★★★★
If we lived in a society where the arts were properly funded and respected, Paul Wady would be professor emeritus in a grand Victorian lecture hall, educating an eager public on his favourite subject – the eccentric.
This isn’t to denigrate the rather lovely Bar 50, a neurodiverse hub at this year’s fringe, but context is one tenth of the law, or whatever the expression is. Paul manages to turn the alcove bar into his Salon, overseeing Gen Z students with his embodiment of the eccentrics of yesteryear.
We meet Quentin Crisp, Patricia Highsmith and Ed Wood amongst many others, all intertwined with Paul’s own eccentric journey. I find it weird that I admired many of the same eccentrics as Paul did (and does), despite being born several decades apart; what is so eternal about these strange figures? I could see people much younger than me, fascinated by these same human reliquaries.
Such is Paul’s determination to mix public talk with neurodivergent advocacy, we are also treated to an ‘Eccentriconograph’, where we were asked questions such as ‘Have you grown up feeling like you are one of a kind? Do you feel like you’d love to find more people who think and feel the way you do?’
Paul is a grafter, and he works hard during his hour. It takes a while for it to unfold, but stick with it, because you’ll leave changed, and like Quentin says ‘with a message of hope’.
Eccentrics Assemble – Guerrilla Autistics Year 10 is on at Bar 50 – The Alcove till the 25th August.
