THEATRE
CABARET
FRIDAY 8 Glasgow
I Robert Nalpem Pavilion Theatre. 121 chfield Street. 332 1845. 7.30pm. £4. Hypnotic fun with the Pavilion regular.
Edinburgh
I The Counting House Upstairs. 32/2 West Nicolson Street. 662 0781. 10pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Bar'restaurant open allday. serving until 9.30pm — diners can c1aim£l reduction on their cabaret tickets. Punchline observations from rising starof the local comedy scene. Kenny 1 larris.
Kenny Harris
and surreal. semi-improvised meanderings from Phil Kay. Also. tonight only. an open spot featuring Keeping Bad Company. More of the same tommorrow. Worth checkingout.
I Theatresports Bedlam Theatre. 2 Forrest Road. 225 9893. 10pm. £1 (50p). Weekly helping ofstudent improvisation from Edinburgh University Theatre Company.
Livingstone
I The Wee Three Comedy Players The Mews Theatre. Livingstone. 0506 33634. 7.30pm. £4 including light supper. Specialising in short. unpredictable comedy sketches. the Wee Threes is a new professional company currently on a six-date benefit tour in aid of the St Margaret's Hospice New Wing Fund. The three-man team is supported by acoustic
band Vincent and the Sunnyboys.
SATURDAY 9
Glasgow
IIhe Comic Club Blackfriars. 45 Albion Street. Merchant City. 552 5924. 9pm.
'. £4.50(£3.50). Baropen
8.30pm—-midnight. Another helpingof local wit and wisdom from the Funny Farm and beyond.
I The Funny Farm Village Theatre. Maxwell Drive. East Kilbride.03552
1 48669. 8pm. £4 (£2). Stu Who'.’ joins his
ex-colleagues from the Funny Farm for an evening of Glasgow humour. Also on the bill are Alex Frackleton. John Paul Leech andlohn Gillick.
I Robert Nalpern Pavilion Theatre. 121 Renfield Street. 332 1846. 7.30pm and midnight. £5. See Fri 8.
I The MsFlts Kenmure Avenue. Bishopbriggs. 772 3210. 7.30pm. £2. The MsFits provide the comic relief after 'l'urry Row. a play about a mining community in the 1930s. Feminist fun as Batquine and Roberta perform superheroic deeds.
I The Wee Three Comedy Players The Renfrew Ferry. Clyde Place. 7.30pm. £4. See Fri 8.
Edinburgh
I The Counting House Upstairs. 32. 2 West
i MONDAY 11
THE SALAMANDER VAUDEVILLE
The Gale Royal, Edinburgh. Every Sunday.
Last year, The Salamander Club A Go-Go started in a blaze at mediocrity. An oh-so-subtle name change, several venues and eight months later it's still extant, which must prove something.
As was the case last year, the show is built around Arnold - a sell-styled and sell-fulfilling tragi-comic. Arnold's routine used to involve lorgetting whatever lines he’d managed to think up and stumbling over his ad-libs. Now it also encompasses the lost art oi acting with juvenile stupidity. Arnold relishes coating himsell in a mixture at Alpen and llour and doing impersonations ol Margot Fonteyn. Ne'd also, I’m sure, love to raise a laugh but, untortunately, none materialises throughout his entire twenty-minute set.
Being one of the few people to have seen this tortuous display more than once, I’m beginning thinkthat old Arnold is hard done by. OK, so he's got no comic talent and is too slow witted to make his incompetence lunny, a la Tommy Cooper, but there is a kind at
surrealist momentum about his act. As the silence which greets Arnold’s exasperated attempts to get the audience laughing becomes omnipresent, you start to ieel like a minor character in a Peter Greenaway lilm. It’s too bizarre to be true. Given the right sort of marketing ploy, this could become a cult of the highest order.
Accompanying the compere was a polished guitar player called Colin (pronounced Colin) and a couple of reasonably tunny stand ups — Paul Anvil and The Big Fun Company.
. Without Arnold, this would have been a
convivial evening in a comtortable atmosphere. With Arnold, it’s either the biggest disasterto lumber along the Scottish cabaret circuit or the start at the post post-modernist comedy vogue: take your pick. (Philip Parr)
Nicolson Street. 6620781. 10pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Bar/restaurant open all day. serving until 9.30pm — diners can claim £1 reduction on their cabaret tickets. Sec Fri 8.
SUNDAY 10
Glasgow
I The GreatJohn Maclean Night Moir i la“. Mitchell Theatre. Granville Street. 221 3198. 8.30pm. £3 (£2). There‘sa discussion earlier in the evening at 6.30pm on ‘John Maclean and the Scottish Labour College Movement'. but you can also turn up for the concert ofsongs. poetry and comedy from Edwin Morgan. Clutha. Alex Frackleton. Eurydice. Eddie Smith. Bruce Morton and Jack Withers. Should be a great night.
