THEATRE LIST
Winged Wham...
CHANGED
D AYS
MEMORIES OF AN EDINBURGH COMMUNITY
by Alan Spence
The fascinating story of the community at the heart of Edinburgh, from the clearances of the 19305 and 1950s to the present day.
For audiences of all ages 14 years and upwards.
NETHEBBDW ARTS CENTRE Monday 7—Saturday 19 November at 7.30pm Matinees each Wednesday and Saturday at 3pm Tickets: £3 (£2)
Special party booking discount Box Office: 031 556 9579
For further information contact Winged Horse on 031 226 3520
Like I
THEATRE CUM‘PANY
THE WARLD’S WONDER
16 Nov—3 Dec at 7.45pm
A Scottish comedy by Alexander Reid
Full Price £4 Concessionary Price: £2.50
FRANKIE MacSTElN -
the Panto 7 Dec 1988—7 Jan 1989 by David Swan —a smashing newfamily show
TICKETS ON SALE NOW Full details from Box Office
We accept payment by ACCESS or VISA
Box Office 031 665 2240 L J
I Theatre is listed by city first. then by venue, running in alphabetical order. Cabaret and touring shows are listed separately under the relevant heading. KEY: [D] facilities forthe disabled. [E] facilities forthe hard of hearing. usually an induction loop system. For prices, price in brackets eg (£1 .50) is the concessionary price. Long running shows. unless specified otherwise, do not run on Sundays.
GLASGOW .
I ClTlZENS' THEATRE (iorlials Strch . 42‘) 0022. Box ()ll‘icc Mon Sat lllam~8pm. Bar. [I)|.
Phedra I‘ri 28 Oct Sat I2 Nox- 7.30pm. £3
THEATRE
(£1). Racinc’s classical tragcd} in Philip I’rtm sc's production rc-dircctcd for thc studio snacc Scc Rcs ic\\.
I anwruno THEATREJortIanhill ('ollcgc. (ilasgon tl-ll 0503-13" 3438. Skint Video and Mark Miwurdz l-‘ri IS .\'m. Spm. £3.51). Scc(‘al1arcl.
I CUMBERNAULD THEATRE ( ‘umlicrnaultl.
“236 732t’h'7. Box ()l'l’icc Mon-Iii Itiam—(ipm; Sat Illam 3pm: (>- Spm pcrl. cvgs Bar ('alc.
The Threepenny Opera 'l'hurs Ill-Sat I: .\'o\.7.-15pm. £2.Sll(£l.25)(‘umhcrnaultl Youth 'I‘hcatrc in a ncu x'crsion that updatcs thc Brccht Wcill ‘l‘icggar'sopcra' toourtimcs.
BOXING CLEVER Two years ago, at the age of fifty-five, Peter Murray was made redundant. It is a familiar story in Scotland - less familiar, though, is what happened next.‘l decided to change my life-style completely,‘ he explains. ‘So I started going to writing classes.‘
At one writing class he met Anne Marie Di Mambro, a founder member ofAnnexe Theatre Company. She spotted in Murray‘s writing a natural bent for dialogue — ‘I suppose I‘ve yapped away all my life‘, he says, laughing, —and encouraged him to try and write for stage. One result is ‘Boothies’, being staged by Annexe at the Traverse Theatre this week, set in a 19405‘ touring boxing booth.
Murray‘s ‘gift with the gab‘ and evident relish for change have clearly stood him in good stead in the past— he has worked, amongst others, as a union convenor in an engineering factory, at Ravenscraig and in a dance band, meeting a wealth of characters, who he now feels may provide inspiration for future plays. ‘Boothies‘ came, in part, from conversations with some of his wife’s family, who were involved themselves in the old boxing booths— little exists in the way of written documentation about the boxing-booth circuit.
‘Boxing then was unlicensed,‘
Paul llolan in Boothles
explains Murray, whose play follows the path of a young hopeful, who gets involved in boxing hoping to make his fortune, and has his eyes opened. ‘It shows the exploitation and brutality that went on,‘ says Murray.
Though the play is a comedy, it will, hopes Murray, offersome insight into life at the time. It is set in Northern Scotland in 1947, the year before the booths were ruled out. ‘lt’s the end of an era, in a way. I rememberwell the austerity years, afterthe war. The only entertainment that working class people had was football, dog-racing and boxing — in the fifties new forms of entertainmentappeared, like the television and social clubs, and people had a bit more money and could buy a suit of clothes and go to the dancing. I suppose it’s a wee bit of social history that has been neglected.’ (S.H.)
PIONEERING POETRY
‘I think it is a genuinely revolutionary play in English,’ says Andrew Pulver, explaining why he is co-directing w.H. Auden's ‘Paid on Both Sides‘ at the Bedlam Theatre.
Auden‘s first play is not well known and is rarely performed. ‘It was written in 1929, when Auden was becoming socially committed,‘ explains Pulver. ‘The “first play-ness' of it lies in the fact that it is full of the very idiosyncratic poetry that he was working with at the time -which is quite difficult to come to terms with.
‘The play is intended to express this arcane theory about liberating your own impulses. lttakes the form of a
gangster melodrama — but the centre of the play is a sort of dream-like scene which is very complex.‘
In a sense, however, the difficulties of the play are also the delights for a director, offering plenty of freedom of direction. ‘We have imposed gangster form on it,‘ explains Pulver. ‘We‘ve used film noirstyle and included blues and trad jazz.‘ And it also permits some salient freedom of interpretation. ‘It can work as an allegory of the disillusionment that he experienced during the Thirties—which seems relevant to now.‘ (S.H.)
