theatre
new shows
CONTEMPORARY DANCE
LoveBites Tounng
Hicky situation: X—Factor in LoveBites
The last show from Edinburgh's X FacIOr was called SeXual Now the eight-year old dance company has a new show called LoveBites. Spot a theme, anyone7
As well as a penchant for erroneocis capital letters, choreographer and founder Alan Greig has a long-running love affair With sex in. his work Where LoveBites is concerned though, Greig
DEVISED SHOW Remembering Hildegarde
Edinburgh: Traverse Theatre, Sat 7—Wed ll Nov (not Mon 9 Nov)
Memory is one of the things which defines us as humans, distinct from the rest of the animal kingdom. Of course, it can also be one of the first things to go, In Rernerrdwrrng Hi/degarc/e, the new production by Lung Ha's Theatre Company, a bag lady is wandering around a non-specific European city when she hears a familiar tune This leads her the Theatre of f‘xlt'fllffllC‘S, where she encounters a man who tells her a cast of actors Will replay her life in front of her
John Mitchell, directing his third show for the Edinburgh-based company for learrung-disabled actors, takes up the tale ’Rather than haVing spent her life in penury, she’s actually from this wealthy German family,’ he details
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Insists that resemblances are only skin- deep.
'I'm not interested in trying to replicate projects; even if they were successful,’ he asserts. ’SeXual was a very dark piece, very personal. it was confrontational theatre. LoveBites IS very much entertainment.’
Where SeXua/ travelled the dark alleyways of casual gay sex, LoveBites is a tale of unrequited love, set to a soundtrack of torch songs and poetry. But what really sets it apart from the X Factor’s back catalogue is its personnel. Having built the company’s reputation on an all-male foundation, Greig now throws the cat amongst the pigeons. Or rather, the girl amongst the boys.
'lt Creates a totally different look and dynamic,’ Greig admits. "The male/female balance makes it interesting, makes it human It's what this whole soap opera is about?
With the recent acquisition of three- year Scottish Arts Council funding, the X Factor recently became a fixture on a scene long dominated by a few mayor players. For Greig this means the chance to take a longer View of his
work. This is apparent in his philosophical attitude towards LoveBites.
'I'm concerned that a lot of people are put off by Contemporary dance,’ he muses. 'I don’t want to go over the top and do a pantomime or something But I am very concerned that the audience understand what l'm trying to present to them ' tEllie Carri Erie For tour dates, see page 74
Memories are made of this: Lung Ha's Theatre Company
'She had three siblings who were child stars on the piano, and it transpires that she tried and failed to keep up With thern' Fearing a life of despair and tediurn, she seeks an escape route and finds it With a band of gypsies
And, as ever, Just when things are going right, something goes wrong 'Her father discovers where she is and drags her away from the gypsies, who are then forced out of town because of the rise of the N82|8,' explains Mitchell 'She settles down but ten years later she meets this gypsy boy whom she loved then He is now an actor, playing Romeo, and she goes to see this performance when this awful tragedy happens »- this is what she has blocked out.’
Memories are all John Mitchell Will now have of Lung Ha's, this being his final production for the company 'After every three years they get someone new in, so hopefully this will be me gomg out With a bang '
(Brian Donaldson)
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NEW PLAY Hum
Edinburgh: Assembly Rooms, Tue lO—Sat 14 Nov.
Rab Handleigh, one of the two actors in Hum, must be well used to feelings of paranoia. He comes to the production straight from The Celtic Story, a history riddled With conspiracy theories He is j()lll0d by Perpetual Theatre regular Gowan Calder as Dr Susan Connaught, who investigates a man claiming to have access to clasSIfied information at the Ministry Of Defence, due to his status as an extra-terrestrial being.
'The piece ties in With the modern obsseSSion with conspiracy theories and the approach of the inilleiiiiiuin,' explains Hum's Edinburtilt-based writer Paul Trainer
He points out that his themes follow a pattern 'My first major monologue, Fine, dealt With someone who was completely divorced from the Idea of intimate relationships because of the experience she had Last year's play, Descent, was about the notion of "t'xhat do you really owe your blooc family?" Why is there this automatic :‘onnec tio". .'.!ii‘ these people? So, guess there's a running theme of disconnection and alienaticm throughout all this stuff fo'liill Donaldson; MONOLOGUE The Celebrated Jumping Frog Edinburgh: Assembly r oo'ns S—Sat 7 Nov.
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