This article by Dominic Long was published in the Gloucestershire Echo on 11 October 1999.
Review: Tom Sharpe, The Everyman
Festival chairman Ion Trewin introduced this event by admitting to having regularly ‘wept with laughter’ while reading his books.
This sentiment was clearly shared by many in the audience.
We were reminded of the early days in South Africa where, under apartheid, Tom Sharpe’s provocative plays (and penchant for communist acquaintances) saw him briefly incarcerated before his deportation in 1961.
Reading, said Sharpe, should be fun. His work, he said, could be compared to a ‘sugar-coated pill’.
Mr Sharpe confessed to having a ‘bleak view of life’ but denied harbouring a personal distaste for the characters in his work, suggesting that the appalling Konstabel Els and even the ludicrous Eva were fashioned from the darker reaches of his own psyche.
His reading of a passage from Riotous Assembly (his first novel) provoked side-splitting laughter from the audience. It also testified to Sharpe’s ability to blend poignant social comment with a deftly executed comedic sensibility.