8"/10" 9 FESTIVAL
has Barnes permission but not his participation and is the work of Michael Cabot and David Micklem, respectively director and producer of the piece, who saw its possibilities— liberal use of Barnes‘ name not least among them — and set about rewriting it as a play.
Wisely, they have kept the single voice of the actor, rather than trying to recreate the film set complete with waterfalls. Amerindians and helicopters which is the subject of his letters, but have moved the action to a hotel room after the event. Cabot. surprisingly, has not found it too difficult to dramatise Barnes‘ somewhat cerebral style.
‘It all ties in very well because he follows his themes,’ he says. ‘We have followed all the important themes and what we should have is a leaner version of the text.‘ (Frances Cornford)
I Upstream (Fringe) Paradox Theatre, Paradox One (Venue 73) 2291003,12—17 Aug, 9pm, 26—31 Aug, 4.30pm, £3 (£2).
V THEATRE
CABLUCCO AND THE QUEEN OF HEARTS
If the Scottish national identity is based in part on a romanticised past, filled with tartan-clad heroes sending the English homewards to think again, then the idealised content of much of the country‘s drama should take its share of the blame for perpetuating the myth. In Carlucco and the Queen of Hearts, playwright George Rosie sees Scottish history as a much more complex and substantial issue than most of us were taught at school.
"This stage of Charles Stuart‘s life is a very striking metaphor for the self-deluding nature and futility of J acobitism,‘ he explains. ‘All that kitsch stuff gives people a bogus idea of their history and their culture, and therefore a bogus sense of their worth.‘
The play is set in late 18th century Florence, when Charles — in his fifties and a ‘bonnie prince' no more - was married to Louise de Stolberg, 30 years his junior. He wanted an heir, she was a social climber-
and neither could deliver. Not only that, the British government was doing
deals with the Vatican and the European monarchies to discredit Charles and the Jacobite cause. This external pressure only added to an already ill-fated marriage.
‘That feeling ofisolation and entrapment turned them in on themselves. and they just mauled one another in a quite horrendous way.‘ Rosie continues. ‘and so, as well as being about victims ofa worldwide political strategy. the play is all about sexual games and stratagems.‘ (Alan Morrison)
I Carlucco and the Queen of Hearts (Fringe) Fifth Estate, Netherbow (Venue 30) 556 9579, until 31 Aug (not Suns), 8pm, £6 (£4).
V THEATRE
BOARDHOOM SHUFFLE
Behind the stone Georgian facade ofthe TSB headquarters in George Street hides the futuristic, steel and glass setting of a hi-tech office interior. In a similar way, the friendly corporate behaviour that lies on the surface ofAmerican Connexion‘s play Boardroom Shuflie hides a shady world of back-stabbing and naked ambition. Put the two together and you have one ofthe most interesting uses of space at the Festival.
Last year, audiences at the company‘s production of Table For Two had their lunches at a High Street restaurant disturbed when a dramatic argument broke out at one of the tables. This year, carrying on the tradition of combining theatre with real life situations, audiences will find themselves at a 21st century corporate reception to celebrate the unveiling ofa new computer. Opening with a PR smile that would outshine a toothpaste commercial, the evening seems to be going according to plan until the happy atmosphere is broken by the shock
!
I WAR’RUIEM‘
announcement that the chiefexecutive officer is resigning and that his successor must be chosen there and then.
‘We feel that, in the future, many corporations will be borrowing Japanese corporate ideas.‘ says writer Gregg Ward. ‘one ofwhich is the notion of the employees, especially the executives, as members of a very large family. But in the corporate world there is inherently a great deal of drama. When I talk tothe people at the TSB about the play. they‘re always saying ‘God, it soundsjust like here!“ (Alan Morrison)
l Boardroom Shuttle (Fringe) American Connexion, TSB Headquarters. 120 George Street (Venue 63) 229 5138.13—31Aug(not 16.19.26). 8pm, £4 (£3).
; ; Bass thoughts
i i i
v CLASSICAL
It could be argued that the Royal Scottish Orchestra‘s concert with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus of Britten‘s War Requiem really ought to have been the opening event ofthis year‘s Festival. Written for the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral following its destruction in the Second World War, its spirit of reconciliation and international unity could hardly be more appropriate in the aftermath of recent horrific events in the Gulf. Taking the traditional Latin requiem mass and texts from poems by Wilfred Owen, Britten. who was a lifelong and committed pacifist, uses the forces of soprano solo
‘lf was the largest instrument at school so I thought, “I fancy that.”
And so began the love affair which i has seen Jim Tavare and Bassie travel from Edinburgh to Montreal to America and, er, back to Edinburgh again. While overthe pond, Tavare appeared on The David Letterman Show, which should seal his path to fame and fortune. Well, lame at least.
‘Everbody lights to get on it, so when you finally do, he doesn’t pay that much. So it might sound alright but in fact . . . But the coverage is all-important and I always enjoy the challenge of playing over there. There’s a tremendous enthusiasm for what I do. They have a kind of safe comedy over there which is very predictable and the audiences are becoming quite bored of it actually. I think that they find someone who's a bit
odd like myself relreshing.’
Tavare and his double bass have never been paragons of musical virtue, but the title of his latest show is, nevertheless, The Masterclass.
‘lam improving and becoming more virtuoso. I thought about giving myself 5 an honorary GCSE and calling it a
masterclass. It’s nice to be able to purport to be a professor at something when you haven’t really got those qualifications, I enjoy that. There’s nothing wrong in having a belief in music and not necessarily having a degree to show for it. I have a passion for music with no technique at all.’ (Philip Parr)
The Masterclass (Fringe) Jim Tavare, The Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 220 4349, 9—31 Aug (Not13), 8pm, £6.50/7.50 (£5.50/6.50).
(Galina Simkina). chorus and large orchestra on one level, with a chamber orchestra and tenor and bass soloists (David Rendall and Willard White) for the nine war poems.
Meeting with great success on its first performance in 1962, it was described by William Mann, music critic for The Times, as ‘the most masterly and nobly imagined work that Britten has ever given us'. Sir Alexander Gibson
| conducts. (Carol Main) l War Requiem (International Festival)
Usher Hall, 2255756, Wed 15 Aug.8pm, £7.50—£18.50.
THE GODS 0F GLAM
‘I was always getting
Shibboleth— and I eventually thought. sod
the bastards, I'm goingto
Royal Scottish Orchestra.
sacked from bands — Slice.
prove I can do it myself. Sod this Van Morrison stuff.‘
From that point on, an unrepentant Sweet fan called Steve cultivated the heavy riffs of his glam idols (‘Puppy Love‘ is a sweet. low-key exception) and not a little oftheir sartorial chic. Plain old Steve became BcBop, thrift shops became a second home, and uncovering a copy of ‘Tokoloshe Man‘ recently made him very happy indeed. But what does he
“The List9- 15 August 1991