Theatre
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ChemicalRomance
David Pollock talks to the performers of Borderline and Ecstasy, two shows that are trying to pull off the difficult trick of recreating clubbing onstage
s an experience that thrives on the spontaneity
of the moment. and. often. sortie kind of altered
state of consciousness. clubbing is a difficult
subject to translate into drama. Since the mid-90s. the
much-trumpeted drug movie or novel has largely
resulted in disappointment. As brightly coloured and
action packed as these works are. they just can‘t do justice to the clubbing experience.
Theatre. on the other hand. has much more potential
to recreate the nightclub atmosphere. The audience are
actually there. sometimes in large numbers. which A raises IllC llkCllll()()(l (if 11 FOR LOVE'
Two shows attempting to
get it right this year are
more immediate and unpredictable spectacle. Borderline. billed as a ‘()m' I’lmr ()l'(’l' the ('m-koo's
Nest for the ecstasy generation‘. and an adaptation of
Irvine Welsh‘s Ecstasy. specifically the final story in the collection. ‘The Umlefeated'.
‘I think these settings just add the sense of heightened reality that you see in films like Trainspotting and (Justin Kerrigan‘s 199‘) Brit-caper) Human 'I‘rtrf'fir'.’
says Border/inc writer/performer Rob Benson. 'A lot of
the younger generation don’t understand or relate to theatre. but they know all about this lifestyle. and when they see it on stage and hear it in their language they think. “Theatre can be accessible to me". It‘s not about needing a degree to go and watch a play. it‘s about touching that place in people's hearts where they understand what you mean.‘
Both Benson and Maddy Lewis. the director of
Iz't'staxy. lapse into the vaguely hippyish tones of a certain generation of club-goer at various points. ‘I
62 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 'il .llll I Add QW’W,
don‘t want people to think my whole point is that going to clubs and taking ecstasy is great. even though that can be perceived in the play in certain ways.’ says Lewis. ‘But the story‘s not actually about taking drugs. it's about love. licstasy is a metaphor for love.‘
Welsh‘s original story of a woman stifled in a loveless marriage and an ageing clubber linding love »- bears this out completely. Border/inc. meanwhile. attempts to examine the pitfalls of reckless hedonism. albeit in a realistic. informed. un-preachy manner.
‘The play is set in a club. but it’s about so many other things which feed into wider society.’ says Benson. ‘Taking pills might be fun. but why else do people do it'.’ What was happening in society through the 90s that there was such an explosion in drug use'.” And then. of course. there are the less glamorous effects of drug- taking. ‘l‘ve known friends who experienced depression. drug psychosis and even ended tip being committed after using drugs. There‘s a whole generation who are experiencing a comedown now. So. B!)l'(/(‘I'/flt(‘ is one man‘s experience of this.’
Lewis tells a similar kind of story about her lead character. Lloyd. ‘l le‘s a man who has to go out to enjoy himself. whose day-to-day life is meaningless] she says. ‘lle‘s not fulfilling anything within himself. although he thinks he is by taking drugs as a release. and. eventually. he starts to mature by looking for something deeper. So lit-stun is about maturity. about people making choices which take them on different paths.‘
Borderline, Underbelly, 0844 545 8252, 2-24 Aug, 9pm, 29-1210 (£8429). Previews 31 Jul & 1 Aug, 26; Ecstasy, Underbelly’s Baby Belly, 2-12 Aug, 1.05pm, £8.50—E9.50 (27.50-28.50). Previews 31 Jul & 1 Aug, £6.
ATTACK MODE
E",
As a revival of Finished With Engines hits the Fringe, Scottish playwright Alan McKendrick tells Kirstin lnnes about his fertile collaboration with members of New York’s Riot Group
Stephanie Viola and Drew Friedman, draped sleepily about a rehearsal room, don't look much like wisecracking sailors with the power to blow up the world. It might be the jet lag. The New York-based actors, best known as founder members of the multi award-winning Riot Group, have just flown back to Scotland to revive Finished With Engines. a sharply—written. critically acclaimed two-hander set on a floating nuclear platform, which debuted at the Arches in 2006. the result of a commission which put Friedman and Viola together with Scottish playwright and director Alan McKendrick.
‘I think the Arches put us together because they know we've got similar interests — in making politically-inflected work with a heightened use of language.‘ says McKendrick. ‘I turned up to the first rehearsal with the first two scenes down, but Drew and Steph‘s approach — actually. 'attack' would be more appropriate — to the work greatly influenced my writing. The piece evolved naturally from the personnel involved.’
McKendrick welcomes the chance to revisit the production for the Traverse Fringe programme.
‘Something I want to try and make clearer this time around is the overarching idea behind the piece. Between 1945 and about 1999. people’s fears of annihilation were collective and connected to nuclear threat. Round about the turn of the century that changed. That localised terrorism could topple all the world's nuclear weapons from that list of anxieties is a radical and frightening shift. and one that goes largely unremarked upon.‘
That said, Finished With Engines
is a comedy. 'ln tackling subjects as huge as this, you're on a hiding to nothing without a healthy, necessary dose of gallows humour. The kind of humour that only comes from almost total incomprehension of the size of the subject. It's funny cos it's true!’ I Finished With Engines, Traverse Theatre, 228 7404, 1—10 Aug (not 4), times vary, 874-276 (Eta-£71). Preview 37 Ju/, £70 (£5).