THEATRE PREVIEW
PERFORMANCE ART Mountain
World iourneymen: Goat Island
When the Pilgrim Fathers sailed in search of a brave new world. they left no stone unturned in their quest for truth. .\'ow it seems like their descendents are back on the case in the shape of American performance troupe Goat Island. w ho unveil their brand new. typically multi-slranded work this nionth. Anyone w ho witnessed their first Scottish appearance during \ltlylL‘sl lW-l had arty prejudices against ‘art lheatre' blown away good and lil't‘lk‘l‘. Their hosts at the CCA wcrc so impressed they asked the company to take up a residency. allowing them the space to develop the new piece in a semi-public fashion.
(ioat Island have now been in (ilttsgow for mer a month. though Hun- Dear 'Ii) .lle . has been on the boil l'or two years. its initial starting point being a cliruh up an Irish motmtain. ‘ll's called (‘roagh l’atrick.‘ explains Karen Christopher. who‘s been with the company since l‘)‘)(). ‘-l().()()() people go up every year on the last Sunday in July. It's a gruelling hike tip. then at the top there‘s a ser\ ice. It‘s kind of creepy and feels like the Middle Ages. It was this idea of communities being created through journeys that we wanted to discover. the way you see the same people all the way tip. then at the top have really deep conversations with what are really total strangers.‘
Now in its final stages of refinement. Hmr' Dear To Me . . .‘s piecemeal style draws inspiration from influences as diverse as radical dance guru Pina Bausch. Hitchcock‘s The 39 Steps and flight pioneer Amelia Earhart.
While they‘re over here. Goat Island will be running a summer school for arts practitioners interested in honing their performance skills and marrying them to ideas. There's still considerable resistance in this country to the deconstructivist collages produced by companies like Goat island. though hi- tech art terrorists The Wooster Group have filtered into the mainstream to some degree.
‘lt tends to be artists who have
problems. If people watching have faith in their own associations they can get a lot out of it. It‘s when they want to find out what we meant that there‘s trouble.‘ (Neil Cooper) Haw Dear To Me The Hour When Daylight Dies. Goat Island. C CA. Glasgow. Sat 27 April—Fri 3 May. Summer School. /—25 July.
Every bad boy deserves razor
Fine is something of a new departure for writer Paul Trainer. His last work, limp Writs, explored the lives and obsessions of a group of gay men through monologues. With Fine, Trainer sticks to the monologue format, but this time the protagonist waiting long hours for an errant man is both female and heterosexual.
Christine, the central character, sleepwalks through her life. She works long hours as a carer, then sits at home waiting for her meat-packer boyfriend. She suspects he’s playing around, even going so far as to take notes, but she confides only in her teddy bears. When she finally confronts him, the quality of her anger is not strained.
More than just a study of infidelity, Fine explores the reasons why Christine - a representative, by implication, of man-lovers everywhere - tolerates a man who is, in director Peter llapier’s words, ‘completely and utterly devoid of moral fibre.’ llapier is enthusiastic about staging another of Trainer’s monologues. ‘Monologues
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Ted Fellows: Cowan Calder and confidant
are great, they’re so focused,’ he says. ‘The concentration required is incredible. It means there’s a lot of emphasis on the detail, so the writing is quite subtle.’
If you’ve ever wondered what really goes through the minds of people who slash their lovers’ suits and throw paint over their BMWs, don’t be tempted to try it first hand. See it all in this play and save yourself the cleaning bills. (Catriona Smith)
Fine, Perpetual Theatre Company, Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Tue 23-Fri 26 April.
ASSEMBLY ALIVE! ‘
Fan male
‘I’m a bit of a science fiction fan.’ Brave words - ones which usually prompt the recipient to make their excuses and scarper. Yet Fantasy Factory’s writer/director Andrew Loretto is unrepentant, and is merely attempting to illustrate his interest in obsessive fans. That’s what provides the backdrop to his play Sweet Asylum, part of Edinburgh’s second Assembly alive! season. ‘l’ve been to a couple of conventions, and to most people it’s just a laugh, but there are a few individuals who make it their life. It’s very sad, and you wonder how they got like that.’
The play concerns a not-terribly- talented soap star who takes matters into her own hands after falling prey to just such an obsessive admirer. Along the way we discover a long-lost brother - whose history of mental illness has had him disowned by the rest of the family - and a TV researcher who takes her job a shade too seriously. The characters mightn’t sound like ideal candidates for comedy, but fun is most definitely on the cards as the play slips into melodrama, interspersed with musical interludes a la Dennis Potter. ‘I like . using live music,’ says Loretto, ‘and this play needs a lot of different styles. The humour’s quite an uneasy one, with elements of Scooby Dee there too.’
loretto’s previous dabblings in musical theatre include taking his
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Stalked or stalker : Jane Dunbar in Sweet Asylum
West Lothian Youth Theatre production of John McGrath’s The Cheviot, The Stag And The Black Black Oil to Romania. last year, his production of the Michael Ackennan play Goldsmiths Kaddish for Factional Theatre looked set to go to London until big‘tlme Yankee producers got involved. loretto’s new company, Fantasy Factory, was primarily founded so he could work without outside interference. ‘This is a bit of an experiment for me, because I’ve never written a play before,’ he admits. ‘It’s quite frightening directing my own work. It’s a play which to some extent is about schizophrenia, and some days I feel pretty schizophrenic myself.’ (Neil Cooper) Sweet Asylum, Fantasy Factory, Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Tue 23-Fri 26 April.
BRIBE— PYCMALIDN
Emily Winter as Eliza Doolittle: ‘surely a babe for today‘
Royal Lyceum 'l'healre. lz'rlurhurg/r tutlrl Sat 4 x'l'lay. Ihe/t Int/ring.
A public schoolboy posing as Robin Hood and a working lad championing the privileged. Today’s mismatched political leaders would have been rich pickings for unconventional socialist and phonetics buff George Bernard Shaw. Not to mention our supposedly classless society. which is why Shaw's l‘) l 3 satire is as pertinent today as it ever was.
(‘ockney flower girl Eli/a Doolittle is picked tip from the street and transported to ‘oighty toighty English society by phoneticist Professor Higgins. But this is no social crusade. Rather it‘s the result of a hlokish bet that. with a bit of work on her p’s and q‘s. the tough-talking. street-smart kid can be transformed into a lady. But Higgins gets more than he bargained for when his meddling produces not just a prettily packaged android but a thinking. feeling woman who oo‘lcs charm.
This is no simple rags-to-riches yarn. however. as Shaw uses his ("inderella and Svengali figures to explore themes of class. language and power. The professor is little more than a lout in sheep's clothing. while the barely acknowledged Eli/a wishes respect rather than fancy frocks.
Hugh llodgatt‘s production is a handsome affair. played out on a grand set which suggests the elegant world of the chattering classes. Eliza's initial. incomplete transformation is a delight when. told to restrict her conversation to the weather. she delivers a commentary akin to the shipping forecast. Emily Winter charms as the sassy Eliza. while Michael Mackenzie's Higgins is a manipulative mummy's boy relishing his elaborate games.
Even. now the influence of how we speak on ottr respective destinies is undeniable. Yet here the coarse. untutored beauty of Eliza's guttersnipe slang speaks volumes. That. coupled with ballsy attitude and blonde ambition to die for. Surely a babe for today. (Claire Prentice)
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62 The List l9 Apr-2 May l996