THEATRE LISTINGS
THEATRE
Theatre is listed by city, then alphabetically by venue. Touring shows are listed alphabetically by title at the end of the section. Shows will be listed, provided that details reach our offices at least ten days before publication. gram Listings compiled by Mark
r.
OISARIEO AOOESS KEY
Access: P = Parking Facilities. PPA = Parking to be Pre-Arranged. 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.
llelp: A = Assistance Available, AA = Advise Venue in Advance.
I OITIZEHS’ THEATRE Gorbals Street. 429 0022. Box Office Mon-Sat 10am—6pm (10am-9pm on performance days). Bar. [Access: L. R. Facilities: WC. W8. H. G. C. Help: AA] Only an Excuse Until Sat 31 Jul. 7.30pm. £6 (£2). Audio-described performance Fri 30 Jul. Main Theatre. Dead funny comedy for fans of fitba‘. starring Jonathan Watson and Tony Roper. Crying for the Moon Until 14 Aug (not Mons 2 and 8 Aug). 8pm. £6 (£2). Circle Studio. Terry Neason‘s popular collection of songs and poetry features the work of Don McLean. Liz Lochhead. John Hegley and many more. Accidental Death of an Anarchist Tue 3—14 Aug. 7.30pm. £6 (£2). Free matinees every Wed and Sat at 2pm. Signed performance Wed 11 Aug. 7.30pm. Audio-described performance Thurs l2 Aug. The Arches Theatre treats Glasgow to Dan'o Fo‘s all-too-truthful political satire before moving through to the Edinburgh Fringe. Craig Ferguson stars as the larger-than-life maniac at large in police HQ in the production first directed by Andy Arnold ten years ago. See review. I OOTTIER THEATRE Hyndland Street. Macbeth Wed 3—Sat 7 Aug. 7.30pm. The convened church in the city‘s West End is the atmospheric setting for a production of the Scottish play performed by participants in the Scottish Youth Theatre Summer School and directed by Mary McCluskey. I GLASGOW UNIVERSITY Bute Hall. University Avenue. 339 8855. Cymbellne Fri l3 and Sat 14 Aug. 7.30pm. Last port ofcall for an international production of Shakespeare‘s play which has been put together by students and graduates from Scotland. France. Belgium. Italy. Romania and Lithuania. See review. I KIW’S THEA E Bath Street. Box Office Mon—Sat noon-6pm. 4 bars. Phone bookings, Ticket Centre. Candleriggs. see Ticket Link details above. [Access: PPA. L. Facilities: WC. W8. H. G. C. Help: A. AA] Robin, Prince of Sherwood Until Sat 3| Jul. 7.30pm. Thurs—Sat mats 2.30pm. £2—£lO.50. West End musical about the moralistic robber and his band of merry men. I OLD ATHEHAEUM THEATRE I79 Buchanan Street. 332 2333. Box Office open lOam-6pm and 8pm on performance days. [Access: ST. Facilities: WS. H. G. Help: A. AA] Peter Pan Wed 4-Sat 7 Aug. 7.30pm. Thurs and Sat mats. Scottish Youth Theatre‘s Summer Festival culminates with this adaptation of the 1M. Barrie
num- International
bright young things
By the time the To-strong cast of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline arrives in Glasgow, it will already have travelled through France, lithuanla, Italy, Romania and Belgium. Mutating from country to country, the show will be seen everywhere, from a conventional main-stage theatre to a city park, an open hillside, a 13th century courtyard, finally winding up in the august surrounds of Glasgow University’s Dute iiall.
But it’s not just the tour that’s unusual about this Cymbeline. Shakespeare’s late romance is being performed by students and graduates from six countries, and in rehearsals, as in the final performances, anything up to four languages may be in use at any one time. llever mind the art, just as a piece of strategies this project will be no mean feat.
Initiated at the University of Desancon in France by director Francois llodinson, the multi-national production has been worked on independently by the various countries, eventually to be pulled together during two weeks in France. The Scottish contingent consists of nine graduates of Fife College and ten of Glasgow University under the direction of Victoria Seattle and Jacqui Whymark. ‘lllle’re all working together, so the production has more than one language being used at any one time,’ explains Whymark. ‘There’s a character who is being used as a
narrator to comment on the action in the language of whatever country that we’re in. We’ve stripped the play down to nothing and built it up again with image and placed the language back on top.’
Each country has developed certain characters from the play, while drawing on the nation’s unique traditions. Thus Scotland will be fielding an Imogen, a Posthumus and a Queen, and contributing a style informed by story-telling and music. ‘We are performing in so many different countries that we wanted to break down the language barrier by using the language of theatre,’ says Whymark. ‘In a scene you might have an English-speaking Imogen and a French Iaehimo and you would have that dialogue in both languages, again played out in a different part of the stage in a visual language. In terms of an audience understanding a narrative, there will be characters who they follow through a whole story and who will be illustrated by the other countries.’ (Mark Fisher)
Cymbeline, Bute llall, Glasgow University, Glasgow, Fri 13-Sat14 Aug.
classic aimed at younger children and family audiences. Graham Hunter directs. I TROH THEATRE 63 Trongate. 552 4267. Box Office Mon 10am—5pm; Tue—Sat 10am until performance commences; Sun 6pm until performance commences. No
performances on Monday. [Access: PPA. ST. R. L. Facilities: WC. W8. H. G. C. Help: AA]
Politics in the Park and lust Tue 3—Thurs 12 Aug. 7.30pm. £7.50/£6 (£4/£3.5()). lain Heggie double bill getting a pre- Edinburgh Fringe airing. The first is a comic dialogue between two bickering women of a certain age. played here by Alexander Sisters Carolyn Bonnyman and Lynn Ferguson. The second is about a man who over-reacts to his girlfriend's infidelity and stars Tom Smith.
