THEATRE LISTINGS
Night Shift Thurs 29—Fri 30.1une. 7.45pm. £6 (£4). Take a night off from watching Casualty and ER. on the box and watch hospital drama in the flesh. This is the premiere of award-winning author Clive Wright's new play. exploring the tensions that arise between a difficult patient and a dedicated nurse when they’re stuck in a single room overnight.
This section lists shows that are touring the Central Belt. There is a phone number for each company should you require more information.
I Bedfellows Bucketloads of sleaze in this political farce set during a Scottish election campaign. The first piece from Wildcat's founders David McLennan and Dave Anderson in several years. Details (11412216789.
Cure Burg/t Hull, K ilr‘reggan Wed 21 June. 7.30pm.
('umbernuulrl Theatre Thurs 22—Sat 24 June. 7.45pm.
Dundee Rep Theatre Thurs 27—581 1 July. 3 7.30pm.
I I The Trouble With Frank Beast
‘ Productions challenge public attitudes
; towards mental health with this sensitive and witty look at life for Frank who is mentally ill. but intelligent and articulate. Written by Roderick Stewart. directed by Fiona Miller (TAG. 7:84. Dundee Rep) and advised by dramatherapist Andrew Dawson. Andrew Dawson offers training to group workers/therapists on how a visit to this performance can he used to help groups explore the issues surrounding mental illness. Details 0141 554 6252/3. See review.
[fast K tibrirle Arts Centre Fri 16 June. San
Kirktmt Community Centre, Dundee Sat 17 June. 7.30pm.
DANCE maim-
Dance performances and classes are listed by city, then alphabetically by venue. Shows will be listed, provided that details reach our offices at least ten days before publication. Dance Listings
' compiled by Ellie Carr.
I CCA 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521. [Access: PPA. L. ST. Facilities: WC. W3. H. G. C]
Moving a Perhaps Thurs 22—Sat 24 June. 7.30pm. £5 (£2). They‘re Swiss. they‘re strange and they‘re Very. very funny. Alias Compagnie from Geneva made their UK debut at the CCA during Mayfest 1994 with a crazy. witty show called La Mum/tie. Expect more of the same with this new show featuring a room dripping with water. a bed. tropical wallpaper and
six people. some of whom are very. very happy.
Katoi Fri 16 June. 7.30pm. £3 (£1).
; Double-bill with Whoremeal by
performance artists Left and Right.
Edinburgh performance artist/dancer
Mark Hamilton and director Alan Caig of The Silent Foundation present an
= exploration of the performer‘s body and
Beast
Productions on tr in
the relationships between people and places as part of the Summer Shorts season. Many of the works seen here have developed from the CCA's experimental performance platforms. With a pre-show talk with Lindsay John examining the issues and intentions that concern the artist.
-‘§r,-\..‘:..
Trouble with Frank
n53
Mayfest Scotland On Sunday Paper Boat Award Winner
From the books of Peter Sichrovsky
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Wed 14 - Sun 18 June. 8.00pm Tel: 0131 228 1404
Details from 0141 331 2219
ui it
'A huge achievement... a triumph. ' The Herald ‘Gripplng, compelling and urgent. ' The Scotsman 'Stunning, unsettling production. ' The Guardian
1
58 The List 16-29 Jun 1995
I KING’S THEATRE Bath Street. Phone bookings. Ticket Centre. Candleriggs — see Ticket Link details above. [Access: PPA. L. Facilities: WC. W3. H. G. C. Help: A. AA]
Giselle/Gala Programme Tue 20-Sat 24 June. Tue—Thurs 7.30pm; Wed mat 1.30pm. Fri-Sat 7.30pm; Sat tnat 3pm. £3.50—£ 19. Classics overload from the respected dancers of London City Ballet with Giselle — beautiful young peasant girl is betrayed by lover and dies in his arms — followed up by a Gala performance of all those favourite ballet moments ever rolled into a single show. See review.
