THEATRE LIST
I Young Playwright Award British Telecom is the sponsor of Scottish Youth Theatre's Young Playwright of the Year Award and Festival. which will give up to eight Scottish writers between the ages of 15 and 25 the chance to attend a ten-day course. win £l000and have their work performed by RSAMD students in December. Application forms available on 041 332 5127. I Mobil Playwriting Competition The third prestigious Mobil Playwriting Competition has its deadline on 3 Aug. so get scribbling if you fancy a cut of the £33,000 prize money. Open to established and new playwrights alike. the competition has uncovered several successful plays in previous years. Entry from the Manchester Royal Exchange Publicitiy Department on 061 833 9938.
I Actors Needed Fanfare is a new semi-professional company set up to serve Strathclyde and lnverclydc. The company is still looking for non-Equity performers and is hoping to provide
choreographer’of Goes Without Saying and Doppelga'nger, to be included in the Glasgow repertoire. is a prime beneficiary of such outreach work. ‘LCDT came to Hull University where I was a student, to spread the gospel. I got completely booked and suddenly went off on this route which I had never contemplated before then. There was a whole generation of us who‘d been picked up.‘ he continues. ‘especially men. We all ended up being at the school together and it turned out to be a fairly bumper crop.‘
LCDT-trained Kim Bandstrup. choreographer of Oliver Award winning Orfeo. also to be performed in Glasgow. settled for dance after a briefspell with film. While Lunn continually assesses his method of working. reflected in animated self-analysis. Bandstrup is assuredly in his own groove. ‘I remember when we were rehearsing 0rfeo.' says Lunn. who has danced in several Bandstrup productions. ‘I said to Kim. “it's so funny. we work in such differentways." He replied. “Oh . . . is it?" He had never worked with anyone else. he has never really performed as a dancer. In a way I thought that's lucky. you don‘t have to throw all that stuff out of the
window because it is not relevant.‘
For better or worse LCDT commission work from a large pool ofchoreographers. and produce at least four or five new works every year. Bandstrup and Lunn agree that this throws up programming difficulties. ‘Sometimes you are happy and sometimes you are not. with how things are put.‘ admits Bandstrup. ‘Sometimes it is good to be put with other work, I mean with Are, my own company, it is all my work, which is fine, but interesting things can come up and variety comes out in repertory companies.’
The repertory system makes it difficult to define the LCDT‘S character. ‘I guess one of the things that ties the company together is the dancers,’ says Lunn, who, like Bandstrup, is impressed by their technical ability. ‘You rarely come across the upstaging element ofone person wanting to hold up their leg longer than anyone else. There is a feeling that we are all in it together. Sometimes I feel that‘s the thing that makes the company special.‘
The two also agree that the company is in a period ofchange. The transformation of artistic director from Robert Cohan to Dan Wagoner early last year coincided with a new wave of choreograpahers
‘I think the work is different now, particularly in the past year or so.‘ says Lunn. ‘A lot ofthe work we are doing now deals much more with human beings rather than acrobats of god. There was a time when what was amazing about the company were all these sort ofdemi-gods. Of course there are still people who have very well trained, beautiful bodies and all that stuff, but I think the emphasis isn’t necessarily to be seen being beautiful.‘
The change reflects the need to find a dance language independent of the American tradition from which LDCT was born. ‘When the contemporary dance scene began.
coming here from the States via
Robert Cohan and Martha Graham. a lot ofthe history and background was to do with grand themes and mythical beings. Gradually. as British dance culture has developed. that is being replaced by what feels relevant and important to British people who are making work and I don‘t think it is Jocasta and Oedipus. If this company and other companies move towards a more native language then that‘s got to be a good thing.’ (Jo Roe)
London Contemporary Dance Theatre can be seen at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, lZ-IéJune.
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jobs for unemployed people with theatre skills but no previous opportunity. First production at the end of July. Details from Stephanie Kirkman. Ladeside l louse. Church Street. Lochwinnoch.
5 V IN PRINT
I The Craft of Comedy Athene Seyler (Nick llern Books £4.95). As the Royal Lyceum‘s summer season of comedy swings into action. this slim 1943 reprint is a thought-provoking correspondence between a great comic actor and her inquisitive student. Never too earnest and not at all prescriptive. it lays out an accessible if subjective approach to the techniques involved in making people laugh. Aimed primarily at actors. it is nonetheless an illuminating read for audiences. Foreword by l’runella Scales.
The List 1— l-Hune 199051