FEATURE LIST
One ofthe most imaginative and thought-provoking highlights of the New Beginnings season. Ward No. 6. opens at the Tramway Theatre Annexe next week; a harrowing depiction of inmates in a mental
institution. Based on a short story by
Chekhov. the production by Moscow Pushkin Theatre Company has already received exuberent praise in the Soviet press where it was described as ‘the most unusual play not only ofthe season but of recent years‘ and has toured extensively in Europe.
‘They had just opened the show when I saw it. I knew immediately that I wanted it.‘ says Michael Boyd. Artistic Director of the Tron Theatre. who was responsible for selecting the drama programme of New Beginnings. ‘It is simply brilliant; there is no question about thatf
‘Although a Tron Theatre Production. the play will be performed at the Tramway because
it is a more suitable venue. Ward No.
6 is really more of an installation show. It depicts a very harsh existence and needs a fairly rough space.‘
The actors perform within a wooden cage; the audience become
As the Soviet arts bonanza continues in Glasgow, we
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voyeuristic participants. spying on the action through slats. Numbers shall be restricted to only 60. ‘It becomes very claustrophobic. which heightens the tension and the intensity ofemotions.‘ Boyd observes.
The play distils such uncomfortable truths as ‘When society wishes to protect itself from awkward people who think
preview the events and select some of the best.
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differently from it. then it shows no mercy". Dramatising the horrific persecution ofthe inmates by the caretaker it is overtly anti-totalitarian but director Yurii Yeremin has stressed that it is not a mere political tract. ‘I didn‘t want to put on a play which was limited by politics although undoubtedly this connection is present in it. I don‘t think that the use ofa psychiatric
SIAN IN AGAIN
institution with the aim ofshoyy ing the pressure put on man‘s reason would have been a phenomenon exisiting exclusively in the Soviet Union. I think that this is a universal phenomenon.‘
Improvisation is employed and the play will be performed in Russian; Boyd is confident that this will present no obstacle to the understanding and enjoyment ofthe drama. ‘Audiences will be given a synopsis. Yurii has tried simultaneous translation and subtitles but in his experience the best production was in Italy. when they used a synopsis.‘
‘I suppose it must be difficult for people to approach New Beginnings.‘ he muses. ‘it just came out ofthe blue. Ultimately the selection is a very personal choice — people are coming on blind trust but so far they haven't been disappointed. The people who came to see Uncle Vanya were knocked sideways.‘
Yeremin is forthright about the play‘s objectives. ‘The task of theatre is not to change man. It is simply necessary to preserve in man whatever human element he might have within him.‘ (Sara Villiers)
6pm. Documentarist
demonstrates their
(£2). See Fri 10.
WEDNESDAY 15
Laurusas and Sergeyeva.
NEW BEGINNINGS DIARY
FRIDAY 10
Music
I BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra RSAMD. 7.45pm. £7 (£4.50)—£3.50 880 Club Members; £6 (£4)—£3 Club Members. Under the baton of Fedor Glushenko the orchestra are joined by the winner ofthe 1987 Leeds piano competition. Vladimir Ovchinikov. Tonights programme includes Shostakovich‘s Ballet Suite No I. Tchaikovsky‘s Piano Concerto No 2 and Glazunov‘s Symphony No 4
Theatre
I Cinzano Tron Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£4)/£2.50 (£2). A new translation of one of the USSR‘s most popular plays is directed by Roman Kozak with an all-Scottish cast. lt paints a comic and striking picture of Moscow. as a group of three young men drink their way through a crate ofcinzano.
Cinema
I Supreme Judgement OFT. £2.70(£1.70/£1.20).
l
IIertz Franck offers a shattering look at capital punishment from the perspective of condemned double murderer Valery Dolgov.
SATURDAY 11
Cinema
I Baltic/Scottish Film Forum OFT. £2(£1.2()) 2pm. Film-makers from Scotland and the Baltic Republics will be on hand for a public forum discussion focussing on the similarities and problems of regional production bases within the UK and the Soviet Union.
I Wild Ravens inthe Trees GET.£2.70(£l.70/£1.20) 6pm. The latest film by acclaimed Lithuanian director Algimantas Puipa looks at the plight ofa writer unable to discern between fiction and reality in a suburban tale that echoes the Brezhnev period ofstagnation.