I PAISLEY ARTS CENTRE New Street. Paisley. 887 1010. [Access: PPA. 1-. R. Facilities: WC. WS. H. G. C. Help: A. AA]
Panopticon Fri 23—Sat 24 June. 8pm. £6 (£4). Young Mancunian physical theatre outfit of rising repute urge the audience to look over their shoulders as they create an atmosphere of Big Brother paranoia. using security fencing. surveillance equipment and searchlights to control their surroundings. Part of Paisley Arts Festival. See preview.
Renfewshire Dance Proiect Mon 26—Tue 27 June. 7.30pm. £3 (£1.50). Children. young people and comtnunity dancers
' come together for a celebration of dance
called Summertime. Part of Paisley Arts Festival.
1 I PAISLEY TOWN HALL Abbey Close.
Paisley. 887 1007.
Jaleo Fri 24 June. 7.30pm. £6 (£4.50). Five top flamenco artists from Seville send a heatwave through Paisley Town Hall in this display of the passionate rhythms of Spanish music and dance.
I DANCE BASE Assembly Rooms. 54 George Street. 225 5525. Ticketline: 220 434‘). [Access: ST. R. Facilities: WC. WS. 0]
Ceroc for Beginners Sun 25 June. 2—5.30pm. £ 10 (includes tea and cakcsfl. Take a crash course in French style rock 'n‘ roll with Sally-Anne Hunter. Easy to learn and open to all.
I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE 13-29 Nicolson Street. 52‘) 6000. [Access: 1.. Facilities: WC. WS. AS. 11. (I. '1‘. Help: A] Rambert Dance Company Well 23 June—Sat 1 July. 7.30pm. £~l.5()-£17.50. The most dynamic force in British contemporary dance returns to the Festival Theatre stage with two meaty programmes of work. including the UK premiere of artistic director (‘hristopher Bruce's Where the Bee Dances (which has stormed the USA) and a repeat of liri Kylian's incredible [.11 Petite Mart. See pre vic w .
I CUMBERHAULD THEATRE Kildrum.
Cumbernauld. 0236 732887. [Access:
PPA. 1.. ST. R. Facilities: WC. WS. 11. (i.
C. Help: A. AA]
‘ Scottish Ballet Wed 21 June. 7.45pm. £6
2 (£3). Scotland‘s national dance company
: present a mixed bag ol‘classical and modern tit-bits. from the lolksic Shoals of
Herring to the angular lines of Nijinsky's
l L'Apres Mull rl'un l’uune to that classic of
classics 5mm [xi/re.
BEET— GISELLE
Seen at King’s Theatre, Edinburgh. Plays King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 20-Thurs 22 June.
First performed in the mid-19th century, Giselle still hangs in there by its Romantic tresses as one of today’s most widely performed ballets. A simple tale of love, death, broken hearts and all those other things that the Romantics were up for, it’s seen some vastly different interpretations in recent times. The most successful have been those like Dance Theatre of Harlem’s (1984), which injected soul and substance by taking Giselle to a whole new time and place - in that case a sugarcane plantation in louisiana.
Unfortunately, London City Ballet do it by the book. Giselle is a chirpy, cheery German peasant girl, her lover Albrecht a golden-haired aristo. And the corps spend most of their time doing icing-on-the-cake crowd scenes and sporting day-glo smiles. The dancers are perfectly competent, but saddled with such archaic choreography, cardboard cut-out hand gestures and a superficial, two- dlmenslonal sense of drama, it’s not surprising they come up looking more Princess Tina Ballet Book than feisty German folktale.
The second act - in which the broken-hearted Giselle gets whisked off to the Kingdom of the Wills, an ethereal afterworld where badly-done- by women wreak revenge on their men-folk - is often where this ballet comes into its own. Here. though, the
‘
london City Ballet's Giselle: ‘by the book’
heroine’s chance to swap her white picket-fence existence on the Bhineland for life as an empowered whirling dervlsh with dramatic clout is passed swiftly by, to make way for more of the same dot-to-dot, museum- piece choreography in different frocks.
Audiences like Giselle, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t stay in the repertoire, but if it does it has to be more just than a naive re-enactrnent of 19th century entertainment. The public deserves more. (Ellie Carr)