Glasgow
I The Wee Three Comedy Players The Clyde Theatre. Boquhanran Road. (‘Iydebank.951 1200. 11pm. Free. See Fri
Edinburgh
I Sean Hughes The Counting I louse. Upstairs. 32. 2 West Nicolson Street . 662 0781 . 9pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Bar restaurant open all day — diners can claim£1 reduction on their cabaret tickets. For his Edinburgh dates. the young Irish star is performing his regular stand-up set. so that those who saw the Perrier Award-winning A ()Iie.\'r'g/tr.8'rurit1Wit/i Sean Hughes in last year‘s Fringe can pick up a new bunch of jokes. Don‘t miss. See feature.
TUESDAY 12 . Edinburgh
I Sean Hughes The Counting l louse. Upstairs. 3212 West Nicolson Street.662 0781 . 9pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Bar. restaurant open all day— diners can c1aim£1 ' reduction on their cabaret tickets. See Mon 11.
WEDNESDAY 13 Edinburgh
I Sean Hughes The Counting I louse. Upstairs. 32 2 West Nicolson Street. 662 0781 . 9pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Bar/restaurant open all day — diners can claim £1 reduction on their cabaret tickets. See Mon 11.
FRIDAY 15 Glasgow
I A One Night Stand With Sean Hughes't‘ron Theatre. Trongate. Glasgow. 552 4267. 9.30pm. £5 (£2.50). Half-theatre. half-stand-up. Sean llughes's Perrier award-winning show from last year‘s Iidinburgh Fringe takes us on an unpredictable journey through his head and home. The lrishman's Scottish run appropriately culminates on St Patrick's Day. Don’t miss. See feature.
Edinburgh
I The Counting House lipstairs. 32 2 West Nicolson Street. 662 0781. 10pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Bar restaurant open allday. serving until 9.30pm — diners cart claim£l reduction on their cabaret tickets. Arnold Brown is in town to narrate I’ert'rmtdrhe lib/fat Monday's li(‘ATContemporary MUsic concert (see Classical Music listings). so while he‘s here. he's treating us to another dry-witted stand-up set. Alse on the bill is Ireland‘s dark and off-bc'
lan MacPherson
Ian Macl’herson. winner three years ago of the Time Our award for Best Comedy Performer in London and author of a
forthcoming Radio 4 play. More ofthe same tomorrow. See Competition Page to win tickets.
I Mark Steel Tollcross Community Centre. Tollcross Primary School. Fountainbridge. 229 8448. 8.30pm. £4 (£2.50). Initially billed as an anti-war benefit. but still going ahead despite events in the Gulf. the SWP presentsthe excellent. fast-talking. hard-hitting
Mark Stee London stand-up on a bill that also includes a live band. Steel is great value for money. invariably extending hisact beyond the allotted time. and as well as his comedic skills he is also a fine mimic. I Theatresports Bedlam Theatre. 2 Forrest Road. 225 9893. Midnight—midnight on Sat 16. £2 fortwo hours. 24-hour marathon improv session from EUTC‘s regular ad-Iib team. All proceeds to Comic Relief.
SATURDAY 16 Glasgow
I The Comic Club Blackfriars. 45 Albion Street. Merchant City. 552 5924. 9pm. £4.50(£3.50). Baropen 8.30pm—midnight.Glasgow‘scomicsturn 1 out for another evening ofwiseeracks.
I A One Night Stand With Sean NughesTron Theatre. Trongate. 552 4267. 9.30pm. £5 (£2.50). See Fri 15.
Edinburgh
I The Counting House Upstairs. 322 West Nicolson Street. 6620781 . 10pm. £4.50 (£3.50). Bar restaurant open all day. serving until 9.30pm — diners can claim £1 reduction on their cabaret tickets. See Sat 15.
SUNDAY 17 Glasgow
I A One Night Stand With Sean Hughes Tron theatre. Trongate. 552 4267. 9.30pm. £5 (£2.50). See Fri 15.
I They're Making That Up Blackfriars. 45 Albion Street. Merchant City. 552 5942. 8.30pm for 9pm. £4. Scottish stand-up regulars Parrot and Fred MacAuIay join forces for another dose of free-form fun. As well as a guaranteed 40 minutesof improvisation (and more if the mood is right). they‘ll be trying out some oftheir latest material and maybe introducinga guest or two if they're in town.
Edinburgh
I The Salamander Vaudevillian Music Hall Cafe Royal. West Register Street. 228 1838. 8.30pm for 9pm. £3 (£2). 50p reduction for those wearing a red nose. A Comic Relief benefit featuring Buddy IleII from London. May and Fay from Glasgow and newcomer Arnie Sadvillc. who sounds suspiciously like regular
; compere Arnold to me. Also on stage will
be the w inners ol the Salamander Gong Show. See rL'\ lL‘W.
THURSDAY 21
Glasgow
I I Allsorts Village Theatre. Maxwell I)rive.1iast Kilbride.03552 48669. First of two evenings of comedy . music and dance
from the Allsorts group.
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The List 14— 21 March l99147