H
V THEATRE MUII!
Making its Fringe debut is a Spanish company called Yllana. which is presenting a show at the Traverse about - you guessed it - bullfighting. It promises, however, a fresh perspective on that perennial Hispanic theme. which is handily symbolic for either satirising or celebrating Spanish cultural rnachismo. Much beloved of filmmakers like Pedro Alrnodovar. or Bigas ‘Jamon. Jatnon‘ Luna. bullfighting‘s connections of sex and death. blood and art are easy to make, and provide perfect fodder for the sharp-eyed and sharp- witted.
Yllana originated six years ago as a student theatre group in Madrid. and Mun! emerged in 1990 as its first professional production.
Since then. the company has been touring the show. as well as creating new work. arriving in Britian for the European Arts Festival last year. Shaping the wordless show around four matadors - first preparing for the fight and then taking on the beast — Yllana’s combination of music and mime will make them accessible for audiences unwilling to cope with language differences. (Andrew Pulver)
I Muu! (Fringe) Yllana, Traverse Theatre (Venue l5) 228 I404. l5 Aug. 19—22. various times. £8 (£5).
V THEATRE HARRY’S BIRD
A policeman's lot, as Mr Gilbert once pointed out. is not a happy one. According to playwright and actor Tony Breeze, an ex-teacher who joined up ‘out of naiveity and a feeling of wanting to do
! l l !
a
Tony Breeze: left-wine policeman
good for society', many of those who don the blue serge ‘feel as though they’re society’s garbage
men'.
‘I don‘t think locking people up does anything except taking them out of the way for a while.’ he argues. 'I feel as though I’m a left-wing policeman.’ Working on a Nottingham Constabulary’s custody desk has. however, given Breeze an insight into the ‘excesses on both sides’. This helped shape his latest play Harry’s Bird. in which an escaped young detainee confroan a patient when she breaks into his hospice, forcing him to question his own and his wife’s conformity and sense of justice.
‘lt portrays a couple who‘ve stayed together out of habit,’ explains Breeze. who will appear in Harry is Bird alongside two professional actresses, ‘and when this young tearaway comes in, the guy realises that his social values are not as important or deep-rooted as he once thought. She doesn't appear to give a toss about shoplifting. stealing or whatever, and in his position, close to death, he questions his old feelings. It’s a troubling play.‘ (Andrew Burnett) I Harry's Bird (Fringe) A Policeman’s Lot. Royal Mile Primary School (Venue 58) 554 3916. l6—28 Aug (not Sun), 7.30pm, £5 (£3).
vrcron SOBCHAK’S THEATRE
Russian exile Victor Sobchak is something of an impresario. He is putting on four shows at the Overseas House - in all of which he acts — that span a broad range of European and Russian sources. First Love, adapted from Beckett, is a
two-parter: the first exploring the relationship of a homeless young man and a prostitute who befriends him. while the second mixes in themes from Beckett’s Endgame as the man. crippled and blind. becomes wholly dependent on his son for support.
The Chosen One. Sobchak’s own work, is a tale of doomed love: a man is torn between a woman and another man (a silent presence. who never appears) as he confronts the problems of being gay in Russia. Bluebeurd is another adaptation — this time from Max Frisch — telling the story of the unfortuate Dr Shaad. acquitted of murdering his wife but still haunted by the traumatic memories of his trial. Finally. a Chekhov short story is the origin of Russian Tomfoolery — an account of the increasing dementia of a much- abused servant girl who. deprived of sleep, enters into a hallucinatory world of imagination and illusion. (Andrew Pulver) I Victor Sobchak‘s Theatre (Fringe) Overseas House (Venue 19) 225 5105. ll—3l Aug. 6.30pm, £6 (£3).
V THEATRE
AT THE ORIMSOH HOUR THEY MET
Ten years ago ten women were executed at the hands of the Iranian Revolutionary Government. Their crime: they were members of Iran's largest religious minority, the Baha'is. Newspaper headlines across the world screamed out the story. Congress and Parliament passed motions and even President Reagan made a plea to the Ayatollah Khomeni. However the pogrom continues.
This month marked the publication of 01_va's Story. Olya Roohizadegan is one of the survivors who escaped and has now written a first-hand account of those dramatic events which led to her own arrest and imprisonment.
