THEATRE LIST
Rockella Fri 28 July. 8pm. £2 (£1). The fourth in the series of Rockshop performances by young people in the Paisley area is an updated version of the Cinderella story.
Kate and the Big Crunch Fri 4 Aug. 7pm. £2 (£1). Family Ticket £5. Catch Theatre Company in an adventure story aimed at 6—11 year olds.
I PALACE THEATRE 9 Green Street. Kilmarnock. 0563 23590. [Access: P. L. Facilities: WC. W8. E. G. R. B. HelpzA. AA].
The Palace is having its summer break and will be back in action from 26 August.
I PAVILION THEATRE 121 Renfield Street. 332 1846. Box Office Mon—Sat 10am—8pm. Bar. [Access: ST. Facilities: WS. G. Help: AA].
Peter Powers Every Wed—Sat until 5 August. 7.30pm. Wed £3. Thurs & Fri £3.50. Sat £4. Fun and games with hypnotism.
I ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY OF MUSIC AND DRAMA 100 Renfrew Street. 041 332 5057. [Access: PPA. L. Facilities: WC. W5. AS. R. B. T. G. Help: A. AA].
The Best Of All Possible Worlds Tue 1-Sat5 Aug. 7.30pm. £3 (£2). New Athenaeum Theatre. Maggie Kinloch directs the Scottish Youth Theatre in a play by John Harvey freely based on Voltaire‘s black comedy Candide.
Animal Tue l—Sat 5 Aug. 7.30pm. £3 (£2). Chandler Studio Theatre. It‘s a good time for Tom McGrath fans at the moment. The memory of City still lingers in the Tramway. The Tron is due to stage his Laurel and Hardy and here Scottish Youth Theatre presents his exploration ofthe similarities between the human being and the animal. ‘1 was looking at animal nature and the way in which animals form communities.‘ says McGrath about his humorous study in which actors emulate
apes. I THEATRE ROYAL Hope Street. 331 1234. Box Office Mon—Sat 10am—6pm. (7.30pm on perfevgs). Bar. Buffet. [Access: P. PPA. R. Facilities: WC. W5. E. G. R.B. Help: AA].
No theatre this issue.
I THIRD EYE CENTRE 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521. Cafe open Ham—2.30pm Tue—Fri and during evening performances. [Access: PPA. L. Facilities: WC. W3. E. G. R. B. Help: AA].
See Art Listings.
I TRAMWAY THEATRE Albert Drive. Tickets from Ticket Centre 041 227 5511 [Help: AA]
Next performance Tue 15 Aug.
I TROH THEATRE 63 Trongate. 552 4267. Box Office Tue—Sat Noon—8pm; Sun 12.30-11pm. Closed Mondays. [Access: R. ST. Facilities: WS. E. G. R. B. Help: AA].
Silly season: The Gilded Balloon Until Sun 30 July. £4 (£1 )/£5 (£2). See Cabaret and Preview.
Clyde Nouveau Mon 31 July. £1 . The latest play by the seriously brilliant lain Heggie is given a special Members Only performance before its Edinburgh Festival run. It returns to Glasgow at the end of August.
EDINBURGH
I OEDLAM THEATRE Forrest Road. 031 225 9893. [Access: St. Facilities: WS. G, B. Help: AA]
No performances until the Edinbugh Festival.
I BRUHTOH THEATRE Musselburgh. 665 2240. [Access: PPA. R, St. Facilities: WC. W5. E. G. B. Help: AA]
The Brunton‘s next season will be in the Autumn. but it is playing host to the occasional touring show in the meantime. I OILDED DALLOOH Cowgate. 225 3013/225 4463.
No Edinburgh performances this issue, but see Cabaret Listings for Gilded Balloon comedy in Glasgow.
REVIEWS
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh.
The Royal Lyceum seems to be developing a summer season of plays characterised by unremarakble first halves and more substantial seconds. With their last playwright, Alan Ayckbourn, you can forgive such an imbalance, but with Shakespeare you really expect something more. The sad thing is that Robert J. Carson’s production oi Measure For Measure doesn’t make up enough of the ground lost before the interval to capture the kind oi last-minute emotional blow achieved by last month's Woman in Mind.
Given the current political climate it would have been interesting to see a production that emphasised the play’s ideas on the use and abuse oi power. ‘lt is excellent to have a giant’s strength. but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant,’ says Isabella to the man in whose hands the late of her brother lies and who is soon to make an attempt to seduce her. But Carson diffuses these potentially resonant strains by first setting the play in 1850s’ Italy and second directing the main male characters, Duke Vincentio (Gregory Floy) and Angelo (Raad Rawi), to be more like commuter-belt businessmen than omnipotent power-wielders. Consequently, it is not until Isabella’s moral dilemmas are put centre stage, that the production becomes something more than the uncommitted detailing of background Information.
