What is it about Scandinavians at the moment?  They seem to be everywhere – or is it just me?

Edward Thomasson appears to have that sort of a name.  But, once inside the blacked out car on the way to the after party of his exhibition, he didn’t have even the faintest accent that suggested he was from Nordic climes.

“I like your video immensely” I said to him.  “I had to look at it a couple of times to work it out – to try and make sense of what it all meant.” “Yes, that’s what I wanted the audience to do” he replied.  “It’s like at the end of the film the policeman says ‘We’re sitting on the fence – we have to piece it together’”.

Video art installations often leave me cold, but I had found myself quite gripped by this one – of course my cousin is in it – a draw in itself.  Nevertheless the often opaque nature of art was rendered less so in this instance by a mystery, an invitation to think and figure out what had happened. It required some sleuth like skills and provoked the intellect.

At Bistroteque in E2 the party was starting.  Everywhere I looked in the outer easterly environs of London things were alive, energy was tangible and the beards something else.  Perhaps this had something to do with my latest thinking that the Nordics are omnipresent?  But, that’s a ridiculous stereotype for a start.

I talked to one of the girls who had played a policewoman in the film.  “How did you get this acting part – is it also your day job? I asked.  “No, no, not at all.  I was in Broadway market one weekend and saw a sign up saying ‘Open Auditions’”.  “Did you know you’d have to sing when you were offered it?”  “No, but I used to sing in a choir and I just felt like doing something different – I didn’t realise Edward would give me a solo!”

I spotted my super talented cousin, Rebecca, across a room full of facial and further fashionable manifestations of hair.  The East to West London journey beckoned. “You can’t go – the dancing’s about to start!” said Laura. Sure enough shapes were being thrown by a solo male as other people started to shake the odd limb nearby.

Nevertheless, we said goodbyes to various cast members, and Soosan – the composer of the film score…

Once home I googled the name: It seems the origins are not Scandinavian, but Persian.  I contemplated the night through my window, then drew the blinds. It would appear we’re looking at a thicker plot.