THEATRE LIST
' The story's appeal, despite his denial,
. from bookshop on perf cng). [W [H
McGrotty and Ludmilla Until Sun 20
I O CHURCH HILL THEATRE 1 Morningside Road. Tel: 447 7597.
Bedroom Farce Until Sat 5 Apr.
HEAVENLY BODIES
Alicianados ot Rupert Murdoch's most 2 inventive organ may be disappointed — but one certainty about Britain’s least predictable comedian is that he will not 3 be tucking into live hamster i sandwiches when he appears at the , Edinburgh Playhouse (Sat 5 Apr).
That is despite The Sun's front page story last month, headlined FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTEB, in which a model claimed he had done just that.
was that almost anything is believable about a man who admits he once threw a TV set through a window because he thought the girl from The Exorcist was atterhim.
For a few years his wild behaviour brought on by a combination of hypermania and an addiction to valium made him too hot iorTV or Stage to handle. Now at forty, he is undergoing rehabilitation, courtesy ot Terry W093". Eamon" A"(Wills and his 0*" 1 Sandwich. That is it you believe The hilarious one-man show. lt'sjust ? Sun. (David Wastall).
o THIRD EYE CENTRE 350 Sauchiehall hm viticu- ‘I‘hc Snimm Per at
Street. 332 7521. Box office Tue—Sat musical set in 19th century Hungary
10am-5.30pm. Sun 2—5pm. (Tickets about a village girl who returns home
claiming she has become a famous
actress.
O KINGS 2 Leven Street. 229 1201.
Box office Mon—Sat 10am—8pm.
Bar. Rest. [D]
The Real Thing Until Sat 5 Apr.
7.30pm. Sat mat 2.30pm. £5.50—£4.
Students. ()APs and UB40s half
price Tue. Weds. Thurs. Disabled
; half price all perfs. All seats half
1 price Mon and Sat mat.
Christopher Timothy from All
Creatures Great and Small stars in
this production toured by Mark
Furness and Michael Codron of
intellectual gymnast Tom Stoppard's
2 comedy.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Tue
l 8—Sat 12 Apr. 8pm. Thurs, Fri. Sat
mats at 5pm also. £7—£4. Cones for
OAP. UB40. disabled. children. parties — please check. A much lauded high energy stage production of the classic MGM film musical. featuring old faves like ‘Bless Your Beautiful llide'; Roni Page plays Milly and Steve Devereux is Adam Pontipee. An Evening With Victoria Wood Sun 13 Apr. 7.30pm. £6.50—£4.50. An evening of wit and wisecracks from the funny lady (see Feature). Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tue 15—Sat 19 Apr. 7pm. Wed. Thurs. Fri and Sat mat 2pm. Adult £4.50. Child £3. ()AP (mats only) £2.75. School parties £2.50 per child. The inimitable Roald Dahl‘s highly
I possible he will bring The Sun‘s peace : offering with him to Edinburgh. It was a hamster. . .and he has called it
Vita Thurs 3 & Fri 4 Apr. 7.30pm. £2.50 (£2). Focus Theatre (Scotland)'s touring production of Sigrid Nielsen‘s play about Vita Sackville—West (Sec Touring). Thursday 3rd‘s performance is a charity performance: all proceeds to go to ‘Feed the World‘ charity.
The White Bird Passes Thurs Iii—Sat 12 Apr. 7.30pm. £2.50 (£2). Theatre Workshop (Edinburgh) Company in Anne Downie’s stage adaptation of the novel by Jessie Kesson (see Touring).
0 TRON 38 Pamie Street. 552 4267 :‘8. Box office Tues—Sat. Noon—10pm. Bar with food.
Apr. 8pm. Members £2.50. Non-members £3.50. Cones. £1 off. Premiere of a new play by Alasdair Gray. author of the highly-acclaimed novels ‘Lanark‘ and "The Fall of Kelvin Walker'. See Review.
EDINBURGH . . . '
O ADAM HOUSE Chambers Street. The Browning Version Thurs 3 and Fri 4 Apr. 8pm. £1.50 (£1 ). Tickets available Edinburgh University Settlement. Lazy Eye Theatre Company in Terence Rattigan‘s famous drama set in a public school. in which a Classics master comes to terms with the inadequacies of his life. thanks to an unexpected act of kindness from one of his pupils. A perhaps dated. but highly enjoyable _ moral tale. in Willy Wonka‘s chocolate factory. presented by Armand Gerrard Management in association with the Nuffield Theatre. Southampton. directed by Kim Grant. Children of all ages bring plenty ofchocolate.
O LADYWOOD LEISURE CENTRE Penicuik.
The White Bird Passes Sat 5 Apr. 7.30pm. Tickets tel: 71 78473 or 031 225 7942. Theatre Workshop
(Edinburgh) in their touring
Tickets usually available from Cruickshanks opp the Theatre.
7.30pm. Tickets £2 from Usher l lall box office and Cruickshanks. Davidsons Mains Dramatic Club in Alan Ayckbourn‘s comedy.
