National YOuth
Theatre
Edinburgh Season 98
Sponsored by R Briggs Group Ltd
Dumped
by Daragh Carville 5-16 August 6.15pm
Pleasance Two 0131 556 6550
Dancing at Lughnasa
by Brian Friel
8-30 August 3pm George Square Theatre 0131 662 8740
Kissing Angels
devised by Maggie Kinloch, Peter Collins and the NYT Company
21-31 August 6.30pm
Chaplaincy Centre 0131 662 8882
’ )ITHE ENERGY Lad GROUP PLC
38 THE LIST 27 Aug—10 Sep 1998
THEATRE REVIEW Something Blue first first
Like an episode of EastEnders, except The Old Vic is a brothel instead of a pub. The cast of not—so-chirpy Cockney characters all have their problems in love; Cherie (‘it’s French for darling'), the Madam of the seedy place, is in love with Jack; he is unwillingly entertained by her while waiting for his regular girl, Doll, who is busy with another client; Tiger wants to marry Honey; she is in love with Boyzone and the idea of becoming a French porn star. Baby is the pimp and only loves himself. A wonderfully original study of the two things that make the world go around, which reiterates the message that one cannot buy the other.
(Kirsty Knaggs)
a Something Blue (Fringe) Crazy Horse Theatre Company C Venue (Venue 79) 225 5705, unti/37 Aug (not 25) £5.50 (£4.50).
COMEDY REVIEW The Flat eases
Make no mistake, and accept no substitutes, this must surely be the best late-afternoon laugh at this year’s Fringe. Given a fairly unexciting premise — two buffoons move into a straight-arrow type’s flat (think of Michael Douglas in Falling Down, then subtract hair) — this exuberant, irrepressible trio milk it for its full slapstick potential, both phySICal and verbal, in a way that makes Rick and Ade’s Bottom seem half-baked. They’re sharp, these guys, and have no fear of deviating from the script, even at the risk of cracking the other two up or running over time. Even the lighting man seems confident enough to improvise. The landlord-through-the- window sequence is unforgettable and, oh . . . uh, nice beaver.
(Alastair Mabbott)
n The Flat (Fringe) The Three Canadians, Calder's Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2757, until 37 Aug, 5.45pm, £7 (£6).
The Flat: do not give these men your keys
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theatre . dance . comedy
THEATRE REVlEW Dancing At LughnaSa
20-yearoolds to pull oil a play about middle-aged regrets
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Dancing At Lughnasa: admirable attempt by
Based in rural lreland, autumn 1936, Brian Friel's play tells how duty and responsibility can grind down the love and laughter of life. Five mature sisters, variously burdened by financial worries and frustrated emotion. share their home with their uncle, Father Jack, a distressed, disgraced African missionary, and Michael, the seven-year-old love child of the youngest sister. Underneath the engaging narrative. Friel’s play masterfully explores the relationship between secular dancing and religious celebration, pagan worship and Christian orthodoxy. But the story, narrated by the grown-up Michael, at times verges dangerously on the sentimental. it finishes muddily, with a depressing reportage of the sisters' descent into ignoble existence or death.
However, all parts are admirably played, from Michelle Brown's simple Rose, Bea Holland's warmvhearted Magie, and Rachael Stirling’s primly proper Kate. But it’s expecting a bit too much of the young 19~20oyearoold cast to quite pull off the subtle nuances embedded in a play about middle- aged regrets and missed opportunities.
It may not be a breathtaking masterpiece, but the company manage to tell this tale of failure in the face of hope quite admirably. (Gabe Stewart)
:53 Dancing At Lughnasa (Fringe) National Youth Theatre Of Great Britain, George Square Theatre (Venue 37) 662 8740, until 30 Aug, 3pm, £8 (f 6).
THEATRE REVIEW THEATRE REVIEW
The Glace Bay Miners' Lorenzaccio Museum i "i" Alfred de Musset's Lorenzaccio is five
hours long. Fortunately, Bristol’s eX nihilo Theatre have managed to cut it down to a mere two hours without damaging too much of the plot. The play is set in corrupt, blood-stained Renaissance Florence, where palace, people and pope all wrsh to change the future of their City. The Duke and his cronies have a predilection for virtuous women and Violent murder, much to the chagrin of the Victims (and their fathers). Similarities to Hamlet ab0und but by no means detract from the import of the play in itself. This is a polished, ambitious production — it's also a short one. Go see. (Nicky Agate) 55?: Lorenzac'cio (Fringe) eX nihi/o Theatre, Augustine’s Sanctuary (Venue 752) 225 6575, until 37 Aug, 3. 75pm, E6 ([450),
This Wendy Liil version of a Slit‘idori Currie short story has already appeared as the blur ti/7argaret’s I‘vluseurn, but Lill's ‘Ji’l'Sf’Hi iii\/:‘tl'8 a more radical political approach to its subject Margaret 'Alison Baker) l‘, a young woman l ving an a tiny mining ('orrrriiuriity, who has been labelled 'a snot nosed vvhor‘e' by the locals. She meets Neil (Derek Par-ken, a returned war veteran, and once married they move into her (ramped and impoverished family home There is rniit h giirri reflection on social (OlidlilC‘ll‘. here, but also not a little litirnotir, the horror wrtl‘. whit h Neil's bagpipe-playing is greeted being a nice, tinsentimental tour it. Very strong perfor'inan; es all round, and some solid narrative teclinigties make this a far more intr_~i'esting play than its title suggests (Steve Cramer')
SE The (Slat 0 Bay Miners’ Museum (Fringe) Total/y Portable Theatre, Quaker Meeting House (Venue 40) 220 6709, irrifil29Ai/g, 3pm, [7(15)
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