THEATRE LIST
Arts Council and Roger Savage , Head of Drama at Edinburgh University. Lecturer, historian, writer and journalist Owen Dudley Edwards will be in the chair.
0 SPHINGWELL HOUSE Ardmillan Terrace, Gorgie, 337 1971 Springwell Youth Project Mon 2 Nov. 7pm. Calling up all young people between the ages of 14 and 18 interested in getting involved in any aspect of theatre production and in becoming involved in Gorgie/ Dalry’s first youth theatre. The group will meet regularly, working towards putting on a show around Christmas, the theme of which will be ‘Young People at War‘, considering the fact that in 1914 young people of youth-club age could well have been fighting in the trenches. For any further information call George Williamson on 0313371971, or just go along to the meeting.
0 ST CEOILIA'S HALL Cowgate. Eighteenth Century Comic Double Bill Fri 6 & Sat 7 Nov. 7.45pm. £3.50 (£2.50) Tickets on the door. Christopher Bell is in charge of music and Bridget Biagi directs in this double bill of Restoration masque and Burlesque: The Judgement of Paris by William Congreve and Thomas Arne and The Golden Pippin by Kane O’Hara.
O THEATRE WORKSHOP 34 Hamilton Place, 226 5425. Box Office Mon-Sat 9.30am—5.30pm. Bar. Cafe. [D]. [E].
Khoros Dance Theatre Fri 30 & Sat 31 Oct. 8pm. See dance. '
Young People’s Theatre Week Mon 2-Sat 7 Nov. Theatre Workshop’s now annual week of young people‘s theatre. The theatre is given over to young theatre groups to perform and get together. This year Ralf Ralf give a workshop and there is cabaret as well.
Corruption and Masterpieces Mon 2 & Wed 4 Nov. 7.30pm. £2 (£1). Party concs of one free ticket with every ten booked. Teachers free with school groups of ten or more. Two adults can bring two children at half price. Telford College present Corruption , a specially created production about the seven deadly sins, and Tin Drum Theatre present Masterpieces, Sarah Daniels’ powerful play about pornography and media images of women. (Also being shown by a different company at the Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow — see above).
Ben Hut and It’s Your Fault We’re Here Tue 3 & Thurs 5 Nov. 7.30pm. Prices as for Corruption etc. Moving Parts Theatre Company from Wester Hailes (who have been invited to perform in the Rocktoberfest in Munich) present new angles on Ben Hur and Telford College Community Drama/Performance Course consider blame and responsibility in It’s Your Fault We’re Here, a specially devised show which asks — do you take responsibility for your own life? Just You and The Bear and The Stronger. Fri 6 & Sat 7 Nov. 7 .30pm. Prices as for Corruption etc. Four Women Theatre’s production , Just You, follows the lucky lady Ruby,
who has won a day in the ‘magazine world’, while Edinburgh Youth Theatre take on two classics: Chekhov‘s witty duel account, The Bear, and Strindberg’s The Stronger. Edinburgh Youth Theatre invite any young people (15—21 years) interested in joining them to go along to Davie Street Art Centre on Tue & Thurs, 7-10pm.
Bali Bali Workshop Fri 6 & Sat 7 Nov. 11am—4pm. £5 (£2) for two days. Book early. Ralf Ralf , alias Jonathan and Barnaby Stone, are a gifted and original pair of verbal and physical clowns who were a hit at this year‘s Edinburgh Festival. They are appearing at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh and The Third Eye Centre, Glasgow this fortnight. See separate entries. Wear loose clothing for the workshops which are about vocal and visual improvisation.
Cabaret Thurs S-Sat 7 Nov. 10pm till late in the bar. Free.
0 TRAVERSE THEATRE 1 12 West Bow, Grassmarket, 226 2633. Box Office
Tue—Sat 10am—8pm. Sun 6—10pm. Bar. Rest. Tickets also avail from the Ticket Centre, 22 Market Street. Seats from £2. Sundays all seats £2 (non—members £2.50).
Blackbeard the Pirate Until Thurs 29 Oct. 7.30pm. Day members £4.50; Econ. members £4; Full members £3.50; Student members £2. As part of the New Work, No Definition season of new work, organised jointly by the Traverse and the Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, Annie Griffin presents the first of two one—woman shows. Dressed in a black velvet dress, she tells the story of Blackbeard, the notorious 18th-century pirate, who numbered rape amongst his crimes.
Almost Persuaded Fri 30 & Sat 31 Oct. 7.30pm. Prices as for Blackbeard. In the second of her solo shows, Annie Griffin returns over and over again to country singer Tammy Wynette’s song ‘Almost Persuaded” exploring the painful truth ofthe love-life behind the words of the song. Well received am: the Edinburgh Festival. Hypochondria Tue 3—Sun 8 Nov. 7.30pm. Prices as for Blackbeard. The innovatively whacky Forkbeard Fantasy appear as part ofthe New Work, No Definition season. See Guestlist.
