DRAMA
The Anatomlst
Glasgow: Arches Theatre, Tue 18—Sat 22 Mar.
Written in 1930 by Glasgow-born James Bridie, who later co-founded the Citizens’ Theatre, this tragi-comedy centres on an endlessly fascinating Edinburgh myth. The graverobbers Burke and Hare, and their employer, Dr Robert Knox, are still among the great villains of Scottish folklore. Given his medical background, and the moral ambiguity of his work, Bridie may well have sympathised with Knox’s motives — in the play, he portrays the anatomist as a man of steely arrogance and charisma, much given to fiery epigrams. Asked to name 'the hall- mark ol greatness,’ he replies: ’To be assailed by the mob.’
This is the second production from The Card Makers, a new Glasgow- based company who made their debut with T. S. Eliot's Murder In The Cathedral at the Cottier last August. Director Alex Faure describes the production, which has been in rehearsal since November, as ‘slightly non-naturalistic and melodramatic.’
DRAMA Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 14 Mar—Sat 5 Apr.
Philip Prowse directs and designs one
Tennessee Williams: wrote the play. hated the movie
of Tennessee Williams’s most powerful plays for the Citizens’ main house. First performed in 1955, it's often seen as the last of Williams’s great plays - an agonising (and partly autobiographical) dissection of the patriarch-led families of the Deep South; and of sexual relationships steeped in hypocrisy and 'mendacity'.
The central characters are Brick, an injured former sports star, now hitting the bottle, suppressing homosexual yearnings and struggling with guilt over a friend’s suicide; Maggie, his embittered, sex-starved wife, the Cat of the title and a typically feisty Williams heroine; and Big Daddy, the dying, Lear-like patriarch. A big hit on Broadway, it ran for 694 performances and won a Pulitzer Prize.
When it was filmed in 1958, the stars Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor were nominated for Oscars, as were the film itself, director Richard Brooks, the screenplay and the cinematography. For his part, Williams had no time for the film. ’This movie will set the industry back 50 years!’ he yelled at a queue of Florida cinema- goers. ’Go home!’
I Free preview, Thurs 13 Mar.
DRAMA
Widowers' Houses
Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 12 Mar—Sat 5 Apr.
George Bernard Shaw's earliest play is the latest piece to be presented in miniature in the tiny Stalls studio. Directed by Giles Havergal, it centres on an aristocratic young doctor, Harry Trench, whose betrothal to Blanche Sartorius falls foul of social disapproval when Blanche's father — a self-made rich man - turns out to be a slum landlord. Shaw exposes the British class system with his customary wit and poise, reversing the characters' social status in the final act.
Motivated by the politics of property to turn his hand to play-writing, Shaw later commented on the crudity of his dramatic technique: ‘It is so Scribesquely constructed that you can see its ribs sticking out all over it,’ he wrote in 1919.
Oscar Wilde, however, was impressed: ’I admire the horrible flesh and blood of your creatures,‘ he wrote in a note to Shaw.
I Free preview, Tue 11 Mar
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new shows THEATRE
DRAMA
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Do You come Here Often? Glasgow: Tran Theatre, Wed 18—Sat 22 Mar. ,5 It's everyone's nightmare 5 being locked in a room with a stranger and if.“ no obvious” way out. In their new show, Do You Come Here Often. Hamish McCall and Sean» Foley - alias The Right Size - act out this scenario in'an airport kha'zi via a surreal mix of visual comedy. sharp dialogue and song-anddanm routines. "'
'lt's loosely based on an event which happened to Sean and I when we were stuck in'a bathroom in Holland,’ explains McCall. ‘I immediately ”
up the space and things. Afterwards we decided to take that as the ,3} springboard for the show.’ I 57;, It's not particularly rare to‘find a comedy act whose influences include 13:1 Messrs Merecambe, Cooper and Wall. But when err-hostage Brian ‘ Keenan is namedropped. you know something is up. 'An Evil Cradling has tremendous stuff about how he started to hear music in his head - music which he had never heard before - and started dancing to it,’ offers McCall. 'And about how they made up incredibly convoluted stories to pass the time - like yak farming in Patagonia. Incredible , details. such as how many yaks. and which market did you sell your yaks} at.’ (Brian Donaldson)
panidted. while Sean thought of all the logical ways to get out. divide git
The Lyric Club presents
Monday 10th - Saturday 15th March 97
Evenings 7.30pm . . Sat mat 2.30pm The Kings, Glasgow
THE KING'B GLASGOW
Visit our web site htttp://www.geocities.com/Broadway/4139
Crimes of the
Heart
By BetH HeNLey 7 —'29 March
Students: any seat, any night £5
, Royal] , yccum
'I‘llt’tll 11' fl )Hll‘lan
BOX OFFICE 0131-229 9697
7-20 Mar 1997 THEM”