Theatre listings
Central Drama 8: Dance cont.
Dunfermline
CARNEGIE HALL
liast Port. 01383 31-1000. ll’. II. \\'(‘. W‘s] The Phantom & The Opera 'l‘lru l4 Mar. 7.30pm. £11 (£8 £9]. Stars l‘rom London's West lind perl‘orm hits l'i'om popular musicals and opera.
Carousel Mon 25 Sat 30 Mar. 7.15pm. £8 (£5 £6). Mtisieal I'uri \\ ith Rosyth & District Musical Society.
East Krlbrrde
EAST KILBRIDE ARTS CENTRE ()ld ('oach Road. 01355 261000. ll’. ll. we. WA]
Monsters In My Wardrobe Sat 23 Mar. See Kids listings. Shang-A-Lang Sun 24 Mar. 8pm. £7 (£4). See Glasgow. (‘ottier Theatre.
Glenrothes
ROTHES HALLS
Rothes Square. 01592 (31 I 101. ll’. II. \\(‘. WA]
Scottish Dance Theatre 'I‘liu 2| Mar. 8pm. £5 (£3). Scotland's lttl'c‘lllttsl contemporary dance company presents Janet Smith's witty take on Scottish Iil'e. High [um] and an unusual IIL‘\\ \iork by critically acclaimed elioreiigrapher. .Ian ile
Schynkel
Greenock
GREENOCK ARTS GUILD
(‘ampbell Street. 01-175 723038. ll’. 11. \‘l".-\]
SCDA One Act Play Divisional Festival Thtl 21 Sat 23 Mar. 7.30pm. to The second round of this l'estixal has nine local companies corupeting tor a place in the Pitlochry linal.
Irvrne
MAGNUM THEATRE
Harbourside. 0129-1 27838 I. ]l’. \\'( '. \\'.«\i Shang-A-Lang Thu 2l .\lar. 7.30pm. L' 7 (£6). See Glasgow (’oltier 'l’heatr‘e.
Kilmarnock
PALACE THEATRE
9 Green Street. 01563 523590. Carousel Mon l8 Sat 23 Mar. 7.30pm. £9 (£7.50). Kilmarnock Amateur Operatic Society performs Rodgers a Hammerstein‘s popular musical.
Kirkcaldy
ADAM SMITH THEATRE
Bennochy Road. 01592 412929. ll’. 11. WC‘. WA]
Scottish Community Drama Association One Act Play Festival Thu 28»-Sat 30 Mar. 7.30pm. £7 l£5i. The semi-final stage ()1 this national competition of one act plays.
Largs
VIKINGAR THEATRE
(ireenock Road. 01-175 689777. Shang-A-Lang Hi 22 Mar. 7.30pm. i‘7 (£6). SCC (ilasgtm. (‘ottier‘ 'l’heatre.
Penn
PERTH THEATRE
185 High Street. 01738 ()3 I03 I. III. ’I '1‘. WC. WA]
She Stoops to Conquer in IS Sat 30 Mar (not Sun). 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £4 £ 1-]. Perth 'l‘heatre (’ompany presents ()liyer (ioldsmilh‘s restoration comedy about meddling matelimakers.
St Andrews
BYRE THEATRE
Abbey Street. 0l33-1 475000. ll’, \\ ( '. \\'.-\] Macbeth Thu 14 Sat lo .\lar. 7.30pm. £5 (£3). St Leonards School Senior Drama Society presents Shakespeare's turbulent Scots tragedy.
Lend Me A Tenor \y'etl 20 Sat 3o .\lar‘ (not Sun). 8pm. £7 (£5i. Ken l.ll(l\\ ig's musical comedy perl'ormeil by :\ll\ll'lllllt'l based drama group. The (iui/ards.
More Grimm Tales 'l'hu ls Sal All Mar. 7.30pm. £7 (£1). Sl.'\Iltl1t‘\\s\'tilllll Theatre presents poet ('arol :\IIII I)iil'l\ ‘s adaptation oI~ the popular stories 1
72 THE LIST 5‘. 7h I.I.;'
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ED BYRNE
Jongleurs, Glasgow, Thu 28—Sat 30 Mar
Ed Byrne’s forays into television haven’t made for classic entertainment. With the exception of his brilliant MTV Hot co-hosting with Brendon Burns and perhaps a panto lead alongside Patsy Kensit — which was funny for all the wrong reasons — Sam’s Game, Head On Comedy and The Cassidy’s have left critics and audiences resolutely lukewarm. Granted that his stand- up was never the trailblazing, prodigious stuff of respected comedy eminence, but his genial, observational humour is surely more suited to a TV audience than the public apathy would suggest.
