Marie Stope. whose brilliant
academic work left her knowing everything except what she wanted to know. She evenutally tracked down the facts oflife in the British Library Reading Room — having failed to find them after 3 years of marriage. Written and performed by Pauline Devaney. (Sally Kinnes) Colette Dame Seule Fri 14 and Sat 15 Mar. 7.30pm. Theatre Upstairs. Prices as above. Part of a special
3 weekend of French theatre
f organised in conjunction with the
i French Institute. Dominique Paquet . gives a performance (in French)
5 based on the writing of infamous
novelist Colette.
Philotus Sat 8—Sat 15 Mar. 7.45pm. Theatre Downstairs. Not Sun. £2
(5()p— students. ()AI’s. UBJi).
Equity). An Edinburgh Playwrights'
Workshop production — reading with
scripts — ofwhat seems to be the only British example ofcommedia dell‘arte. sometimes accredited to Alexander Montgomery of the sixteenth century. Rehearsals ofthe Edinburgh Playwrights‘ Workshop productions are also open to the public. See The Tropic ofSouth Kenton below.
A Fortnight in August: Playreading Sun 9 Mar. 5.30pm. £2 (5(lp). Edinburgh Playwrights' Workshop give a reading of a play by Bill Dunlop.
; The Trial oi John Bunyan: Playreading Sun 16 Mar. 5.30pm. £2 (511p).
Reading ofa play by Ron Biggs.
3 The Tropic of South Kenton: Rehearsal ; Tue l8—Fri 21 Mar. 2.30pm. 5(lp.
Open rehearsals of a production by Edinburgh Playwrights Workshop to be shown from Tue 25 in
workshop production: a play by the
intriguineg named Stornaway Duns.
Scottish Student Drama Festival As last year the Traverse presents a selection ofplays from the Scottish
1 Student Drama Festival held this
yearin Dundee. All in Upstairs Theatre. Prices as for Marie With Love (NB student standby). Wed 1‘)
not confirmed.
On the Eve Tue 18 7.30pm. Strathclyde University in Maxim Gorky‘s rarely performed classic.
If It Had Pleased God and The Rain Thurs 20 7.30pm. Two plays in the round by Edinburgh University.
Me Too Fri 21—Sun 23 7.30pm. A new musical play by Lynn Baines. presented by Kirkcaldy College. presenters of last year's Icky Yah.
TOURING
0 Please check all venues it possible - they may be subject to change after press date.
0 Beneath One Banner 7:84 Scotland in a successful production of a new play by Sean McCarthy. McCarthy‘s theme is topical in many ways. Focusing on the divisions between the Orange and the (ireen in a mid nineteenth century pit town in Midlothian. he illustrates the good old formula Divide and Rule.
When a group ofstarving Irish workers are drafted in to work the pits during a strike the employers are the first to encourage divisions between the Orange and the Green. McCarthy approaches the
seriousness of his themes with a
THEATRE. Us}-.-
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh. Pinned on the edge at the twilight world of the imagination, Tennessee
Williams‘ ‘Streetcar' is a brilliantly moving psychological drama tragedy.
Few playwrights can have understood so well how to convey the meeting of
the interior and exteriorworlds through the power oi atmosphere and the unfolding complexity of character.
From the moment Blanche Dubois arrives with her ‘reiined’ ways in the sexually satisfied but seedy domestic life of her sister Stella, the final tragedy is inevitable. Williams‘ development of it is remorseless, but shot through with a marvelloust overripe picture of life in the run-down South and compassionate understanding torthe frailty at human nature. There is no blame to be laid at the end, only a deep sadness.
This ambivalence is most beautifully achieved in the vain and complex figure of Blanche. played here by Vivian Heilbron with a degree oi strength and slender dignity that makes
: her disintegration and compulsive ' sell-destruction the more pitiful,
although she doesn‘t develop into the
full potential tragedy of the character
as she establishes her. She meets her opposition in Gerda Stevenson's mild, but unexpectedly
' passionate Stella and Bon Donnachie‘s . calloust chauvinistic but basically
vulnerable Stanley. Under Ian Wooldridge's direction they punch
home graphically the constantly shifting sympathies and mounting tension of Williams’ drama, butthis tension is dissipated in loose ends: in less than credible minor characters and insistent eiiects—flashing lights and rumbling streetcars over-emphasising the semi-symbolic nature oiWilliams' play. lt’sa production that goes a long way towards creating the power and atmosphere at the original, but in the end doesn't really iully plumb the depths. (Sarah Hemming)
lighthearted touch that keeps the play bubbling under and avoids stodgy didacticism.
In David Macl-ennan's production the touch is maintained — the slightly stereotyped characters ofn‘neteenth century melodrama (the It. colleen. the blind girl) are brought to life with exuberance and irony but not without a glimpse ofthe hardships of reality. Finlay Welsh makes a wonderfully villainous boss while Iain Mc(‘oll is funny but pitiful as the broken. alcoholic Irishman. (Sarah IIemming)
Foth and Wilson Town Miners Social ( 'lub, Foth Fri 7 Mar. 7.30pm; [.amington Hall. Lamington Sat 8 Mar. 7.3(lpm: Fairhill ( 'ii’ic ( ‘entre. Hamilton Mon ll) Mar. 7.30pm; Springit'ell House. Edinburgh Tue 1 1 Mar. 7.30pm: Philip Hall. Kirkcalin Wed 12 Mar. 7.30pm; (ilenit'ood ( 'entre. (ilenrothes Fri 14 Mar. 7.30pm; Mitchell Theatre. (ilasgoiv’l‘ue 18—Sat 22 Mar. 7.3(1pm. Tourcontinues.
