HEATRE WORKSHOP
Enjoy an exciting Autumn Programme at Scotland's best studio theatre! o TAG Theatre Co. present A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Sat 1 October, 8.00pm. TICKETS: £3.50 (£2.00)
oB/ack Theatre Clo-operative in Michael Ellis’ TEMPORARY RUPTURE
Thurs 6 - Sat 8 October, 8.00pm. £3.50 (£2.50 Students/ £1.50 U840, OAP, Disabled)
0 Gloria in LADY AUDLEY’S SECRET: a melodrama Thurs 13 - Sat 15 October, 8.00pm; £3.50 (£2.00)
All tickets available from Box Office: (031) 226 5425; 34 Hamilton Place, Edinburgh EH3 SAX.
Fancy Rappin’
by David MacLennan & Dave Anderson
directed by Alan Lyddiard
Wildcat’s 19th Anniversary Show!
PAVILION THEATRE GLASGOW
Monday 24—Saturday 29 October at 7.30pm Tickets: £3—£5 (£2.50 cone) Box Office tel: 041 332 1846
& On Tour until I 2 November For details contact Wildcat on 041 954 0000
22 'l‘lTL‘ List .1“ Sc‘pl — l3 ( )L‘l l‘).\.\
THEATRE LIST
l’lethora. Stuart Hepburn (who. among other things. does a mean impression of Mr l lappy). pianist May .\lc(‘readie and The Jazz Trio appear tonight.
Cabaret Weekend: Day Three Sun 2 ( )ct. time and tickets as above. The .la/I'l'rio are back tonight along with lain Morton. who won the ‘So You Think You're lainny‘ contest held at lidinburgh's ( iilded Balloon ’l'heatre during the lidinburgh Festival.
The Sash 2: The Funeral 'I‘hurs is Sun 3o ()ct..\'pm. £4 non-members: £3 (£1) members. A strong cast. including l’hil .\lc(‘all. l)ort)lh} Paul and Peter Mullen assembled for the premiere of l lcetor .\lac.\lillan's new comedy. the follow upto his renowned l/ti'Sm/r See l’anel. Nicholas Craig lhursot)ct.1345an l‘ree. in the bar. Joining the unstoppable flow of actors‘ books about themseb es is one from Nicholasfraig. about his illustrious career. Mr ( ‘raig. w ho bears a startling resemblance to \igel l’laner. will be talking loudl} about the same in the hilt. See ( iticsllisi.
Playreading: A Field of Blood Sat .s' ( )ct. 2.30pm. l-ree. The latest in the seriesol new pla_\s being gi\ en a reading in the bar is b} .lohn ( ‘argill 'l homson the slot} of Jesus from .ludas' point ol‘s'iew 'l‘he antidote to last lent/italiun‘.’
EDINBURGH d
I BEDLAM THEATRE Forrest Road. ll3l 23.5 (Let);
I BRUNTON THEATRE Musselburgh. no.5 3"] l.
The Wizard of Oz t‘ntil Sat 1 ()ct. 7.45pm.
L31 l £3.50). The Brunton 'l‘heatreopen
their autumn season with a new nuisical production bs (‘harles Nowosielski of a new \eision b} Robert Robertsonol the good old enchanting stor}. l:orse\ en _\ears plus.
The Diary of Anne Frank Well 5 Sat 32 ( )cl. ‘ “pm 1 l l Lffilll. l'ust night: {SSW L3). l‘ianees ( ioodr ab and Albert llackett's plat about .-\nne l~rank and the diars she w rote \\ lule hiding If] an attic from the Nazis.
I KINGS THEATRE I l.e\en Street. 32‘) lllll , Hm ( )ttice .\lon Sat lllam 8pm. Bat |ll|
The Grand Ballet of Tahiti .\lon :(iScpl Sal l ()L'l. T .‘llpin Sec l)ance.
Butterflies are Free .\lon .‘~ Sat “ ( )s‘l. Mon l'rr “Hillpui. Sat 5 k Spin. L3 L55” lue lhurs cone. groups L2 oll stallsand grand circle. .\lon is Sat mat allseats half-price. .-\ romantic comedy by l.t‘tlll;lltl ( ieishe starring l’etcr ( l'lirien lrom .Vi'lg’ll/lrllll'y
THE FUNERAL
Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Hector MacMillan‘s 1973 play The Sash centred on the conflict between Orangeman William McWilliam and his son who refuses to go on the annual Orange march and with his Catholic neighbours. Glasgow sectarianism was treated with a sacrilegious, comic touch. ‘lt raised a lot of hackles atthe time,’ says MacMillan. ‘Whatwas wonderful was how fair-minded people were that came. Staunch Orangemen sat all the way through it and complained bitterly about the terrible protrayal of the order but said that they'd enjoyed itthoroughly, the same with some Catholics.‘
Now, 18 years later he has produced a sequel. The Funeral, which opens Glasgow‘s Tron Theatre this month. ‘It seemed along enough distance to look at two of the young people and see where they had got to. It's set at Bill McWilliam's funeral and it's the reunion thattakes place there. Obviously the Orange order thing is still there because it's his funeral but it‘s not about that at all . . . one ofthe things it‘s about is hero-worship, in any sense, about coming to terms with yourself and life and what you do, rather than what‘s put into you, whether you stick with it or what.‘
At the centre of the drama is a woman, now 35, who was, in The Sash, a supporter of the Orange order, and McWilliam‘s son who returns to Glasgow to bury his father, disenchanted with his experiences in Ireland and in London. The action takes place in the same room with the coffin as its centrepiece. The play aims at comedy with a dark colour to it. ‘There’s a third play (Renovation), which would take place in the same room as well, a year later’ adds MacMillan. ‘We've put an application in for Glasgow 1990 to commission it and then show all three together in 1990.‘
MacMillan’s own Glasgow
background was, he says, very different from his characters‘. ‘I was broughtup withoutany religious conviction at all. I'm told there was one occasion where l was caught with my arms twisted in the railings refusing to go to Sunday school. I volunteered for Ireland in my National Service and found it hilarious because with my name I was accepted by the Protestants at face value; on the other hand I knew enough about the Irish thing to be able to sing all the rebel songs at the ceillidhs. lthink that‘s why itwas not too difficult to write a play that would keep both lots in theirseats.‘ MacMillan cites O’Casey, Brecht, Dario F0 and Moliere as his favourite dramatists. His translation of Bourgeois Gentilhomme (‘Noblesse
Obleedg'. in Scots) will appearatthe Lyceum next year. Humour and music in his own plays, help reach through to a wide audience.
‘I think in Scotland there’s farfoo much of a notion around that if it's not solemn it can't be serious. lthink it’s a lot of horseradish myself. I don't think life's like that atall. I like the juxtapositions that happen in life of high serious intent and slapstick fall-on-your-butt comedy.’ (James Mavor)