THEATRE LIST
0 Theatre is listed by city first, then by venue, running in alphabetical order, except for touring shows which are listed by the name of the show. Please send details not later than 10 days before publication date. Cabaret is listed separately.
GLASGOW
O CITIZENS Gorbals Street. 42‘) 0022. Box ()ffice Mon—Sat 10am—8pm. Bar. [1)].
No performances until Mayfest.
0 CUMBERNAULD THEATRE (‘umbernauld 0236 732887. Box Office Mon—Fri 10am—6pm. Sat l0am—3pm. 6-8pm perfevgs. Bar'Cafe.
Gregory's Girl Thurs 23—8211 25 Apr. 7.45pm. £2 (£1 ). (‘umbernauld Youth Theatre in their stage version of Bill Forsyth‘s excellent film about the growing pains of adolescence. Orton Double Bill Thurs 30 Apr—Sat 2 May. 7.45pm. £2 (£1). No Mean (‘ompany in a double bill of plays by the master ofsavage black comedy. Joe ()rton — The Ruffian on the Stair and The liming/tam ('amp.
0 THE DALMARNOCK CENTRE Lily Street. 556 2923.
High Places Fri 17 Apr. 7.30pm. £2.50 (£1 .50). 7:84 Scotland in their play by Tina Lamont Stewart about bad housing. See Touring.
O DRAMA CENTRE 126 Ingram Street. 0415525827.
No performances until Mayfest.
O KING'S Bath Street. Box Office Mon—Sat 12 noon—6pm. 4 bars. [D] [E] Phone Bookings. Ticket Centre. ('andleriggs. Mon—Sat 10.30am—6.30pm. 552 5961.
The Rivals Until Sat 18 Apr. 7.30pm. Sat.mat. 3pm. £5. £4. £3. Gallery Productions Ltd in their touring production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan‘s classic comedy of manners. directed by Philip Grout. Scout and Guide Gang Show Mon 20—Sat 25 Apr. 7.15pm. Satmat 2pm. £1—£3.50. ()APconcs for matinee — apply to box office. The Greater Glasgow Area Scout and Guide annual revue.
Cinderella Tue 28 Apr—Sat 2 May. 7.15pm. Sat mat 2. 15pm. £4—£2.50. Glasgow Grand ()pera in the opera by Massenel. See (‘lassical Music.
0 MITCHELL Granville Street. 221 3198. Box office Mon—Sat. 12 noon—6pm. Bar. Cafe. [D] Tickets also available from Ticket Centre. (‘andleriggs 552 5961. Mon—Sat 10.30am—6.30pm.
Grease Until Sat 18 Apr. 7.30pm. Sat mat 3pm. £3 (Sat mat); £3.50 (Tue—Sat evenings). The Apollo Players in the musical about the 50s. whose film version revealed parts of Olivia Newton-John that the (‘liff Richard show never reached. Bedroom Farce Thurs 23—Sat 25 Apr. 7.30pm. Up Stage Theatre Group in one of Alan Ayckbourn‘s popular
THEATRE
farces revolving round people‘s little indiscretions.
Brigadoon Mon 27 Apr—Sat 2 May. 7.30pm. Sat mat 2.30pm. West End Theatre in the Broadway musical in which two Americans discover a ghost village in Scotland that awakens once every hundred years. 0 PAVILION 121 Renfield Street. 332 1846. Box office Mon—Sat 10am—8pm. Bar.
SuperGran Sat 18 Apr. 10.30am. 2.30pm. 7.30pm. £5. £4. £3 (£2.50 for kids). See Kids.
Bobby Davro Mon 20—Wed 22 Apr. Mon and Tue 7.30pm; Wed 6.45 and 9pm. £5.50. £4.50. The popular TV comic.
Forever Elvis Mon 27 Apr—Sat 2 May.
REVIEW. WALLACE
Traverse, Edinburgh and Touring. Patrick Evans’ Wallace is popular theatre designed to tour. The title does its own publicity, at once encouraging comparison with Sydney Goodsir Smith’s great, ilseldom well performed ‘The Wallace’, and promising stirring tales from Scotland’s past.
Theatre Co-Operative’s set consists of nothing more than canvases hung unframed, adorned with abstract splatterings of colour. Although contributing minimally to what is going on, they are inoffensive when fit from the front. When lit from the back at the end of the play they reveal silhouettes of hanging men and other scenes of ‘horror’, hardly more horriting or more pleasing than the average Royal Mile pub sign.
The actors dress in easy-care grubby present day. The performances are clearly defined but much more is shouted than is remotely justified and the effect on the vocal cords of some of the actors was already evident. Mark Smith‘s Edward I is possibly the most ambitious of the performances and goes some way to creating interesting and unexpected sides to the character; David Callacher manages to convey Wallace's charisma but as yet is a little short on insights on the man.
