FESTIVAL 9am—1pm
THEATRE PREVIEW
Shakespeare For Breakfast! Burns For Breakfast
Shakespeare for Breakfast has been a huge Fringe hit for six years. Burns for Breakfast burst in on the scene last year. In a battle of the bards, we asked each troupe to propose five reasons why their bard is best, starting with the Stratford stonker.
I. THERE IS ONLY ONE Bard. Shakespeare. Holder of the cup winner’s cup, 1591 to perpetuity. Anyone else is just a pretender to the throne.
2. THERE IS ONLY ONE Shakespeare for Breakfast. We’ve been doing it for five years. We were good to start with. By now we’re cosmic.
3. THERE ARE TWO standard books for a castaway on a desert island: one of them is the complete works of Shakespeare. The other is not the complete works of Robbie Burns.
4. HERE IS SOME of the funniest and most melodious language you are ever likely to hear. And with Will’s vocabulary of 100,000 words you can give your senses a treat and wallow in them.
S.’ IN TESTS, eight out of ten Fringe goers said they preferred Shakespeare with their cr0issants.
And Rab the Ranter retaliates:
1. SHAKESPEARE IS OF NO USE when addressing a haggis.
2. RAB WAS FRISKY and could haud his whisky.
3. RAB 'THE RAPPER’ BURNS gave the world hundreds of immortal love songs including Ae Fond Kiss and My Love ls Like A Red Red Rose, not to mention classic hymns to radicalism and high- heartedness such as A Man’s A Man For A’ That and Scots Wha’ Hey. William’s best effort is Hey Nony Nony No whose title alone seems to anticipate countless Norwegian Eurovision song contest entries.
Burns - 10; Shakespeare - nul pomts. 4. THE EVER-COOL BURNS antiopated the Oasis look, while the Shakespeare coiffure seems to have been an inspiration only to late period Art Garfunkel and early period Leo Sayer. 5. THE TARBOLTON BACHELORS’ CLUB and the Crochallan Fencibles were but two of Burns’ favourite drinking, dancing and debauching haunts on the club scene at a time when Irvine Welsh was only a bit of DNA in his great, great, great grandfather’s eye (or E as they would say then). Shakespeare’s exploits as a party animal are not recorded. Rab the Raver! Who would you rather spend the nicht With?
I Shakespeare for Breakfast (Fringe) C (Venue 79) 225 5705, until 30 Aug, 70am, £5 (£4) incl. breakfast
I Burns for Breakfast (Fringe) Famous Grouse House (Venue 34) 220 5606, 9—30 Aug (not 78, 26), 70.30am, [5 incl. breakfast.
PAISLEY
ARTS CENTRE
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Theatre Cryptic
in association with
Paisley Arts Centre
Opens at the Traverse - 9 August Paisley Arts Centre - 13 September
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A receiving venue helping to produce the best in the performing arts
c' LookOut Theatre in association
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with Paisley Arts Centre
Opens at the Traverse - 19 August Paisley Arts Centre - 9 & IO October
1010
NEW STREET, PAISLEY
36 THE usr 8—14 Aug I997
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Performance troupe Taihen transform disability into beauty
DANCE PREVIEW Departed Soul
Followmg the success of Bloom last year, Taihen return to this year’s Fringe with a new production, Departed Soul. This unique Japanese group of disabled performers defy the stereotypical image of disability transforming it into unexpected beauty.
Departed Soul deals with the interval between life and death and the pomt when the soul is liberated from its incumbent shell. It is choreographed by founder/performer Manri Kim who is driven by the belief that ’the disabled body itself is an art’.
She prefers not to describe her work as dance or physical expression but rather as ’metamorphosis’. (Robin James)
I Departed Soul (Fringe) Taihen, Continental Shifts at St Bride ’5 (Venue 62) 346 7405, 78—22 Aug (not20)4pm, £5 (£3).
THEATRE PREVIEW Dusty Fruit
Last time RGJGCIS Revenge Theatre Company was here With Peasouper in 1995, a Fringe First and Spirit of the Fringe Award were packed in the communal overnight bag. Over the past eighteen months the vengeful threesome of Tim Hibberd, David Alison and Ann Farrar have been strengthening their physical theatre Credentials — ’could just be the next Right Size’ one critic said.
However the new show, Dusty Fruit, marks a serious departure from their comic norm. 'We wanted to make this one a little more human,’ says writer/ performer Tim Hibberd. 'Our preVious shows have been a not of fun. We’ve gone for the gags, which is fine, but this time we’ve gone for a human st0ry involving comic and serious characters.’ The result is a mix of horror and comedy, based on a true stOry of one of the most haunted buildings in the country.
There are no departures however from their approach to physical theatre, where the visual potential of ideas is always the starting point. The playwriting comes later. Or, as Hibberd sums up, 'It’s using words in a physical way.’ (Gabe Stewart)
I Dusty Fruit (Fringe) Rejects Revenge, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, 8-30 Aug (not l2, 79, 25), 72.30pm, £7 (£6).
THEATRE PREVIEW Star Wars Trilogy In 30 Minutes
Festival Theatre USC-USA describe, at breakneck speed, their own top five Star Wars scenes. Any similarity to the originals is astonishing.
I. THE CANTINA
Share a pint of intergalactic ale with the scum of the universe. Special guest appearance by the Cantina Band.
2. ATTACK ON THE DEATH STAR Witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station. Cheer Luke on as he hits his biggest target since a womprat.
3. VADER-LUKE BATTLE
The ultimate in outer spacial dysfunction. Luke gleans incestral truths, loses a vital limb in the process. Dazzling new special effects.
4. JABBA’S PALACE
Han’s out of it for a little while, everyone gets delusions of grandeur. As Han chills out, Luke shows off his new-found Jedi know-how.
S. MOON OF ENDOR
Are those Tribbles? Sheep Dogs? Or iust inverted Wookies? Furry friends Join forces with the Rebels to defeat the eVil Emperor. Vader loses a hand, realises he’s been naughty. All boogie. I Star Wars Trilogy In 30 Minutes (Fringe) Festival Theatre USC-USA, Drummond Community Theatre (Venue 25) 558 9695, 9, 6, 23, 30 Aug, noon, ll, 73, 75, I8, 20, 22, 25, 27, 29 Aug, 77.30pm, [5.