0 Happy Valley New Lanark Theatre
(‘ompany in a production scripted by
Ann Swan about life in New Lanark. the mill village run by Robert ()wen two hundred years ago as a social experiment. The production. which shows life in the village as seen through the eyes of the children. is being toured round primary schools in Central Scotland (for details
phone I’hyllis Steel on 041 889 9962). I
but also has a couple of public performances. Tron Theatre. l’arnie Street.
Glasgoit' Thurs 13 Mar 8pm. ()41 552 4267: Third liye ( 'entre. .S'auchiehal/ Street. (ilasgoicSat 15 Mar 1 lam and 2pm. ()41 332 7521.
o NotAbout Heroes As Stephen MacDonald’s Fringe First Award winning play receives its first showing at the National Theatre. London. Glasgow Touring company present their touring production of the play. which focuses on the meeting between the two war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred ()wen in a hospital for nervous disorders. This production. directed by (‘hris Ravenhall. will be shown in the room in which they met — then (‘raiglockhart Hospital. now St Margaret's “all (see below).
K ilmardinny House Arts ( 'entre. Hearsden Sat 8 Mar 7.30pm. (1-11 9-13 ()312. ()rll4l 956-1752 (Milngavie Bookshop): St tlrlargaret's Hall. St
A ndrews ( 'ollege of Education. (‘raiglockhart (Originally recreation room of(‘raiglockhart IIydro). Fri 14 and Sat 15 Mar 7.30pm. ()31 228 1155(Usher Hall Box Office); Drama ( 'entre. Ingram Street. Glasgow thurs 2()—Sat 22 Mar 8pm. 0-11 552 5827.
o The Boxer Benny Lynch United Artists (Scotland). The rise and fall of Glasgow‘s champion boxer. Benny Lynch (see Review).
Tron Theatre. Parnie Street. Glasgow Until Sun 9 Mar 8pm.()-11 552 4267: Portobello Town Hall. Edinburgh Tue 1 I Mar; ('astlebrae High Scltool. ( ‘raigmillar. Edinburgh Thurs 13 Mar; Leith Community Centre. Edinburgh Fri
14 Mar. ()31 554 475i); HarbourArts Centre. Irvine Sat 15 Mar:
MacRobert Centre. Stirling Mon 17 i Mar. ()786 61081 ; Easter/louse
Festival Society. (Ilasgow’l‘ue 18 and 1 Wed 1‘) Mar. (141 771 (1693; Biggar ' Theatre Workshop Thurs 2() Mar. 089920231. Tour continues.
0 The White Bird Passes A production by Theatre Workshop. Edinburgh of Anne Downie's adaptation of the novel by Jessie Kesson which tells the tale ofeight year-old .lanie. an orphan brought up in the North East Scotland in the 192(1s.
Theatre Workshop. Edinburgh Until Sat 8 Mar 8pm. 031 226 5425; Town Hall. St Andrews Tue 1 1 Mar 8pm. (1334 74610; Dalrvmp/e Hall. Edinburgh Wed 12 Mar 7.30pm. (1346 28761 1 Aberdeen Arts ( 'entre. Aberdeen Thurs l3 and Fri 1-1 Star 7.30pm; Town Hall. lilgin Sat 15 Mar 7.45pm. (13-13 45121; Town Hall. MacduffWed 1‘) Mar 7.3(lpm. ()2612 2404; National Hotel. [)ingwall Thurs 2() Mar 8pm. 1134‘) 63726. Tourcontinues.
O Vita A delightful two-handed play by Sigrid Nielsen about the life and personality of Vita Sackwille-West — writer. horticulturalist and scandal ofsociety for her relationships with Violet Keppel and Virginia Woolf (who immortalised her in her spoof historical biography. ()rlando).
Exploring Vita‘s dual personality. Sigrid Nielsen uses the two-handed structure ofthe play to set up a dialogue: between Vita and her lovers. Vita and her past. and between the two sides of her personality. The play begins and ends with a lighthearted literary quarrel between Orlando and Vita as to their relative claims to being the real Vita — ()rlando representing her alter-ego. the impetuous. imaginative. homosexual adventuress. Vita representing the aristocratic wife. tnother and creator ofSissinghurst (iardens.
In Jules (‘ranf‘ield‘s production. Polly Wright and Barbara Robinson of Focus Theatre (Scotland) slip in and out of six characters. Barbara Robinson takes on the masculine elements in the play — ()rlando. and Harold. Vita‘s husband (her curiously successful marriage remains very much in the background here). while I’olly Wright moves with energetic versatility between V’ita herself. the impetuous Violet Keppcl and the vulnerable. brilliant and aloof Virginia Woolf.
It‘s a production that doesn't always keep the momentum going. but it provides an intriguing and often funny glimpse into both \’ita‘s idiosyncratic character and her self-absorbed. naivc but fascinating society. (Sarah I lemming)
Padgate Recreation ( 'entre. Warrington 'I'hurs 6 Mar 7.30pm; Horniman Theatre. l)idsbur_v Fri 7 2ar 7.3(lpm: Harlequins Theatre. NOI‘I/llt'lC/l Sat 8 Mar 7.45pm: Beveridge Suite. Kirkcalin 'I‘hurs 13 Mar 1pm; (TlUt‘fUl’ll ( ‘ertlrt’forthe Arts. St Andrews Fri Hand Sat 15 Mar 8pm; Tron Theatre. I’arnie Street. (ilasgow'l'uc 1 1 and Wed 12 Mar8pm. Tourcontinues.
l'hc list 7 2H.\lar11