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The Jungle Book 'I'hurs 24 Nov—Sat 3 I Dcc. various timcs and priccs - plcasc chcck
\\ llll thcatrc l'or dctails. (‘umhcrnaultl 'l'hcatrc (‘ompany look to Rutl} artl Kipling's famous talcsof Mowgli. Baloo and Baghccra for thcir ('hristmasshtm this _\car. ilLlinlCLl for stagc h} Rohcrt Robson.
I DRAMA CENTRE 12h Ingram Strcct . 552 58.“.
Blood Relations \Vctls lo- Sat l‘) .\‘m. 7.3llpm. .lohn Strcct 'I‘hcatrc in a pla} l1} ('anadian \\ ritci‘ Sharon l’ollock c\amining thc pros and cons of thc sltil‘\ of I.i//ic Boi'tlcn. .\Iassacliusctls . \L‘liooltcachcr acquittctl h} thc law of “WI”?! hs‘l' \lcpmothcr and l'athcr to tIcath. condcmncd h} hcr ncighhours.
I DRAMA STUDIO \Vcst ()uadranglc. L'lll\L‘l'\ll} Ul (iltlsgtns.
The Tryst l 'nlil Sat I: \m . Spin. ( ilasgow I 'nn crsit} 'I'hcatrc ( iroup in (‘olm Mortimcr's pla} about lhc lorhitltlcn I‘clalionship lictuccn a iounglcxi iin woman and an SS ollicct' in llic l’tillsh laliour camp. l’las/ou.
New \Vctls If) Sal l‘) Ni“ . '7__‘s(lpm. .'\ L'UllL‘CIlUlI ol nc\\ p|;i_\ s, prcscmcd Ii} (ilasgou I'nixcrsits 'I'hcatrc(iroup: li’ctm/u until/1c l‘.(II'HI(lIl, sci at ,1 part} , h} DCN‘IL‘ \IL‘lllllL'\; RUNIIU'NIll/h ()Il I/tt'lt’ff. llll‘ l‘} (‘hl‘islophcr l)L‘;llls. in uhich lulll‘isl-gtlitlc Nanci ollcrs atl\ icc on cxcrything and any thing and I,()l't’. a ncu play In llartlccp Kohli.
I GLASGOW ARTS CENTRE I2 Washington Sti'ccl. Ill 45%.
.\'o thcatt'c pcrf'ormanccs until I)cccnihci. I GLASGOW UNIVERSITY THEATRE GROUP (MS I Iillhcad Strccl.
Table Manners \Vcds If» Sat I‘)\o\. “’Sllpm. (ilasgou l'ni\crsit} lhcatrc (iroup in Alan .-\_\cl\liourn’s popular L‘tiltlctl} til ltlltltllc-class manncrs.
I KINGS THEATRE Bath Strcct. lim ()fticc. .\Ion Sat noon (1pm. 4 liars. [1)]. [h]. l’honc bookings. 'I‘ickclfcntrc. (‘antllcrigngIon Sat Ill..‘~(l;im ofillpiii. (Ml 2275511.
The New Moon Mon " Sat I: .\'o\ .73”pm. Sat mat 3pm. £1 £45“. (ilasgovi light ()pcra (‘lulx
Billy Connolly‘l’ucs IS Sat I‘lNoLSpm. £5 £95“. S( )l.l) ( )I "I. hut rcturns possihlc. Scc ('aliarct.
I MITCHELL THEATRE(iramillcSlt‘cct. III 31%. Box ( )ll'icc Mon Sat noon fipni. Bar. (‘alc |I)|. 'l'ickcls ttlStithllltll‘lL‘ from thc 'l'ickct ('cntic. ( ~ainllci iggs. 327 551 l Mon Sat Ill..‘~llain (ifsllpni.
Guys and DDllSIucs l5 Sat l‘).\'o\. ".Sllpni. Sat mat 3.3Hpm. £4 ( £3). lhc popular musical pi‘cscntcd l1} thc aptl} namcd ( ilasgou amatcur group ( iu}santl (ials.
DucanterofCultureland'l'ucs33 Sailn .\'o\ . 7,3llpm. Sat mat 2.3llpm. £3 ( £2). Mitchcll 'I‘hcatrc for Youth in a soap opcra spool sci in (ilasgou and pcnncd Ii} thc ( icncral Managcr of thc Kings 'l'hcatrc. Bill) I)illcr.
I PAISLEY ARTS CENTRE Ncu Sti'cct. l’aislcy. SST llllll. BoxUlliccopcn Tuc-Sun noon-S. 30pm. liar ( ( )pcn
noon-I Ipm'l‘uc-Sat: l:..‘~ll-2..‘~llpmt& fi.3(l-l 1pm Sun. .\Icalsscr\ L'tll. ('alc (()pcn noon-l lpm). [1)].
Bedroom Farce \Vcd‘) Hi I l .\'m .73upm. £3 (£1 ). St John's Drama ( 'luh in Alan Ayckhourn's populal larcc of motlcrn iUlLlLllC-L‘litSS morals (and thcir ahscncc ).
A Midsummer Night‘s Dream Sat 12 \m. Spin. £4 ( £2 ). 'I'.-\( i 'I'hcatrc ( ‘ompans in a liright. intclligcnt production of Shakcspcarc's magical comctl} about |o\ c and inisuntlcrstantIing. NotAbout Heroes Sat 1‘) .\'m . .s'pm. £4(£2 i. I lcrocs 'l‘hcatrc ( 'ompan} in Stcphcn MacDonald‘s tmi-handcrdramatisingthc mccting licmccn war pocts Sicglrictl Sassoon and \N'ilfrctl ()“cn in ('raiglockhart llospital. 'l'hc hospital has no“ hccomc Napicr (‘ollcgc. and thcrc is also a vcrsion of thc pla} hcingpcrlormcd thcrc Scc chlt)“ . Itdinhurgh.