Cosmic
Tackling the thorny issue of conspiracy theory through humour
I first heard the term ‘Cosmic Scouser’ during the Covid pandemic. I was doing a piece for Radio 4 about the vaccine rollout. Or perhaps it was the big gig in a tent in my local park where everyone inside had to prove they were negative. Or was it when the army came to the city and helped you get tested. It’s all a bit of a blur now, like some kind of strange dream.
Anyway, an interviewee was getting hot under the collar about Covid deniers and he called them Cosmics, Cosmic Scousers. So when I saw a flyer for a new play at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool, called Cosmic, I was able to laugh and nod knowingly to myself.
Joe McNally has written Cosmic and its his first play. He’s one of over 50 people that the Royal Court put through a script writing course, which has been running for three years.
So where does the term Cosmic Scouser come from?
Listen to my interview with Joe and Andy here
Joe says it’s a catch-all which has been around since the 80s, coming from bands with psychedelic influences, like The La’s. It’s evolved over the years and in its current incarnation, he says, it can be used to identify people who do yoga and meditation all the way to those who believe in conspiracy theories. “It can be used as a term of endearment or as a derogatory term”, he says.
Joe understands what it’s like to be a Cosmic Scouser, or Cosmic Scally, because he was one himself.
“When I was 15 and 16 I fell down a couple of rabbit holes. The first one, the big one, was 9/11. That the Government was behind it. You start to join dots that aren’t necessarily there."
Joe’s play centres on a character called Vinnie, who is trying to make sense of the death of his father. As the flyer says, he thinks he knows things, things the average person hasn’t even considered. So he sets up a group, The Truth And Freedom Seekers. It’s not a very big group. And as the play opens, Vinnie is member number 001 and his mate Oisin is 002. And that’s it.
Andy McLeod, who plays the lead character, says Vinnie is “a vessel for showing how perfectly reasonable people can be swept up by these things and by people who are quite persuasive.”
Joe McNally and Andy McLeod
Are either of them worried about any kickback?
Joe says he hopes not because he hasn’t written a play designed to demonise people who believe in conspiracy theories. “To be honest, I don’t want to be the person who says you shouldn’t question things and you shouldn’t question power, cos I think that’s really important. But I think when we’ve seen people going into hospitals and verbally abusing nurses, quoting the Magna Carta, I feel like that’s a point where it oversteps the mark.”
Joe says he has deliberately kept away from the pandemic, perhaps because that’s still too close for comfort. They both hope that people can see they are shining a light on the whole issue of conspiracy theories through humour. It is a comedy after all.
Cosmic starts on 22nd March and runs until 8th April.