For Arlette George and Shirin Youssefian of NUR Theatre. the book focused their own aims for the play At The Crimson Hour They Met. Having decided that they wanted to bring the experiences of the ten women into the realms of contemporary British experience, NUR have written a multi-media piece around two women: one in Scotland in 1993
FESTIVAL
V COMEDY HARRY HILL - EGGS
Harry Hill’s ten most interesting facts: 1. Coats eat everything. For this
reason goats should be kept in a
stainless steel tank otherwise they
will eat It.
2. By dangling a carrot in front of them, donkeys can be made to perform
chores against their will.
3. A sheet can often be mistaken for a ghost, particularly if there are holes in the sheet in the characteristic spooky face pattern. To avoid fright, simply add the words ‘lion’t be scared’ to the top of all your sheets.
4. It is unlucky to kill a spider because their juices stain. It is more unlucky to kill a pedestrian because they have the law stacked in their favour. it is almost impossible to kill a goat because they keep eating the
weapons.
5. The hit pop group Musical Youth’s song “Pass the Duchy to the left hand side’ refers to the Duchy of Cornwall and was meant as a touching tribute
to Prince Charles.
5. There is no lead in a dog lead, they are invariably made from leather or a weave of synthetic fibres.
7. A neat gift idea for a child would be a coypu or a tapir. Certainly not a
goat.
8. The phrase ‘Girls like a man in
uniform.
s.
GPH/BPI
Acting the goat: Harry Hill with his favourite facts
uniform’ seldom applies to a prison
9. If out with Pygmies, never get them to buy the drinks. They are always slow to be served at the bar due to their outlandish dress.
10. Due to their voracious appetites, a goat was initially auditioned for the part of the alien in the film Alien. However the film started to go dreadfully over-budget when the goat ate the entire set and all the actors as
Harry Hill - Eggs (Fringe) Harry Hill, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, 11 Aug-4 Sept, 7.45pm, £6.50 (£5.50).
and the other in Iran in 1983.
As George explains. they wanted to transcend the political and concentrate on the personal. ‘We hear this term, “global-society” all the time and we wanted to explore exactly what that means in terms of human relationships. The two women are from different cultures and are ten years apart. yet through a series of coincidences they become aware of each other's existence.‘ (Ann Donald)
I At The Crimson Hour They Met (Fringe) NUR Theatre, Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41) 226 6522, l4—2l Aug (not Wed 18), 23 Aug—4 Sept (not Tue 31). 6.30pm, £5.50 (£3.50).
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND
Mary Hayley Bell has the type of voice that conjures up images of St Trinians and jolly hockey-sticks. Best known for her novel Whistle Down The Wind, which was given a cinematic overhaul by Keith Waterhouse producing one of the best films of the l960s. she is bellowing down the line praising ‘Dicky. (that’s Richard Attenborough to non thespians). made a marvellous job and
Hayley did awfully well too didn’t she‘?‘
Indeed. daughter Hayley Mills surpassed herself in the naively wonderful role as the young girl. who along with the entire juvenile population ofa remote Northern English village. is convinced she has stumbled upon Jesus (played by Alan Bates) hiding in her barn.
Mention Bates’s name and Mills goes into schoolgirl raptures. ‘l was totally in love with him.’ she swoons. Indeed making the film at the impressionable age of fifteen had. she says. a lifelong effect on her.
This was attributable not only to Bates’s God-like charm but being pan of a
Whistle Down The Wind: ham-stunning musical?
story which. she believes. ‘is all about the magic of faith.‘ This intoxicating mixture. together with her grandmother's conviction that Jesus would return. swirling about in her fifteen-year-old head left her with areal belief that ‘Jesus could be a real human being.’
Whether the National Youth Music Theatre can capture this ‘magic' as Dicky did. remains to be seen. (Ann Donald)
I Whistle Down The Wind (Fringe) The National Youth Music Theatre. George Square Theatre (Venue 37) 650 4600. l7. l9. 2!. 22. 24. 25 Aug. 3pm; l7. IS. 20. 24. 26. 28 Aug. 7pm. £7.50 (£5.50).
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