IT’S yersel, except, maybe, it’s no. It is not so much a case of art imitating life as it is art going up against life and driving it hard into the ground.
Scottish wrestler Grado and comedian the Wee Man have found themselves turned into characters in a play in an Islington pub theatre.
The play, Lardo, tells the story of an overweight Glaswegian boy and his friend the Wee Man who dream of becoming wrestling superstars.
It’s a story that’s not all that far away from the life of Grado, an overweight Glaswegian boy – now something of a wrestling superstar.
Speaking to STV, Grado said he was not too bothered. “I can’t believe someone has actually decided to do a story inspired by me,” he said. “I don’t think I’m that interesting – I’m just a dafty from Stevenston that stays with his mum and dad.
“The last few weeks I’ve been dealing with Madonna and now this has happened. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – or in this case it should maybe be fattery.
“The actor’s accent makes me laugh because he sounds nothing like me – if there was an opposite accent to mine, that would be it. But all the best to them, I wish them well.”
The character of the Wee Man in the play is clearly based on Glasgow comedy character and YouTube star the Wee Man. Not only do both Wee Men wear the same clothes and drink the same Buckfast, but – infuriatingly for Neil Bratchpiece, the comedian and actor behind the Wee Man – the play appears to have stolen his patter.
“It’s pretty bizarre. A little unexpected,” says Bratchpiece.
“With Lardo they at least changed the name of Grado, it’s a very unsubtle parody.
But they’ve just lifted my name straight off.”
The comedian thinks the London-based theatre company will not have considered that a problem. “Because I’m in Glasgow and mainly work in Scotland it’s like I don’t exist and it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“Obviously, I can’t patent the name the Wee Man, it’s a fairly common name in Scotland. I’m not going to challenge Paul Ferris for the name.”
Bratchpiece, who is currently preparing for his rap battle show at The Arches as part of the Glasgow Comedy Festival, has found the whole situation odd: “Essentially, seeing an English actor calling himself the Wee Man is a little bit flattering, but then when I see a couple of lines I’ve written it is a bit galling.”
The PR company for Lardo claims that the show is affectionate homage to wrestling, with some of the characters “loosely inspired by Scottish wrestlers”. These characters, the theatre company explains, “exist as creations in their own right”.
The show’s writer Mike Stone said: “I looked at a number of wrestling ‘characters’ when writing Lardo. The characters Lardo and Wee Man are loosely inspired by Grado and Wee Man in respect of their wrestling personas only. My characters then have a totally fictitious storyline and back story. There are four other wrestling characters, also totally fictitious. I am a huge fan of ICW wrestling and other promotions, and was keen to introduce that world to a theatre audience and to construct a drama, not a wrestling match.”
Wrestling is having a massive renaissance in Scotland. Insane Championship Wrestling started in 2006 with small bouts in Glasgow’s Maryhill Community Centre. ICW has grown over the last nine years and regularly promotes events all over the UK. Barramania at Glasgow’s Barrowland in March will be one of the biggest events yet, with tickets already being snapped up.
Grado, one of the breakout stars from ICW, has also picked up acting work on BBC Scotland’s Scot Squad and River City. His catchphrase, “it’s yersel”, is popular in playgrounds and on T-shirts.
Robert Buchan, a partner in Brodies’ intellectual property team said that was probably not a lot the pair could do: “While I can see how [they] may have concerns about them being the inspiration for the fictional characters in the play, loosely inspired or not, it is difficult to see any clear legal basis to take a successful claim forward for the use of what seem to be either similar or generic character names which are not trade-marked. Proving any financial loss by the real people or gain by the playwright would seem difficult.
“There is a fine line between homage/inspiration and blatant copying of a character and their catchphrases, but UK law does not provide a clear remedy here – it may be best for parties to stay outside the legal wrestling arena in this case.”
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