Theatre
I Four Seasons Third Eye Centre. 11am. £2(£1). Igor Pavlov and Mikhail
Zakharov are graduates of
the Moscow State Circus School and here they present a family show that
juggling. balancing and acrobatic skills through a series of comic sketches. ()ver the past seven years the double-act has become enormously popular in the USSR.
I Cinzano Tron Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£4) (£2.50) (£2). See Fri 10.
SUNDAY 12
Music
I Cottee Concert RSAMD. Noon. £3.50 (£2). In the first ofa series of midday concerts the acclaimed pianist. organist and composer Tatyana Sergeyeva presents a programme which contains four UK premieres including work by Schedrin. Kuliyev. Sergeyeva. Denisov and Leman. Tickets include a cup of tea. coffee or soft drink.
I Komitas String Quartet RSAMD. 8pm. £4.50 (£2.50). The second of their concerts featuring Armenian composers including works by Mansuryan. Mirzoyan. S. ()ganesyan and (‘haushyan. given by one of the best (Armenian) quartets.
Theatre
I Cinzano Tron Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£4) (£2.50)
MONDAY 13
Cinema
I A Woman and her Four Men (EFT. £2.70 (£1.70£1.20)8.30pm. British premiere of Algimantas Puipa‘s award-winning 1983 film about the impact ofan attractive widow‘s feminine sensibility on a poor fishing family.
TUESDAY 14 Theatre
I Cinzano Tron Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£4) (£2.50) (£2). See Fri 10.
Cinema
I Is It Easy To Be Young? (if’T. 6pm. £2 (£1 .20). This key documentary of the era ofperestroika is a frank mosaic reflecting the experiences and hopes ofa wide variety of disaffected Soviet youth as they discover the delights of sex. drugs and rock‘n‘roll.
Talks
I Scotland and Russia Friendship House. 8pm. Free. Professor Paul Dukes ofAberdeen University discusses historical and contemporary links between Scotland and Russia.
Theatre
I Cinzano Tron Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£4) (£2.50) (£2). S‘ee Frill).
Cinema
I Is It Easy To Be Young? GI’I‘. 1.30pm. £2(£1.20) See Tue 14.
I Madness (iF'I'. (3pm. £2.70 (£1 .70/£l .20). Estonian Kaljo Kisk‘s recently unshelved classic black comedy from 1967 follows a Nazi commandant‘s efforts in discovering a British spy amidst the occupants ofa lunatic asylum.
Talks
I A Day in the Lite ota Soviet Worker'l‘hird Eye Centre. 7.30pm. £1. Walter Joyce of(ilasgow University attempts to examine the position and
attitude ofSovietworkers ’
during the (iorbachev
years with reference to the I
common complaint of alienation from the system.
THURSDAY 16
Music
I Organ and Trombone (ilasgow University Chapel. 1.15pm. Free. John Kenny and Tatyana Sergeyeva perform. solo and in duet. works by Schnittke. (ieddes.
I The Academy Orchestra 7.30pm. £3 (£2). (‘onducted by Sir Alexander (iibson with Neil McFarlane at the piano. the orchestra perform Kabalevsky's ()i'erlure: ( ‘olas Breugnon. Shostakovich's Piano ( ‘oneerro No l and '1 chaikovsky‘s Manfred Symphony.
Theatre
I Cinzano Tron Theatre. 7.30pm. £5 (£4) (£2.50) (£2). See Fri 10.
Dance
I Petrushka. The Prisoners a Oivertissements from the Repertoire ot the Kirov Ballet Theatre Royal. 7.15pm. £3—£25. The company performs the ‘perestroika Petrushka‘ created for the Scottish Ballet by the Kirov Ballet‘s director alongside works from the Kirov's repertoire and a ballet choreographed by Peter Darrell.
Talks
I Survival and the Poetry of Conscience Third [Eye Centre. 8pm. Free. Richard McKane. editor and translator ofAnna
A khmanvu: Selected Poems reads from the collection to mark the centenary of the great poet's birth.
8 The List 10 — 23 November 1989