EDINBURGH
I KIHO’S THEATRE 2 Leven Street. 229 1201. Box Office Mon-Sat 10am—8pm. Bar. [Access: R. L. Facilities: WC. W8. H. G. Help: AA]
Buddy Until Thurs 12 Aug. Mon—Thurs 7.30pm; Fri. Sat and Thurs 12 5.30pm and 8.30pm. Extra performance Sun 8 Aug. 7.30pm. £4.50—£l6.50. Return of the West End musical featuring all your favourite Buddy Holly hits.
I ROYAL lYOEUM THEATRE Grindlay Street. 229 9697. Box Office Mon—Sat 10am—6pm. l0am—8pm on perf. evgs.
Bar. Rest/Cafe [Access: P. L. Facilities: WC, W5. H. G. C. T. Help: A. AA]
A little llotel on the Side Fri 6—Sal 7
Aug. 8pm. £4.50—£l2 (£3—£8). Kenny Ireland debut season of farces draws to a
close with A Little Hotel on the Side by Georges Feydeau in a translation by John Mortimer and directed by Ireland himself. It‘s a classic comedy ofextra-marital infidelity. confusion and rmm-swapping.
Despite a dull middle act. it‘s a boisterous production with lots of laughs. not least from Andy Gray.
lloises Oft Wed 4—Thurs 5 Aug. 8pm. £4.50—£I2 (£3—£8). Michael Frayn's clever farce-within-a-farce is given a brisk and breathless production directed by Benjamin Twist. A second-rate touring company romps through an on and off- stage parody of the farce genre.
Rookery llook Fri 30 Jul-Tue 3 Aug. 8pm. The Royal Lyceum‘s summer company turns its hand to Ben Travers's English farce of suspicious minds and double bluffs set in a country house where a newly-wedded husband's act ofchivalry is misinterpreted. Richard Baron directs with a polish that disguises the play‘s lack of substance.
I TROH TAVERN Hunter Square. 229 4783.
The Para llandy Wireless Show Fri 30 Jul. 7.45pm. £4 (£3). Fringe preview performance of Vital Spark‘s radio reworking of Neil Munro's famous Para Handy stories. For extra value. the show is followed by a couple of stand-ups and a ceilidh with the Old Toon Ceilidh Band.
COMEDY maime-
Comedy is listed by date, then by city. Shows will be listed, provided that details reach our offices at least ten days before publication. Comedy listings compiled by Mark Fisher.
THURSDAY 5 Edinburgh
I Dne flight Stand Subway. Cowgate. 225 6766. 8pm-L30am. £5. New comedy night hosted by compete Doug Healey with special guest Michael Redmond. the laid-back Irish stand-up who has recently relocated to Glasgow.
SATURDAY 7
I Traquair Fair Cabaret Traquair House. Innerleithen. 0893 830323. £12. 7.30pm—late. Food. drink. music and theatre in the beautiful surrounds of Traquair House with money raised going to Bosnia and Romania. Contributions from EAST Theatre Company. Deaf Heights Cajun Aces. Robin Thomson. Swamp Circus and others.
BEE!- cnvmc run THE moon
Seen at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. flow at Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 14 Aug.
Terry lleason is hardly Scotland’s most low-key personality, but in this compilation of her favourite poems and songs, with a few she wrote herself, the actor and singer gives a charmineg selfless performance. There’s no bowing after every song, no ‘thankyoolaydeesangenntemen’, no raumatazz, not even an encore, just a well-balanced show in which lleason’s character, mood and tone shifts to suit each piece, never imposing, always responsive.
On paper I can see no good reason why Crying for the Moon should work. The poems are all to do with animals and children and the songs predominantly self-pitying MDll ballads. And much as I enjoyed the show, few of the songs are ones I’d make space for on my own record
player. But I suppose that’s not really the point. Drawing us in, lleason makes us listen to every word and follow every unfamiliar tune; there’s a composure about her stance, a clarity about her delivery, a casual confidence about the whole performance that is quite seductive. Of course, she does have one hell of
a voice on her side: a rich, full- blooded tone that lounges round the bass notes and toys idly with the high. lens of the songs in this collection poses any threat to her vocal powers; even the Sondheim number with the comically unwieldy chorus is trotted out with ease. Duite why she feels it necessary to be miked-up in a venue the size of the Traverse Studio is beyond me, and it’s a shame because she inevitably loses some intimacy as a result. But despite my earlier comments, the material is well chosen - themes flow from song to poem to song, a slice of John llegley surrealism will off-set a soul- searching torch song - and it all adds up to a tremendously satisfying evening. (Mark Fisher)
44 The List 30 July—l2 August I993