NEW PLAY
Lifegame
Glasgow: Tron Theatre, Wed l—Sat 4 Apr.
Other peoples' domestic debris always makes for top entertainment. Think of America’s angst-ridden self-purging chat-shows. Akin to such public confessionals, Improbable Theatre’s new show finds a victim to probe for intimate secrets. But the emphasis is very much on entertainment rather than therapy, according to artistic director Lee Simpson.
The concept is simple, but Lifegame is an improwsed show, with no predetermined plot, which makes rehearsals a tad tricky. ’lt’s a bit like being in a football team,’ believes Simpson. ’You don’t know what’s going to happen; you can just train for the match by practising skills, techniques and ideas you have, building up a palette of ways to play ii.’
Simpson reckons the average person’s life contains plenty of mileage. Describing the piece as ’Parkinson with accents’, he intends to grill a different candidate each night, using a combination of live music, storytelling, traditional theatre and puppetry to give the piece a 'shambolic feel’. While social institutions like school and the family provide a baSlC structure, Simpson believes this unpredictability will give each performance an edge. ’It should be like every teenager’s fantasy of being at their own funeral,’ he says. ’You get to choose who is there and
Kilroy wasn't here: Improbable Theatre in Lifegame
what questions are asked.’
The idea for Lifegame has been kicking around in the mind of Improbable Theatre’s Phelim McDermott since 1986. The show was originally conceived by 505 improv guru Keith Johnstone; and when Improbable finally secured the cash produce the show, Johnstone came over from Canada to join them in the rehearsal room.
Having enjoyed rave reViews in Edinburgh and Glasgow last year With 70 Hi// Lane, Improbable is dorng something deliberately left-field, to avoid what Simpson calls ’the "Bohemian Rhapsody" element'.
The results, however unpredictable, are bound to be titillating. Move over Kilroy. (Claire Prentice)
Marisa Zanotti: is anybody really there?
PERFORMANCE ART Wipe Out
Glasgow: Tramway, Thu 26—Sat 28 Mar.
She undresses and pisses salt — and she’s not sure if she’s there at all. No wonder Marisa Zanotti describes her latest show Wipe Out as ’a provocative sensory experience’. It is the result of a collaboration between Zanotti, video-maker Simon Fildes and ambient mUSlC guru Philip leck.
'lt's completer lit by direct prOjection, which is as integral as the music,’ Zanotti explains. ’It defines what and how you can see. The use of video pr0jection and movement combined make it look like things
pass through me. At the beginning, a projected image of me walks out of me. There are moments when you don’t know who’s who.’
The love affair between dance and video is nothing new, but few choreographers and video~makers work as closely together as Zanotti and Fildes. Although devised during Tramway’s Hit & Run season, in which it is the final show, this performance is the culmination of a year's work spent refining the projections. The music is created live and takes its structure from the video.
The starting pomt was a question: How do / know I’m here? When asked the same, Zanotti replies, ’Sometimes I’m not sure if I am.’ When pressed she elaborates: ’Anybody who’s ever sat on a hillside 0r got really steaming has had a moment of thinking, is this real? I was interested in exploring the idea that I might not be here.’
One aspect of Wipe Out is what darkness can reveal. ’Your eyes get used to it, often seeing parts of forms,’ observes Zanotti. 'Your perception changes, you see things that you don’t see in the light ’ The projections enable her to vanish and reappear. ’As the performance goes on, the audience starts to wonder whether they’re there -— and what they’re seeing.’
(Stephanie Noblett)
I Wipe Out can also be seen at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu T6—Sat 78 Apr.
new shows THEATRE
' ‘5'11‘ ; ' A THF RE
98 Ingram Street, Glasgow 0141~ 552 3489
Tues 17th to Sat 21st March 7.30pm Eclipse Theatre Company
Sue Glover's award-Winning contemporary Scottish classic
B ONPAGERS
'A poignant and lyrical play which evokes the drudgery, joy.
loneliness and companionship of female bonded labourers in the Borders in the19th century, with extraordinary depth. '
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‘ united, after violent murders, in the afterworld. - Can they forget
Thurs 26th to Sat 28th March 7.30pm Modern Languages Department
LE5 JEUX SONT FAITS 1
a dynamic dramatistation of Jean-Paul Sartre's screenplay, by Alison Croshaw, performed in French A man and a woman from opposite political backgrounds are
their terrestrial ties and fall in love?
THEATRE COMPANY
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Tickets: Tues/Weds £4/1.50 Thurs to Sat £6/3 “Ticket Centre 0141 — 287 5511
20 Mar—<2 Apr i9a8 THELIST 59