THEATRE LIST
SATURDAY 12
I The Gold Bier Core The Gilded Ballon. 233 Cowgate. Edinburgh. 03] 225 6364. Doors open 8.30pm for 9.30pm. £4.50 (£3.50). See Friday 1 l.
I The Comic Club Blackfriars. 45 Albion Street. Merchant City. Glasgow. 552 5924. 9pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Baropen 8.30pm—midnight.
Fred McAulay introduces fellow Funny Farmers Kevin Kopfstein and Cathy and Claire with the possibility ofa starof Mayfest dropping in.
I Joke BOX Bar Point. 42 Wellmeadow Street. Paisley. 041 889 5188. 8.30pm. All-female evening of Paisley-style entertainment as singer Maggi is joined by the splendidly named duo The Official Kylie Minogue Experience.
I Powys and Jones Palace Theatre. Kilmarnock. 23590. 7.30pm. £3.50 (£2.50). Welsh comic duo headline a package of variety entertainment.
SUNDAY 13
I Comic Club lmprov Blackfriars. 45 Albion Street. Merchant City. Glasgow. 552 5924. 8.30pm. £3.50.
There's a chance to get into tonight‘s bout ofcreative comedy for free ifyou're among the first 20 people to buy tickets for the Comic Club on Sat 5 May (see above). Otherwise it‘s well worth turning up to enjoy Glasgow's foremost young comics thinkingon their feet.
I Birth of the Mayfest Fringe Marco’s Leisure Centre. Templeton Street. Glasgow. 04] 554 7184. 9pm. £3 (non-members welcome). See Fri 1 l.
TUESDAY 15
I Mayfest Special Salon Cinema. 17 Vinicombe Street (off Byres Road). Glasgow. 1pm. (Doors open 12.45pm). Free. BBC Radio 4 Light Entertainment turns up in town to record some ofthe comedy highlights of Mayfest and readers of The List are more than welcome to form
the studio audience. The recording will take an hour or so and major names already lined-up include Arnold Brown. Andy Cameron. Liz Lochhead. Forbes Masson and Stuart Hepburn. These will be joined by other comedians deemed to be the best of Mayfest. Recommended.
I SUSA Cabaret Club Level 8. Strathclyde University Students Association. 90.lohn Street. Glasgow.041 552 1895. 9.30pm. Free (non-students must be signed in and need proofof being over 18). Cult comic Frank Sidebottom all the way from
Timperley with guests Little Frank and Friends. Does for the Bon Tempi organ what Freddie Mercury did for dodgy moustaches. Fantastic.
THURSDAY 17
I The Kit Kat Club Blackfriars. 45 Albion Street. Merchant City. Glasgow. 041 552 5924. 9pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Baropen 8.30pm—midnight. Recommended pre-war Berlin style cabaret with bingo. breadsticks and Pigfoot. Camp and atmospheric. Weekly for the rest of May.
BRUCE MORTON
Seen at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. On Tour.
‘My short tour might not mean a lot in the great scheme of things,’ says Bruce Morton at the end of his one-man 90-minute set, ‘but it means a luck of a lot to me.’
The comedian, whose hair gets mysteriously blonder as it grows thinner, has set himself a hard task. Deliberater distanced from his old colleagues on the Funny Farm, too
small a name to enterthe major league and unprepared to milk the London market, he is doing things his own way. Not only is he playing a string of venues unused to staging stand-up comedy, he is also selling the gig on his name alone.
Successful comedy, like one particular Morton character, is as precarious as a drunk jockey trying to balance on a very thin horse. Without the aid of a warm-up act or major hype, it is even harder. But over a set made up of two thirds new material, Morton pulls off the feat in a tight, inventive and varied show. His standard fodder is still the clever, quick-lire one-liners familiar to his TV audience, but a more interesting development is a series of sustained character sketches which reveal a richer vein of acting skills.
A little nervous to begin with and surprisingly awkward with a microphone, Morton never reaches peaks of hysteria, but climbs a steady path of constant laughs in an engagineg imaginative display. Some of the older routines remain his funniest, butthe new set confirms his position as Scotland's most prolifically creative young comedian. (Mark Fisher)
SPIIIIIBIII llll
CHRIS BARBIE LEE EVANS BOB MILLS COMPERE — s11u WHO
EDINBURGH
Fri. 11th May 1990 8 Sat. 12th May 1990
THE GILDED BALLOON STUDIO THEATRE 233 COWGATE, EDINBURGH TEL: (031) 225 6364 Tickets on sale at reception of 369 Gallery. Tel: (031) 225 3013
Doors open 8.30pm for 9.30pm Tickets £14.50 (£3.50 Concession)
,J
The List 4 — 17 May '199009