THEATRE PREVIEW .
It’s a Funny Life
The Glasgow Philosophical Society was the iateiul but iltting venue where an unholy alliance - and what must be one oi the oddest Festival partnerships - was iorged.
All-round entertainer and pantoland doyen, Mr Jimmy logan had nipped along to listen to all-round maverick and Scottish Arts Council irritant Mr , Richard liemarco talk on art, a philosophy and science. Beiore the night was out, smart-talking liemarco had pressed logan into bringing his evening of reminiscences to the Festival under the Richard Demarco European Foundation banner.
logan obviously admires his partner- ln-art despite their diiiering approaches. “I’ve known Mr liemarco for quite a tow years now and I’m an admirer oi his lateral thinking,’ he says with a hint oi a smile. ‘ile’s the only man I know who could set tire to wet wood. Everything is an inspiration to him.’
logan needed a dose oi Demarco’s tire to convince him his show was suitable ior Festival audiences. ‘lt’s designed tor a particular audience,’ says logan oi his show. ‘An audience ied up with what they are seeing on
Jimmy logan good wholesome iun
TV, the violence, the language etc.
They said to me: “What we want is a
E lovely iarnily evening we can all go to
' and laugh our heads oii, love the
voices and the singing and not be ied
1 up.” ’ He adds cheekily: ‘All oi which
1 is the direct opposite oi the Edinburgh I
Festival.’
‘ The show is a collection oi logan’s personal memories and original
archive iilm oi Glasgow’s Barrowland
‘ Ballroom in its heyday, with Sir liarry
Lauder in 1931, open air concert
parties oi the 20s and 30s, and the
Clydeslde shipyards. Step back in time
and embrace the way we were,
3 courtesy oi Jimmy logan. (Ann Donald) '
It’s a Funny life (Fringe) Jimmy logan,
COMEDY
THE TOM MILES QUARTET
Classical music concerts can be disappointingly like taking tea with your aunt: staid. elaborate. and it‘s impolite to say you don’t like it. Not so for Tom Miles. if he came round your aunty's. he‘d be perched at your elbow hollering: ‘The scones are stale!‘
After three sell-out years on the Fringe as part of Radio 4's Miles and Millner. Tom Miles‘ first M illner-less show features a classically-trained
: pianist and an operatic soprano.
Miles turns a keen eye
for the ridiculous on tunes
and performers. sending
up miming boy pop bands and operatic dialogue with equal finesse. If you want
; musical parody. The Tom ; Miles Quartet is
Fascinating A'i'da with
better dress sense.
5 (Catriona Smith)
' I The Tom Miles Quartet
(Fringe) Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550. until 2 Sept (not 15. 31). 7pm. £7/£8
(£6/£7).
The Demarco European Art Foundation .
(Venue 22) 558 3371, 23-26 Aug, 7.15pm, £7 (£5).
cILDED’” BALLOON ll ’ (Stepping Stones)
Venue 51 (0131 225 6520)
11th - 28th August
LUNCHTIME (12:15pm)
£5.00 / £3.00
Translaion by Michael Gle V I
presents
Oxmad Theatre Company
;OEORGE : BALAHOHIHE’S
THE HUTORAOKER
j Last year the dynamic ? Miami City Ballet hit The 2 Edinburgh Playhouse
stage with a handful of stark. modernist ballets by the great George Balanchine. This year, by sharp contrast. they touched down with his version of that all-time Christmas treat The Nutcracker, a million dollar spectacular, unseen outside the USA until
now. At first glance this could
be any one of the candy- floss Nutcrackers on offer round the world. complete with sugar plum fain'es and dancing mice. but closer inspection reveals it to be a feisty. full~bodied production shot through with Balanchine's sharp- edged choreography and love of Hollywood scale, and an air of dark. folksy menace drawn directly from the original E. T. A. Hoffman fairy-tale.
Slap bang in the middle of all this splendour. Miami City Ballet are radiant, looking like they're still on the upsurge of a wave that‘s shot them to the top of the international dance world in just ten years. (Ellie Carr)
I George Balanchine”: The Nutcracker (Festival) Miami City Ballet, seen at The Edinburgh Playhouse. 14 Aug. Run ended.
THEATRE
erLAuos
Girl reporter goes west to get the scoop on an American nuclear test site and gets in over her head with the townsfolk. More than a monologue. Badlands is a one-woman play with all roles filled by Liz Brown of Atomic Cowboy.
it is a hefty piece of theatre for a young actor. and though it requires a determined effort to keep astride her barrage of words that verge on frantic, the pop-art. comic-book style and speed of delivery is apt and effective. Unfortunately. part two of the program was neither. Another disenfranchised young man rages in the nude — the dangerous side of the Fringe. (Lynn Keating) I Badlands (Fringe) Atomic Cowboys. Greyfn'ars Kirkhouse
‘ , Bosh! Bosh! Wallopl Wallop! Jim Mddaie in Brothers oi the Brush (Venue 28) 225 3626. until 26 Aug (not Suns). 7. l5pm, £5/£3.
THEATRE
BROTHERS OF THE BRUSH
Since industry was destroyed along with trade union rights. Glasgow‘s Wiseguise has been one of the few theatre companies brave enough to look unflinchineg at the human debris left behind.
Jimmy Murphy's timely play looks at a trio of Irish painters and decorators. and the power struggles between them as they wrestle with each other and their sharp-suited gaffer. Each represents a different point of what passes for an ideological axis after sixteen years of out and out brutality.
The play is passionately performed as each character fights for his livelihood and dignity. lt recognises there are no easy answers in a divide and conquer regime and looks set to become a classic. sentiment-free text opposing the status quo and exposing breadline employment. (Neil Cooper)
I Brothers oi The Brush (Fringe) Wiseguise Productions. Theatre Workshop (Venue 20) 226 5425, until 2 Sept (not Suns). 7.45pm. £6 (£3).
The Interacker: ieisty and tell-bodied ballet
42 The List 18-24 An: 1995