Everything in the writing is geared to pace and comprehension. No bad thing anyway and certainly no bad thing fora touring show although consequently their are some rather unsubtle introductions and elucidations. References to Shakespeare’s tragedies are thrown in for the sake of gravitas.
The play is at its best when it is telling the history or inventing mockineg
funny dialogues forthe less attractve histrical figures. When ittries to deal with either historical orcontemporary philosophical issues little real progress is made beyond possibly justifiable digs at the English
7.30pm. £4. £3.50. £3. Mon all seats £2. To mark the tenth anniversary of the King's death. Barry White‘s biographical musical is touring Britain.
0 THEATRE ROYAL Hope Street. 331 1234. Box office Mon-Sat 10am—6pm (7.30pm on perfevgs). Bar. Buffet.
The Canterbury Tales Parts I and Il Mon 13—Sat l8 Apr(not Fri 17). Part 1: Mon 13 7.15pm. Wed 15 7.15pm. Sat 18 2. 15pm. Part 11:Tue l4
7. 15pm. Thurs 16 7. 15pm, Sat 18 7.15pm. £2—£6. Concs(except Sat eve): OAPs. Children. UB40s. students. wheelchair users. half price; parties of 15 or more £1 off: standby rate for conc categories (except wheelchair users) £2 from 5pm. Special offers: 10% offtickets booked for both plays; Easter Saturday special £2 off; The New Vic Theatre Co who toured to Edinburgh last year with their anarchic version of The Last oft/re Mohicans. in a high energy adaptation of Chaucer‘s Canterbury Tales by Phil Woods and Michael
goverment, which hint at contemporary parallels.
Wallace has plenty to keep an audience entertained and the sense of a team relishing the experience. Catch it on four somewhere, with your defences down and look out for the next production from this company or the next piece by Patrick Evans; if it benefits from the experience of this show it could be a winner. (Nigel Billen)
KISS ME KATE
Royal Shakespeare Company, Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Run finished. While down South the RSC was again coming under fire, this time from Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington for the standard of their ‘straight’ Shakespearian acting, Glasgow's Theatre Royal packed out forAdrian Noble’s effortless, sophisticated production of Cote Porter’s Kiss Me Kate.
Atthe centre of Porter’s musical — cannily constructed so that events backstage during a production of Shakespeare’s Taming Of The Shrew mirrorthe play itself— is Kate/Lilli, the ‘shrew’ in question and threatening to walk off the production because of the divided attentions of Fred, her ex-husband and stage opposite. The
Bogdanov. Part 1 includes The Pardoner‘s'l'ale. The Nun's Priest's Tale. the Franklyn's Tale. the Merchant‘s Tale and The Reeve‘s Tale. Part 11 includes'l‘he Prologue. The Knight's Tale. The Reeve's Tale. The Wife of Bath's Tale. The Cook's Tale and The Miller‘s Tale. 0 THIRD EYE CENTRE 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521.
Wallace — Guardian of Scotland Wed 22 —Sat 25 Apr. 7.30pm. £3 (£2). Theatre (‘o-()perative in their touring production of a new play by Patrick Evans that takes a fresh look at Scotland’s outlaw hero. See Review.
0 TRON THEATRE 63 Trongate. 552 4267 8. Box ()ffice Tue—Sat Noon—8pm: Sun 12.30—8pm. ('afe'Rest. Bar'l'ue—Thurs
Noon—1 1pm; Fri and Sat Noon—midnight: Sun 12.30—11pm. Request Programme L'ntil Sun 26 Apr. 8pm. £4 non—members: £3 members (ofTron or Traverse Theatres); £1 Students. disabled. ()APs. UB40s and under 21s (members). Eileen Nicholas in her
David Callacher as William Wallace
latter makes use of a pair of stray gangsters to persuade her otherwise and bring her (and ironically himself) to heel. Nicola McAuliffe holds the stage with her presence and a wonderful voice that seems to come from her soles when she sings ‘I Hate Men’ —to the obvious delight of most of the female half of the audience. Generally though the production feels like a nicely-turned out sherry trifle: enjoyable, intoxicating in places, rather bland in others. While the staging is immaculate and the choreography beautifully executed, this is rather refined, restrained razzle-dazzle, missing something of the gaudy glitziness and vulgar energy of Broadway. Far more could have been made of the encounter between Paul Jones’ rather stolid Fred and Barry Linehan’s uninspired sleepy senator, Harrison Howell. But equally the production contains some real gems: Tim Flavin's spectacular dancing produces fireworks that leave everyone completely dazzled, while Emil Volk and John Bardon make a pair of totally endearing gangsters, doing a wonderful double-act on ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare' — a message with which Michael Billington would doubtless concur! (Sarah Hemming)
The List 17 — 30 April 17