THEATRE REVIEW
COLUMBUS SIGHTED OFF LOTHIAN RD.
COLUMBUS - BLOODING THE OCEAN
by Michelle Celeste
Opening Fri 3 July 8pm Phone for details
TRAVERSE
0312281404
High uality . Japanese -style Mattresses For example Five-ply Double 5299, Carriage EB , Free Brochure onrequest
L86 lAF. Tel (0532) 743753. Open 9.305.30 Mon-Sat and until 7.00 on Thursdays
‘ . a) . ' , ‘5""2: - - y . l3 Hyde Park Corner, Leeds
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Seen at the King's Theatre, Edinburgh. Until 27 Jun. King’s Theatre, Glasgow, 30 Jun-11 Jul.
This rock and roll music’s terribly loud isn’t it? i don’t know, pensioners these days. . . The old dear in front oi me was clapping, stamping herleet, singing along, and had to be physically restrained by her increasingly embarrassed daughter as the evening progressed.
Because Buddy looked so youthlul (and, ot course, died so young) 1 have always pictured his tans in a similar way. But it’s over 30 years since the plane crash and it Buddy, like James Dean, may not have aged, his legions ol tans have. But their loyalty is undlmmed and this touring musical could easily have bashed out the songs and left a satislied glow amidst the blue-rinses. However, it does considerably more. The no-star cast oi young hopeluls and old-pros are keen, with Joe Lutton (who plays guitar as well as singing) accomplished in the title role. In tact, all oi the live music is lirst rate and the lengthy scene in Harlem’s Apollo a genuine highlight.
Alan James’s script is like a breath ol fresh air in comparison with most touring muslcals’ insipid, sentimentalised nonsense —wit and invention being well to the lore. The only possible drawback is Buddy’s own talent. To a non-convert, it's pretty obvious that all oi his songs (with the exception oi the superb Not Fade Away) sound identical, and it he hadn't had the good lortune to get on board an aeroplane with a dodgy motor, his immortality may not have been so assured. But he made the classical showbiz exit, leaving the tans wanting more and, as is evidenced here, 30 years on they still can’t get enough. (Philip Parr)
mm- SALOME
Seen at Arches Theatre, Glasgow. Run ended.
Beyond the original biblical tale ol power, lust and tragedy, the Oscar Wilde play and the spindley Aubrey Beardsley illustrations, comes the inevitable: Salome, the sit-com.
Set in ancient Roman times, the plot concerns a lusty tamin trom Machaerus. Their decadent lilestyle draws easy parallels with suburbia, but in this tamin everybody's doing the deed with everybody else including close relatives. Except that is tor the prisoner, John the Baptist, who is shouting loud condemnations from the dungeons. Herod lalls tor his step-daughter, Salome. Her mother, Herodias, although bored with her husband is turious and hatches a cratty plan to shut the baptist up and manipulate her daughter, and they all end up by being banished to the lar-tlung reaches oi Gaul.
Take Two’s production owes more to Carry On than classical drama and stars a host oi well-thumbed caricatures. Herodias is a shrill nagging wile who smokes cocktail cigarettes, Herod is a hen-peeked alcoholic and Salome a simpering nit-wit with squeaky intonation. The action is narrated in true Kenneth Williams camp by a scribe, and John the Baptist, tor some unlathomable reason, is a ravaged Eastern European in a pair at leopard-skin knickers.
Although the production is tagged with that crowd-puller, ‘Not suitable tor children’, don't expect rampant sexuality. Salome’s dance of the seven veils is reminiscent oi a Bonnie Langlord routine. Rude it isn’t, but Stuart Thomas’s script does bounce along lairly well, playing tor titters instead ot exploring anything oi great signllicance. It is interspersed with some pretty lunny lines, even though you feel you’ve heard them betore - probably lrom the lips ol Sid James. Salome is also contidentiy acted and Elizabeth Cory Lopez and Andrew McCulioch's interpratation ol married animosity is pure prime-time.
As lorthe staging ol the head ol John the Baptist on a plate? Doesn’t materialise and, even it it did, it probably would have winked and said, ‘Take my wite.’ (Beatrice Colin)
WYOUNGPEOPLE’SPERFQRMNCF_PR°{§FT_1??ZI
GEORGE ORWELL’S ANIMAL FARM
ADAPTED BY IAN WOOLDRIDGE
WED 24 - SAT 27 JUNE 8PM £5.00 (£3.00)
THEATRE WORKSHOP, 34 HAMILTON PLACE l EDINBURGH EH3 SAX TEL: 031 226 5425 g
THEATRE mama-
Theatre is listed by city, then alphabetically by venue. Touring shows are listed alphabetically by title at the and ot the section. Shows will be listed, provided that details reach our ottices at least ten days betore publication. Theatre Listings compiled by Mark Fisher.
DISABLED ACCESS KEY
Access: P = Parking Facilities. PPA = Parking to be Pre-Arrangcd. L = Level Access, R = Ramped Access, ST = Steps to negotiate.
Facilities: WC = Adapted Toilet(s). WS = Wheelchair Spaces. AS = Adjacent Seats, H = Induction Loop System, G = Guide Dogs Allowed. R = Restaurant Accessible, C = Catering Accessible,T = Adapted Telephone.
Help: A = Assistance Available. AA = Advise Venue in Advance.
TICKET LINK
Tickets for major venues in Glasgow are available from the Ticket Centre. Candleriggs. Mon—Sat 10.30am until 6.30pm in person or until 9pm by phone on 041227 5511. Sunday openingis noon—5pm. Any Ticket Link box office can sell tickets for other venues.
GLASGOW
I AHCHES THEATRE Midland Street, 221 9736. [Access: L. Facilities: WC, W5, C, G. Help: A, AA]
Inventing Paradise Until Sat 20] un. 7.30pm. £5 (£3). A musicaljourney through the life of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald performed by First Base Theatre Company.
Greek Tue 23—Sat 27 Jun. 7.30pm. £5 (£3). Tough-talking modern reworking of the Oedipus myth by Steven Berkoff performed by Made in Glasgow.
The Stamping Ground Tue 30 Jun. 8pm. £5 (£3). See Dance listings.
I CITIZEHS' THEATRE Gorbals Street. 429 0022. Box Office Mon—Sat 10am-6pm (10am-9pm on performance days). Bar. [Accessz L, R. Facilities: WC. W8, H, G. C. Help: AA]
EIinl 10 the Bar Until Sat 4 July. 7.30pm. £5 (£1). Free mats on Mon 22 and Tue 23 Jun. Audio-described performance Thurs 2 Jul. A love story spanning 50 years from the election landslide of ‘45 to the Conservative win of ‘92. All to a 40s musical backdrop. With a summary like that, it could only be Wildcat and the latest Anderson/MacLennan musical. Tomorrow We Do the Sky Until Sat 4Jul. 7.30pm. £5 (£1). Marvellous one-man show by Michael Mears last seen on the
«The List l9Junc-2July 1992