Festival THEATRE
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HITLIST THE BEST THEATRE EVENTS
S T U O C - T T E D R U B M A L L W
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✽ Nirbhaya Striking new play inspired by the Delhi bus rape that inflamed India. See
feature, page 76. Assembly Hall, 623 3030, 3–26 Aug (not 12, 19), 4pm, £14–£16 (£13– £15). Previews 1 & 2 Aug, £10.
✽ Missing Gecko follow a woman desperate to save her soul. See preview, left.
Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 3–25 Aug (not 7, 18), times vary, £11.50–£15 (£10–£13.50). Preview 2 Aug, £8.50.
✽ Cape Wrath An intimate show performed in a minibus. Northern Stage at St
Stephen’s, 558 3047, 10–24 Aug (not 12, 19), 2pm & 3.30pm, £11 (£8). Preview 9 Aug, £8.
✽ If These Spasms Could Speak
Robert Softley’s witty look at disabled bodies. See preview, page 90. Pleasance Courtyard,
R E K L A W L L A N I
556 6550, 3–26 Aug (not 12), 5.45pm, £7–£9 (£6–£8). Previews 31 Jul–2 Aug, £6.
✽ Red Bastard A monologue somewhere between mime, stand-up and philosophy.
See feature, page 20. Assembly George Square, 623 3030, 3–26 Aug (not 7, 14), 4.40pm, £11–£13 (£10–£12). Previews 1 & 2 Aug, £7.
✽ Ciara David Harrower’s new play about Glasgow’s violent past. See preview, page
89. Traverse Theatre, 228 1404, 4–25 Aug (not 5, 12, 19), times vary, £18–£20 (£6–£15). Previews 1 & 3 Aug, £13 (£6).
✽ The Shawshank Redemption Omid Djalili stars in Stephen King’s prison drama. See feature, page 78. Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, 2–25 Aug (not 12), 4.50pm, £16 (£12). Preview 1 Aug, £15 (£11).
S T E V E U L L A T H O R N E
1–8 Aug 2013 THE LIST FESTIVAL 73
MISSING Childhood memories brought to surreal life
F or their last visit to the Fringe, Gecko reinvented Gogol’s The Overcoat as an expansive parable about how the quest for material comfort can become a deal with the devil. Missing has an original story – a woman, Lily, feels her soul being eaten away – that writer and director Amit Lahav acknowledges as coming from a personal place.
‘All Gecko’s shows tend to be inspired by my thoughts and feelings about the world,’ he says. Drawing on his family history, Lahav plunges his heroine into a mysterious world of flashbacks. ‘She is yanked back into her past to accept and rejoice in who she actually is. It becomes a sort of Alice in Wonderland journey.’ Lily discovers the magical aspects of her past, alongside memories of her parents fighting: Lahav’s visual theatre uses contemporary dancers, a ten-foot running
machine and Gecko’s unique marriage of movement and set to conjure a spectacle that embodies the serious subject. ‘The notion behind Missing is to do with identity and memory,’ he notes, ‘and how we remember the elements that make us who we are and how we have certain milestones in our childhood that signify who we are.’
Lahav has worked with many great names of physical theatre, but has carved out his own identity as a director with Gecko. Since 2002, he has tackled political issues, materialism and male desire. Missing, which delves into questions surrounding childhood and the importance of memory, demonstrates how spectacular theatre can still have profound depths. (Gareth K Vile)
Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 3−25 Aug (not 7, 18), times vary, £11.50−£15 (£10−£13.50). Preview 2 Aug, £8.50.