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MULTl-MEDIA Mestiza - Que Bonitos
Ojos Tienes Glasgow: Tramway, Thu 28—Sat 30 May.
If your Spanish is rusty, the title of Julie Tolentino's first full-length piece might be mystifying. Even given the translation: ’what beautiful eyes you have’, its significance is not obvious. The key word is mestiza, a person of g mixed race, which has a derogatory angle to it, suggesting tainted impurity.
Tolentino is of Filipino and El Salvadorean stock, and explains the piece is about exploring aspects of self- performers and designers, exploring identification. 'I’ve learned there’s a notions of how we see ourselves. ’The huge amount of power and beautiful eyes of the title refers to the opportunities in holding onto labels,’ way people can be defined by the she explains. ’It can limit your shape and colour of their eyes,’ she relationships and professional says. 'l'm asking the performers and experiences if you define yourself in the audience to think about what just one world.’ beautiful ways of looking and seeing
Limitations are clearly something we all have.’ Tolentino has little time for, with The border between audience and involvements as diverse as tattoo art, performer is an open one, as Tolentino yoga, lesbian activism, video and dance leads workshops prior to the work. Is Mestiza dance? She laughs at performance, collaborating with local the restrictions of the label. 'l’m performers who then become part of looking at the idea of an endurance- the performance of Mestiza. 'There's related installation work — there’s a some fear, but surVival is a shared quiet nature to it, quite physical, but experience in this work,’ she says. ’It's with a highly visual aspect holding the the catalyst to connect with the ground of the piece, while dance and collaborators and to examine the performance theatre happen identity question, as a way of going alongside.’ deeper with one another.’ (Don Morris)
Mixing it: Julie Tolentino
The excitement for Tolentino comes from collaborating with a range of
Tues 26 to Wed 27 May at 7.30pm Direct from Seville
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[EING'S
A CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL VENUE
82 THE U31 14-28 May 1998
YOUTH DRAMA Wise Guys
Stirling: MacRobert Arts Centre, Wed 20 & Thu 21 May. Edinburgh: St Bride's Centre, Fri 22 May.
This touring co-production between Red Ladder and Theatre Centre focuses on the prevalence of Violence in youth culture. Playwright Philip Osment also addresses the role of paternal relationships in a show aimed at young adults. 'The role of men in our sOCiety is changmg,’ he explains. 'They are no longer necessarily the breadwmner and many young men do not feel that they have a role to play.’
Researching the script at a workshop for young people in Cumbria, Osment discovered undirected anger apparent in one man in particular. 'The story of that one y0ung man became the basis of the play,’ he says. The plot involves three men — Mike, Skid and Darren - dealing With drugs, cars and dodgy business in an urban environment. Directed in a highly phySical style by Antony McBride, Wise Guys marks Red Ladder’s 30th birthday, bringing together two leading youth theatre groups to raise Questions about Violence in modern sooety. (Tracy Griffen)
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a waist: Tim Hibberd in Dusty Fruit
What
PHYSICAL COMEDY Dusty Fruit Paisley Arts Centre, Tue 19 May.
Two removal men and a woman in a haunted house. That’s the scenario for Dusty Fruit, a quirky and ingenious dark comedy by Rejects Revenge, which returns this fortnight after its premiere at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival.
This eighth show created by the three-strong, Liverpool-based company, is the first to boast a multi-layered, rather sombre plot. 'lt’s a reaction to what we’d done before,’ explains performer Tim Hibberd, who writes the scripts. ’PreVious shows were very slapstick — running off and running on again with a different hat. It took us a long time to work out that haVing a decent storyline was a lot of fun.’
The company has toured constantly since the early 90s, and naturally tempers do fray. ’lt's like any marnage,’ admits Hibberd. ’But we realise we’re good for each other, so you kiss and make up.'
Dusty Fruit recently Visited Singapore and Greece, and passes through Paisley en route for less sunny climes. ’We love touring the north of Scotland,’ says Hibberd. 'And our girlfriends and boyfriends are coming With us this time.’ Which should cut down on the cabin fever. (Andrew Burnet)
MODERN CLASSIC
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Glasgow: Cottier Theatre, Tue 26—Sat 30 May.
For those who regard sobriety as an unnatural state, a cautionary tale that could empty the late-night kebab shops for months. A poll conducted by Glasgow’s new Over The Rainbow company found Edward Albee's classic to be the most in demand for reViVal among Glasgow theatre audiences.
The play has seldom failed to shock, with its acc0unt of a middle-aged academic couple on a late-night drinking binge with another couple two decades their junior, and the extraordinary mind games which proceed. But according to director Cary Parker, the comic element in the play has often been buried beneath its notorious histrionics — best known from the Burton/Taylor film version.
’The energy of the play comes from its comedy,‘ claims Parker, ’and a lot of this relates to drunkenness. This also alters the nature of the performance. The play starts out in a realistic way, but moves into an expressionistic mode as the characters become more drunk.’ Don't we all? (Steve Cramer)
I The performance on Thu 28 May is a gala for Breast Cancer Awareness.