Theatre
BAOBABS DON’T GROW HERE Lecoq-trained South Africans in mythic drama
Continuing the recent cultural influx of work fronx South Africa. Fresco lheatr‘e Company presents a tare of travel. dreams. and fruit trees. Performers Helen lskander‘ and husband James Cunningham both trained at the Lecog school in Paris. and devrsed the show about a Romany couple's search for the n‘ythrcal oaobab tree. and its ftl‘ll'lm, grvrng properties. believing that finding the tree wrl! change their lives for the better.
Different cultures rl‘. South Africa assocrate With the tree diffme'ttry' says lksander’. 'Strength. fertility and death are its rrrost common cultural connotations. We all have innate corrnectrons vrtn those mythical. folkloric elements of life. but we've lost touch \‘Jllll then; H] recent times'
With an emphasis on a very physical. (llO‘-.'/lllllg performance style. they hope to draw the audience in to the crtaractt-zrs' lives: 'lt's a simple love story. but rt develops in some gurte unexpected v-rays.' (Gareth Davresr I Gilded Balloon levrot. 226 21:31.2 20 Aug. 12. 45pm. 5 ‘/'. :50— 5 ‘8. ()0 (5.6. 30—5) /'. {)0}.
RED, BLACK AND IGNORANT Great British dramatist gets rare performance by French company
lhe first rr‘. l-dvr/ard Bond's trilogy. llre lri/a/ Plays. tells the story of a
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SHUT EYE
Joseph Chaikin directs dream comedy
‘Even if you go to sleep with somebody, you still dream alone,’ says Dan Rothenberg, co-director of Shut Eye. Along with legendary physical theatre director Joseph Chaikin, Philadelphia’s Pig Iron theatre company has devised this production that takes an absurdist look at what happens when we go to sleep, and ponders on the ideas of loneliness and isolation.
‘Joe wanted us to produce a show that was 90% funny,’ says Rothenberg. ‘So that’s what we did.’
Built from extensive improvisation exercises (‘a fundamentally inefficient process, but the best way to work’), the play follows a number of characters and plotlines as they merge, dreamlike. From a sister visiting her brother in a coma, to insomniac Operetta fantasists, with accordian players and tired newlyweds scattered liberally throughout, we’re shown the impossibility of real human connecfion.
The theme of communication between people is one upon which Rothenberg and Chaikin place considerable emphasis. ‘Today, in our world of cell phones and emails, people are talking more, but saying less than ever,’ Rothenberg says. ‘We think we’re drawing ourselves closer to people around us, but instead we isolate and detach them.’
Chaikin himself suffers from aphasia, a condition that affects verbal and textual cognition, the result of a stroke suffered in 1984. ‘They say that around 80% of human communication is non-verbal, and so it’s on that kind of a level that Joe works.’
It’s a theme that affects us all, even if we don’t realise it, so we should expect to be physically moved by this production. (Gareth Davies)
I l/ave/se. 228 1401. l 24 Aug. times vary. 5‘8.:3()—--5‘M (58:50 5 ‘41.
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man who dies the day he's born. only to then act out the life he never led: a life in the post nuclear hangover surrounded by selfishness. horror and greed. Performed here lll french by lneatr'e Mega Pobec. the play rs grverr a simple but visual treatment. which along Wllll Burn Hollywood Bur/rs chaotic rnusrcal accompanrmerrt. prornrses to bring out the energy and chaos that Bond so starkly
creates in hrs text. Accepted more readily on the continent for its serious reflection of humanity. especially under such disruptive political clrrnates as we've seen recently. this rs a rare chance to catch one of hrs most br‘utar pieces of work in its native Britain. Surely we're ready for hrrn now. aren't we? llvler'er‘rd Williams; I Souths/(1e. (562 0000. 2’ ll Aug. 5). 1:3,rrrn.
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NEXT ISSUE OUT THURSDAY 8 AUGUST
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58 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE ' A . -
OUT IN THE GARDEN Secrets and lays in wedding night comedy.
Weddings are farnrly nerve-shredders at the best of trrnes. but when the groom-tobe has his first gay experience the night before his wedding. things are bound to get even trickier. This is the basis for Carolyn Scott Jeffs' play. set in present-day suburban Birmingham. and sternrnrng partly from her own nuptial experiences.
Director Caroline Hadley describes the text as ‘a cross between .Joe Orton and a naughty Alan Ayckbour‘n', but edges away from a 'gay play' label: ‘It rs about secrets being; revealed but not just that secret. l-ach character has so many skeletons in the closet which ‘corne out' during the play. It continues the move to bring gay lifestyle issues into the rnarnstrearn.‘
Brides to be bevy/are: married life can be far from straight forward. ((‘iareth Dawesl I Assembly Hoorrrs, 220 2428, :3 20 Aug. 2pm, 5‘10 5‘] H515) 5‘10).
OLEANNA
Mamet’s classic raises
contemporary debate
‘There's a more important debate at the heart of David Mamet's Oleanna.‘ says director Emma Lucia of the play that's been associated with sexism. feminism
and political correctness
for the last ten years. ‘And that debate rs about the nature of education.’
A verbal battle between a female student and her male professor. the play. which stars two prevrous Fringe First winners. Guy Masterson
‘Peopfe are talking more and saying less’
it
and Beth Fitzgerald. raises specific arguments about class. education and elitism. ‘But why should a lecturer reduce the quality of his spoken English to match a level that's more suitable for a student who's not very capable?‘ says Lucia. 'And when the government's enCOuraging people to take degree ectrrses. are we offering more opportunities or are we lowering the star idztrris’f (Mererid Williams‘l. I Assembly Rooms. 226 2428. 2—28 Aug. noon, 519—5370 (EB—5.19;.
Out in the Garden: Ayckbourn meets Orton