SINCE stepping onto the karaoke bar stage 31 years ago, Karen Dunbar has been making people laugh more than a list of pre-election promises. The comedy actor has been making audiences love her with performances on TV’s Chewin’ the Fat, The Karen Dunbar Show and on stage as a stand-up and a panto star. But now, rather unusually, the Ayrshire-born actor isn’t expecting to be assaulted with audience warmth at all. In her new online film role in Distance Remaining, which focuses on the dramatically changed circumstances in the Covid-stricken lives of three characters, Dunbar plays Lindsey, a woman whose moral sat nav has gone on the blink.
SCOTS comedian and actor Karen Dunbar is to introduce community groups to the joys of rap to help combat isolation during the pandemic. She is also part of a virtual tour which will offer a panoramic view of Scotland under lockdown. Before that is staged in April, she will be hosting rap sessions through her online Spoken Word Club. The sessions, which aim to spread positivity, are in partnership with Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre and follow a successful pilot project with members of the Citizens’ Community Collective last year. Dunbar said rapping was the “ideal” creative activity for lockdown. “I love hip-hop, I’ve always loved it,” she said.