DIARY
CABARET/ COMEDY
I The Funny Farm Chandler Studio, RSAMD. 9pm. £4 (£2). This evening's line-up from Scotland‘s very own comedy collective features Stu Who, Bon's Vesta, Gordon Robertson, Parrot and Bruce Morton. There is also a guest spot from Bad And Crazy.
I Lily Savage and Pauline DBIIIBIS Renfrew Ferry. 6pm. £5 (£2.50). Savage prides herself on heckler put-downs, which is just as well with a haircut like hers, while Daniels will be pitting her Scouse repartee against the local patter.
I Jeremy iierdy Mitchell Theatre. 10pm. £5 (£2.50). Full of life and improvisational energy , Hardy went down a storm at last year‘s Edinburgh Festival when he romped home with the Perrier Award. Here he is billed as the Southern contribution to The Englishman, ln’shmen and Scotsman session taking place over the next three weekends.
I The Alexander Sisters with Clea & McLeod Tron Theatre. 11.15pm.
£1 .50/£2.50 (no concs). Clea & McLeod perform their topical songs to the accompaniment of a double bass, to warm us up for Alma and Morag‘s debunking ofall things twee and Scottish.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
I Spring Concert Glasgow Cathedral. 7.30pm. £4 (£2). Glasgow Cathedral Choral Society with the City ofGlasgow Symphony Orchestra.
DANCE
I Dli'ilBIS—UIIII The Robin Anderson Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£2.50). Paulene Daniels. a dancer from the Netherlands, joins forces with American cellist Frances Marie-Uitti in a new work receiving its British
F
RIDAY 5
premiere at Mayfest. Daniels, who performed in Scotland two years ago in Edinburgh's Focus on Dance, is known for her physical strength of almost body-building proportions.
FILM
I lied Sorghum Glasgow Film Theatre. 3.30pm, 6.30pm, 8.45pm. Brilliant directorial debut by former cameraman Xhang Yimou. A saga of 19305‘ rural life rich in simple joie de vivre, but demonstrating a quite breathtaking control of colour and imagery.
LITERARY EVENTS
I Lemn Sissy and
BROADENING HDRIZDNS
Scottish culture seems to have always run along two well wom channels, with few tributaries. The ltailyard school. sentimentalisaiion oi lite in the Scottish lowlands. end the cult oithe popular mythic hero. starring all sorts irom Martin the Warrior Poet. to Bonny Prince Charlie to John lAcLean. A wave at diverse and dextrous writers has helped to tree Scottish literature from these dismissive generic labels; hicllvenney. Morgan. hic Calg. Grey. Lochhead and itelman. among others. I put it to David lieyman that Scottish theatre, in which he now plays a blggerpart than ever with his recent appointment as Artistic Director oi 7:84. ls lagging behind. Whilst he might be a well-intentloned political animal, does he not feel that Scottish theatre sometimes sinks into iaclle poiemicism?
‘Oh yes. there's nothing
worse than a boring
political diatribe. But 7:84 is seeking to really widen
the spectrum. olreierence. the parameters oi polltlcal theatre. What we want to do
utvrrsr
DAY BY AY
ARY
Beniemin Zephaniah Third Eye Centre. 10.30pm. £5 (£2.50). The ‘dub‘ poetry of Sissy and Zephaniah has to be heard, not read. Rich rhythms make for people’s poetry of the best kind.
MUSIC
I That Swing Thang Renfrew Ferry. Midnight. £5 (£2.50). Crooning and swing band sounds from the popular Thang, breaking out ofthe Ball circuit to become a well-known band in their own right.
I An Teallach Ceilidh The Shed. Taysiders in Scottish dance and song evening.
I Tony hiaclt Johnnie Scobies, Glasgow Gross. Evening. Free.
is nurture Scotland's indigenous voice. There isa deep sense oi irustratlon in Scotland, because we have been politically brutaiised. How we react and ieel needs to be examined in our national theatre. iitheatre is to be relevant it must reilect issues. Aty ielt wing and nationalist views will be expressed in my worit, but not to the detriment oi the play’s entertainment value—there would be no point.’
This sentiment iinds its expression in 1284's two production ior Mayiest this year. Boad blem Cartwright is liayman’siirst production as director since he iooit over 7:84, although he has commissioned three others (lour plays in as many months - a contrastio 7284’s previous recent output at three productions a year). The theme oi Cartwright's iirst play, which has been transposed from the North oi England to Glasgow. is that oiworlting class struggle for dignity. With Sculiery. played by Gerard Kelly as tour guide, the audience is taken on a one-evening ioumney down a Glasgow street to witness its inhabitants as they search for a lost sense oi sell. The play combines a
Furstenberg Folk Festival.
I Davy Spillane Govan Town Hall, McEwan's Lager Centre. 8pm. £5 (£2.50).
I CBIIldli Henry Wood Hall. 9pm. £5 (£2.50).
I ltoiner Saxophone Aiatia RSAMD Stevenson Hall. 7.30pm. £5 (£2.50).