With any luck, Byrne’s poor TV fortunes are about to change. At once inspired and dejected by the mediocrity of earlier work, the young Irishman has written his own sitcom. And its name? The Union. Based on the day-to-day workings of an atypical student union, the
n the trail of comedy gold
script is currently in the hands of the TV execs, perhaps along with Byrne’s television fate. ‘At the end of the day it’ll be my fault if it’s not any good,’ says Byrne. ‘But I guess I have a bit more faith in this than I have had in the previous projects.’ Title copyright issues aside, just how much of The Union is based on the University of Strathclyde alumni’s real-life experiences as vice president of that particular student union? ‘Only to a small extent. Basically a lot of it is arguments that I did have, but replayed in the way I would have liked them to have gone. That’s the great thing about writing - that’s the great thing about stand-up as well — it’s like all the things you wish you’d said, you then just stand-up and say that’s what you did say.’
Judicious retelling of events make up a fair part of Ed Byrne’s stand-up routine. Seeing the ridiculous in any situation is fairly obvious, but Byrne’s real forte lies in his charm and incredulous amplification of the nonsensical. But it’s not all lies, as Ed will testify: ‘When I was checking into a flight to Glasgow, I was basically still drunk from the night before, and your woman said to me: “Could anyone have interfered with your luggage?” And I actually said to her: “No, I’ve killed men for less.” Which I thought was funny, but she didn’t think it was even vaguely
amusing.’
Back in Glasgow for the Easter weekend, live work is Byrne’s priority at the moment. With a ‘best of’ video and another theatre tour planned for the autumn, dusting down the old material and honing the new is the reason for Byrne’s apparent fall from TV and advertising grace. ‘It can be viewed by some as a step down, but you need to do the circuit in order to get your material. Simple as that,’ states Byrne. ‘In the last year I’ve done two sitcoms and I’ve been doing a lot of ads, and that stuff makes money, so I haven’t needed to do the circuit at all. And you just really miss it; you just miss working Iive.’ (Maureen Ellis)
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PATRICK MONAHAN Craic @ the Sac, Cul de Sac Southside, Glasgow, Sun 17 Mar
Patrick My! .t-“ara :; a lebbrt test fl!f§£if$3i;f. l-r..'r‘ 2%.; name you might retert ii are '.r an an inkling of Irish :>I(,(,}\’ ansi ,r...'.i 1/(3 right. only his irony}; lr'ana!‘ a.er he's a born and bred 5 gig-more. .l..st .:riagine the storytelling .'.rt of the Irrsn, zinxed mirth self- i'.,-prt,-cat:ng northern humour and the em: .:.srz‘ of the Middle last and on the act; or .1 cake got a pretty tecked tip
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plentrlul corriedy reser'\./e. ‘Since September I‘ve really rewritten a lot of my stull.' says lvloriahan. ‘But then again I still have a few gags that I can use. Like I'll explain that my dad's from Ireland and my mum's from Iran. and we spend most of our family holidays in customs.‘
While he has all the charm of lid Byrne. the energy of Adam Bloom and Wild leaps of imagination that are resonant of Ross Noble. it is Patrick alone who boasts a conglomerate Irish Arabic rendition of Danny Boy and an Iranian lvlen' tribute to (Sen Ilallrwell.
.w‘." I ‘31 Drafted in for Crarc's St Paddy's night. Monahan isn't pledging hrs allegiance to any country. When Ireland played Iran recently III a World Cup qualifier. the lvlonahans were out in force. ‘lvly dad's off in the Irish end. my mum's off in the Iranian end. and me. my brother and sister were sat by the hallway Irne.‘ he laughs. 'It is a bit werrd because people ask: “Are you ll'lSlI. English or Iranian?" But you're not really anywhere and we support them all anyway. It's got its good points. you know: you've got loads of learns and you can go further in the World Cup.‘ llvlaureen Ellis)