Magyar Melody Mon 7—Sat 12 Apr. 7.30pm. Tickets £2 from Usher Hall
; a quiet exploration of a failing relationship; A Phoenix Too
. which a young widow and her maid
the changes that mechanisation and an '
successful tale of Charlie‘s escapades
years at the American Mid-West.
ideas of meeting a melodramatic death and Allergy by C. P. Taylor which brings three people face to
face with the relative strengths of their political beliefs and sexual urges.
Aida oi Leningrad Wed 16—381 19 Apr. 8pm. £2 (£1). Wholemeal Theatre Company in a play by Jenny Robertson about Aida Skripnikova who began her ‘subversive‘ activities at the age of 14. when she wrote a letter defending Boris Pasternak to Pravda.
2 O PLAYHOUSE 18/22 Greenside
' Place. 557 2590. Box office Mon—Sat
l0am—6pm. Bar.
Freddie Star Sat 5 Apr. 8pm. £6. £5.
Anarchic humour from the
comedian (see panel).
Boy Chubby Brown Fri 11 Apr. 8pm. £4. A one night appearance from the Lancashire comedian. Not suitable
: for children.
Doris Collins Thurs 17 Apr. 7.30pm.
' £4. The clairvoyant woman ofspirit demonstrates her unusual talents.
; 0 ROYAL LYCEUM Grindlay Street,
2299697. Box office Mon—Sat
: 10am—6pm. 10am—8pm on perfevgs.
; Bar. Rest. [D][E]
; MrGovernment Until Sat 12 Apr.
i 7.45pm. £2—£5. Theatresaver
.~ holders£l off. Sat mat 5 Apr. After show discussion Mon 24 Mar. A new play by Stuart Paterson focusing on what happens when war veteran
. Jake returns to his native community
' in Ayrshire (see Review).
The Beggar’s Opera or Peachum’s Poorhouse Thurs 17 Apr—Sat 10 May. 7.45pm. Prices as above. Free
_ preview Thurs 17. A new updated
production ofAnne Downie’s adaptation of the novel by Jessie Kesson (see Touring).
O LYCEUM STUDIO Grindlay Street. 229 9697. Bar.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North Wed 16—Sat 19 Apr. 7.30pm. £2 (£1.80). Edinburgh Youth Theatre, a group of 14—21 year-olds drawn from all over Lothian Region. in Edward Bond’s play based on cruelty in mediaeval Japan.
0 NETHERBOW 43 High Street. 556 9579. Box office Mon—Sat 10am—4pm. 7—9pm perf. evgs. Cafe[E] Edinburgh Puppet Festival Until Sat 5 Apr. 10am. 11.30am. 1pm. 2.30pm. 4pm. 7pm. Tickets from 75p. The annual Edinburgh Puppet Festival offers a huge range of puppet shows in all shapes and sizes. brought by groups such as The Black Box Puppet Theatre. The Handy Works Puppet Company. Purves Puppets. Pandemonium Puppets and The Edinburgh Puppet Company. There are also daily workshops in the art of using all sorts of puppets- rod, string and glove (for details contact theatre). Performances are for all ages. but for fully detailed listings please turn to Kids section where productions are listed in full. Nymphs and Shepherds Wed 9—Sat 12 Apr. 7.30pm. £2.50 (£1 .50). A triple bill from Open Theatre comprising of La Musica. by Marguerite Muras.
Frequent by Christopher Fry. in
are strangely diverted from their
f (E ‘: a .
.3»
MR oovrs
em
\‘é 44/104,
1.,
: incompatible with the world around
3 him. Returning lrom sixteen years in f the wilderness lollowing the traumas ot the First World War he seems to regain his strength amidst his brother's family. But it is a parasitic strength - , systematically he destroys his ‘ brother's marriage and turns the ; business into a monster. Their destruction turns out to be his own. Complete with illegitimate ‘datt' son (Jake's) and its earth mother ' representing torgotten values, there is a tendency to melodrama in Paterson’s play which this main stage production cannot hide. Nevertheless, there is some tine writing amongst a hit or miss use ol local dialect. One cannot help leeling, however laudable the ; Lyceum’s policy at staging new works
is? Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Mr Government, set in thirties Ayrshire could have been set in the Depression
This is a rural community lacing up to
entrepreneurial spirit are making to traditional ways of lite. Like Steinbeck's characters, they suffer lromleelings otalienation. Helen Reid, the young wife from the ‘city', keeps asking about the city within people. It‘s a nice pertormance (by Caroline Paterson) of a woman clinging on desperately to a way ot lite she can understand no better than her present one. Her husband, honest hard-working Bobby, knows enough to realise that the future lies in a garage business but is innocently unaware of the roller-coasting dangers that await i island iliSMhiS Plait "light haVe his enterprise. Jake, his elder brother, i worked better scaled down on a is ‘strong’ but it is a strength ; smaller stage. (Nigel Billen)
l'ltc i.l\l 4 17 April 9