George Souglldes’ set adds little to make the opening acts any more vigorous. Looking like a cross between backdrops for Dr Faustus and Trumpton, his simple angles and pervasive reds hall suggest the gaudy Interior oi an ltalian church. Apart from Adrian Johnston’s sombre score and some shadowy lighting early on, the production makes only casual use oi what could be an important contribution to atmosphere. When the set opens up towards the end, it is a pathetic and pointless reminder oi the dramatically powerful use of space made by Woman in Mind. At least it doesn’t get In the way, like so many of the early comedy scenes which clumsily intrude, drawing attention to the low-key performances in the main plot. Later on the comedy blends more comfortably with the drama, but the balance remains delicate.
In the end It is down to Kate Gartside as Isabella to save the day. Living up to
Measure For Measure. See Review. .
the promise of her part in The House of Bernada Alba, she injects an emotional truth and spark oi energy so far missing from the proceedings. in conjunction with Eleanor Siaven’s Mariana, she shifts the interest of the play back towards the values oi justice and honesty, and helps to work the production round to a satisfying and not
unmoving conclusion. (Mark Fisher).
WHODIDIT
Southside Community Centre. Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. Returning during the Fringe.
This is knockabout farce in the best tradition. invisible lnc’s Whodidit, written and directed by Neil Harrison, takes the conventions oi drawing-room murder mystery and bendsthem into increasingly comic and fantastic shapes. A strong central performance from ‘Sir’ John Macneill is the lynchpin oi the play’s effectiveness: employing polished mime and great comic verve in his role as a hideously ugly police detective— his fight with an invisible man is a particularly impressive solo routine. Although the acting sometimes is of a varying standard, the clever sound effects and ingenious plotting make sure that Whodidit’s comic potential is successfully realised. lan Makenzie is strong in support, playing a variety of roles from a Cub Scout to a mass murderer. among the constellation of doubled roles and lightning costume changes that the whole cast perform.
Invisible Inc are planning to take the play to the Fringe — it will be performed at ‘Diverse Attractions’ from 21—24 Aug. The venue is being run by Lofhlan Regional Council specifically to assist local groups (otherwise excluded through reasons of finance) to perform on the Fringe. Invisible Inc might be familiar in their alternative incarnation as Fly on the Wall —touring their children’s shows (Captain Scurvy and the Sea Sprite and Strawberry l t --
Whoddit? See Review
play. (Jo Roe)
‘2,
Chocolate and Banana) through community centres in Craigmillar, Piiton and the Southside, as well as appearing at the Meadows Festival and last year’s Fringe. Now they've grown up and entered their adult phase (perhaps it's a kind of late adolescence) -Whodidit is genuinely funny and, while it needs a little more slickness, will prove no doubt an ornament to the Fringe. (Andrew Pulver)
GLENCOE: THREE FACES OFACRIME
Netherbow Arts Centre, Edinburgh.
‘A distant primitive Scottish Glen —I wonder at its significance.’ A portentous opening for Robin Munro's play which attempts to give afresh insight into the events which took place in Glencoe in 1692. The subject, as is often the case, has its modern analogy.
The MacDonalds of Glencoe were singled out as targets for brutal disciplinary action, aftertheir unwillingness to sign an oath of allegiance to the Hanoverlan William of Orange. With shrewd foresight the executioners chosen were those under the command of Robert Campbell, who received orders directly from the crown of England. By encouraging clan warfare the English destroyed all notion of a united Scotland.
Monro's enlightening perspective is achieved by restraining the narrative to three self-incriminating accounts given by key precipitators of the action: Sir John Dalrymple, the Secretary of State for Scotland, Robert Campbell, commander of the two companies sent to Glencoe and SirJohn Campbell, eleventh Laird of Glenorchy. They emerge as pawns of the English strategy of divide and rule as much as bloodstained participants of the dirty deed. The massacre itself is not directly dealt with, though the little time allowed iorJohn Campbell's maudiin reminiscence of the murder of a MacDonald child degenerates into jarring theatricality. ‘l never saw his eyes — thank God for thatl’.
The production, however, lacks dramatic sensitivity. The use of Gaelic song, which has poignance at the beginning of the play, becomes laboured as the action continues. Principle actor, Ross Mackay, who plays all three witnesses, lacks authority over the narrative, too often lapsing into cliched crescendos and ill-used silences. As the play progresses, however, Mackay is relieved of the onerous task of propelling the narrative single-handedly, and we see a more convincing actor in the dialogue with Isabella Jarrett in the final part of the
The List 28July— it) August l989 27