The Hour Tue 10—Sun 15 Nov. 7.30pm. Prices as for Blackbeard. The twosome Ralf Ralf (Jonathan and Barnaby Stone) in their inimitable and skilful blend of clowning and reconstituted language. This, their first full-length show, is also shown at the Glasgow Third Eye Centre, along with The Summit, the show they brought to the Traverse with great success at this year’s Festival. Ralf Ralf also hold workshops at Theatre Workshop. See above.
Love Sickness Tue 3 Nov. 7pm. £1 (50p). The Edinburgh Playwrights’ Workshop continue their series of weekly workshopped productions of new plays, followed by a discussion. Ann Kerr’s play concerns a girl orphaned at the age of twelve and the loveless nature of her life.
Bali Bali
HEADS YOU WIN
Bali Bali’s idiosyncractic verbal and visual clowning attracted attention during this year’s Edinburgh Festival when they preiormed ‘The Summit‘ at the Traverse Theatre. They return to the Traverse with an earlier show, ‘The Hour’, appear at the Third Eye Centre, Glasgow with both shows and give workshops at the Edinburgh Theatre Workshop (as part oi the theatre’s annual Young People’s Theatre Week) this lornight. See Listings tor details.
BLANKET POLICY
Familiar to some as a pub in Edinburgh's Royal Mile, The Blue Blanket actually stands ior rather more. ‘It was traditionally the symbol oi the cralts, put up to rouse other craltsmen in any time oi crisis,’ says Donald Smith, artistic director oi the Edinburgh’s Netherbow Arts Centre, explaining why he decided to use the symbol as the title oi his new play. To him the Blue Blanket seemed to sum up something oi the spirit that he is trying to capture.
Set in 1561 when John Knox came into his own in Edinburgh, ‘The Blue Blanket’ concerns a group at skinners’ apprentices rehearsing a mystery play. Forced out at St Giles Cathedral they retreat to Trinity College Church to rehearse- and Smith’s play is partly about the way they are creative against the odds. ‘lt’s to do with ordinary people in Edinburgh at a time oi social and religious upheaval and how some survive.’
Exploring aspects of how ordinary people hold their own against the powers-that-be, Smith hopes to weave in the changing pattern oi religious authority at the time. The choice oi play periormed by the characters is more than coincidental, then, reliecting one result at the Church‘s reaction to creativity. ‘There are no surviving nativity plays irom the Scots tradition because the Reiormalion put a stop to them,’ he explains. ‘There are no whole texts Ielt, only iragments. What we’ve tried to do is create at least an impression at what a Scottish mystery play might have been like, using those iragments and ideas irom the English mystery plays.’
Periormed by the recently lormed Old Town Theatre Company, (who produced ‘Blacklrlar’s Wynd’ at the same venue) the production builds on the company’s policy oi mounting plays about the local community periormed by people irom the local community. Donald Smith points out, however, that the connections run deeper than that. ‘The range oi social classes
‘ existence oi a well-doing working class
and a working class who have nothing (the landless in those days). It could also partly be seen as a parable about community arts today. Whoever is in power, the last people who will ever be given control oi artistic expression are ordinary people. You always have somebody, some expert or leader, stepping in to take control and you end up with competing interests oi power that ultimately take away the people’s own control at sell-expression.’ (Sarah Hemming)
The Blue Blanket is at the Netherbow Arts Centre, Edinb. See listings.
A WOMAN IN NO MAN’S LAND
The Citizens’ Theatre have a lormidable reputation ior the mastery ol their set designs and in Philip Prowse’s hands especially it is not just that they look spectacular but that the very essence of the play is made to inhabit the design.
About to take on the daunting task oi designer lor their next production, Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, Kathy Strachan, is admirably calm. ‘You lose any iear at college’. Having Ielt London’s Central School oi Art and Design two years ago she joined the Citizens’ as design assistant last year.
The play, which Kenneth Tynan has likened to a cerebral game oi cricket, (all the characters are named alter lamous turn at the century cricketeers and Pinter has a well-known passion lorthe game) has a small all-male cast. Hirst is wealthy beyond his ability to cope and the action is set in his lavish Hampstead home where he lives with two male servants. A lourth man, Spooner, enters the scene, seeking employment in the household. ‘There has never been a woman in the house and the most diliicult thing ior me was to completely deny any leeling ior the house that I would naturally have’ says Kathy. But the themes oi the play are by no means exclusive to men she adds, ‘the situation could just as easily arise with either sex.’
It will be her iirst Pinter play and she has been given an ‘absolutely iree hand’. Her design has to convey the leeling ol ‘the vast splendiierous house ol a very wealthy man who emotionally has nowhere to go and has nothing to do with all his money. It’s a world where nothing is as it seems.’ She has taken some clues irom the title at the play which ‘comes irom the iirst World War, the idea at being stuck somewhere and not being able to run irom one side to the other- making the best oi what’s in the middle.’ (Sally
- Kinnes) No Man’s Land, Cltizens’,
Glasgow. See Listings.
The List 30 Oct- 12 Nov 19