I AVID Tramway Theatre. 7pm. £5 (£2.50). See Sat6. I Zvuiri Mil Renfrew Ferry. 9pm. £5 (£2.50). See Sat 6.
THEATRE
I Glasvegas Pavilion Theatre. 8pm. £5.50 (£3.50), £4.50 (£2.50). Borderline‘s new musical extravaganza by Morag Fullerton, set in a city not a million miles away and somehow incorporating a blast of Hue And Cry's new single.
I The Gilld SISIBI'S Tron Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£2). French-Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay has been translated into Scots for the Tron's production of this 1968 comedy. lt’s set in the good old days when you got Green Shield stamps instead of Air Miles.
I Road Kings Theatre. 7.30pm. £3—£5 .50 (£2-£4). For some reason 7:84 are keeping quiet about the fact that the road in question was once
lack oi romanticisation and brutal depiction oi bitterness with a penetrating and aiiectionate humour.
Road hails horn the Royal Court Theatre In London. at which iiayman is associate director. and the Scottish version has already received the writer’s blessing.
iiayman is not involved in 7:84's other Mayfest production. written by South American, Eduardo Paviovsky but. like a good egalitarian iront man. he is lust as enthusiastic about it, as indeed were the critics when it first appeared in London last year. A solo performance by Tom Watson with directing by the piay’s translator David Graham Young. Potestad concems a doctor attempting to take stock oi his lite and its meaning
undera modern day militafl
in Liverpool, but why quibble about geography? Jim Cartwright‘s play is a bitter and tragic story of a Glasgow community fighting for lost dignity.
I My Army RSAMD Chandler Studio. 6pm. £5 (£2.50). Tim Barlow's one-man show under the Theatre de Complicité umbrella is an endearing and amusing real-life account of his time in the army. Less tricksy and more accessible than Complicité’s normal output.
I A Tale 0i Two Cities Citizen’s Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£1/Free). The combination of a newly furnished theatre and a Philip Prowse stage design should make for an elegant night out. Dickens‘ novel is given a new adaptation to mark the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution.
I Teachers Mitchell Theatre. 7pm. £5 (£2.50). It wouldn‘t seem like a festival if there wasn’t at least one Hull Trick play going on. This one is John Godber’s classroom comedy where the kids stage a performance of their own.
I Township Boy RSAMD New Athenaeum Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£2.50). The Menu Players from South Africa deliver a powerful broadside against
iunta.
Neither oi these plays are by Scottish writers: ‘There is simply a lack oitruiy contemporary classic Scottish plays.’ says liayman. ‘There are good Scottish writers and the climate is right ior nurturing more talent, but as yet it has not been done enough. 1284 are now well organised iora training aspect.’
iiayman has certainly not
ignored home grown talent; his first commission as Artistic Director oi 7:84 was Long Story Short, a collection oi contemporary Scottish writing comprising tan short plays. ltlound iavourwidr critics and audience alike during its one month tour, and symbolisad 734's revitalisation and new broad-minded outlook. (Bey iiindiey)
Bead until I lay; Potestad 11-14 May. See Listings.
apartheid. It is based on the true story of a young poet killed at a funeral by a black policeman and uses music and humour to drive its message home. , I Man Act Third Eye Centre. 7.30pm. Free, but you need to apply for invitaion from venue). Man Act exploring the relationships of men from childhood to old age.
SATURDAY 6
CABARET/ COMEDY
I The Funny Farm Chandler Studio, RSAMD. 9pm. £4 (£2). Tonight's comedy line-up includes Stu Who, Kevin Kopfstein, May McReaddie, David Cosgrove and Parrot.
I Jeremy iiardy Mitchell Theatre. 10pm. £5 (£2.50). See Fri 5.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
I The Morley Quartet The Scotland USSR Society, Friendship House. 7.30pm. £2.50 (£1.50). Shostakovitch string quartets Nos 3, 7 and 8.
DANCE
I Daniels-iiittl The Robin Anderson Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£2.50). See Fri 5.
FILM
I Quebec Film Conierence Tron Theatre. 2.30pm. £1 . Stirling University’s Professor Ian Lockerbie leads a discussion around the issues raised by the work of writer Michel Tremblay and the season of Quebecois films at the Glasgow Film Theatre. I lied Sorghum Glasgow Film Theatre. 6.30pm, 8.45pm. See Fri 5.
LITERARY EVENTS
I Lemn Sissy and Benjamin Zephaniah Third Eye Centre. 10.30pm. £5
(£2.50). See Fri 5.
MUSIC
I Avia Tramway Theatre. 7pm. £5 (£2. 50). Combining punk, jazz, ska and hard rock with satire and a choreographed ten-woman 'Physical Exercise Group', could this be some kind of Soviet Mothers of Invention? After a mishap last year their appearance at Mayfest is awaited with baited breath.
I T“ HkaIiiS McEwan‘s Lager Music Centre. 8pm. £5 (£2.50). Reformed character sings his new life in England. Cult songwriter/guitarist from California's Venice
16'l‘he List 5 ~ 18 May 1989