racist.
[SITS CENTRE STAGE] So Paddington is a
racist, illegal immigrant who is living in England
under an assumed name. “What other dark secrets
might he be harboring, St. Pancras?,” you ask. Well,
ever wondered just how Pudsey Bear got that eye
patch? Well, he never talks about it. Or anything,
in fact. Very troubling. Traces of marmalade
found in the wound apparently, I’ll leave you to
draw your own conclusions….
- Extract from St Pancras Bear, by The Dead Secrets, first
performed 2013
The disgruntled St Pancras Bear, who feels hard done by
the success of his contemporary, Paddington Bear, tries
to vilify Paddington by making him the untrustworthy
‘other’ in as many ways as he possibly can.1 The analysis
and break down could very easily go on. It’s also just a
part of a funny sketch. Comedy is a powerful tool. It can
ridicule, deride, degrade and dismiss, and it is important
to recognize when a damaging route is taken in comedy.
It can also uplift, encourage, and highlight the shared
human experience. That is crucial.
All forms of art are capable of transcending the
physical by touching the individual on an emotional level
and crossing boundaries and differences. There are, of
course, aspects of all art, and comedy specifically, where
a person’s enjoyment can (and on occasion should) be
affected by his or her understanding of language, culture
and shared social experiences, all key influences in the
migrant experience.
You could argue, perhaps, that although you might
enjoy Monty Python’s well-known ‘The Four Yorkshire
Men’ sketch, where they compare and try to out-do
each other with the social and financial deprivation
of their youth, you do not fully understand it without
having an awareness of the socio-economic and cultural
context. There would be truth in this. But if you enjoy
it for whatever reason (quality of performance, your
own interpretation of the joke, your understanding of
it within your own social or cultural perspective), does it
always matter?
The joy of laughter is a shared global human
experience. We may all find different things funny, but
we all (well, most of us, anyway…) find things funny.
Much comedy is universal. Non-verbal physical humour,
for example, can in a single moment communicate a
ludicrous but shared human experience (the pratfall, the
farcical entrance/exit, the run in with a lamp post). There
is a reason why quiet but physical characters have often
been the most internationally loved and understood, such
as Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Rowan Atkinson’s
Mr. Bean.
A lot of talk about migration is focused (rightly) on
the individual experience, and the many differences to
be considered (culture, movement, status) when looking
at a migrant’s journey. But it’s important, I think, to
From Migration: A COMPAS Anthology, edited by B. Anderson and M. Keith, COMPAS, Oxford, 2014
also remember the shared human experiences and the
moments where these can be found. Although much can
be said, validly and importantly, about power struggles,
perspective and context in comedy, it is important not
to lose sight of the fact that a genuine smile or laugh
will always be universal. This goes a long a way toward
eliminating ideas of ‘us and them’, migrant and non-
migrant, and any other divisions - if only for the moment
it takes to giggle or heartily guffaw.
Notes
1 Something done to great humorous effect by the creator
of Paddington Bear himself, Michael Bond, in his book
Paddington Here and Now (2008) where Paddington has to
decide where ‘home’ really is, based on his immigration
status.
From Migration: A COMPAS Anthology, edited by B. Anderson and M. Keith, COMPAS, Oxford, 2014