Theatre
theatreelistconk
spot llsii PM ME RE THE BLUE ROOM King's Theatre. Edinburgh, Tue 22-Sat 26 Apr
No, I didn't ask him about his dad. Just get over it. Why should it be more interesting for Jason Connery to talk about his father, than it would be for you to talk about yours? Like you, probably, he has a job to do, and how well he does it on the day is really the point. Connery has emerged as a well-respected actor in his own right, so buy Heat, Hello!, or some other magazine for the hard of thinking if that’s what you want.
And get over this too: he’s doing The Blue Room. No doubt you‘ll have read of David Hare’s reflection upon sexuality and selfhood, based upon Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde. Though you’ll have heard less about this than the nude scenes involving Nicole Kidman, which sent a lot of London reviewers into unwelcome intimations of randiness. Connery, now appearing in the touring production opposite former Coronation Street actor Tracy Shaw was bewildered by its reviews: ‘l’ve never seen reviews like it. I couldn’t find out what the play was about. When Nicole Kidman did it, all you could find out was that she was naked, had lily-white skin and no cellulite. It was brown mac stuff.’
Hare’s play is in fact a thoughtful and at times very
NEW PLAY
GOD’S NEW FROCK Seen at Tron Theatre, Glasgow; touring to Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. Wed 16-Sat 19 Apr
The recent sten,‘ of the young man who challenged his employers under the sexual discrimination act. for fOrCing him to wear a suit and tie in his workplace while females in eQual positions were T-shirts and jeans. throws up some interesting
3%}; Shaw’n’Connery, not Sean Connery
comical reflection upon sexuality and the human need for intimacy, which roves through the lives of ten characters (all played by Connery and Shaw) from social classes as diverse as taxi drivers, politicians, writers and prostitutes. Often seen as a political and intellectual heavyweight among British dramatists, Hare uses a quite different voice here. ‘That’s the thing,’ says Connery. ‘People either believe the tabloids - ‘sexy, steamy, sizzling’ - as if it’s some kind of soft core titillation, or they think it’s some big intellectual debate about sex. But it actually explores very basic ideas about sexuality. La Ronde doesn't really date, because, there’ll be urges for relationships and fulfilling fantasies as long as the planet exists.’
It also says a lot about gender relations. ‘I think Hare feels that women have the answers, whereas men are on some search,’ he says. ‘Men are always hungry to fulfil some fantasy, whereas women say: “I want the whole package, but if I don’t get it, it's OK." Women deal with the reality; men don’t deal with it - they go off to find something better,’
If you want to deal with realities, rather than myths, be they about celebs or soft porn, go along.
(Steve Cramer)
discover that the differences aren‘t so great after all — indeed. we pretty well make them up. In a society built around invented polarities. he traces the inventor of these conventions all the wag. back to the Bible. suggesting that GeneSis itself was a propaganda piece. disguismg the Creator's own cross-dressmg tendenCies. And God saw everything. and behold, it was very camp.
Clifford's nicely-paced hour of theatre
Genesis, or genus ’er’s?
58 THE LIST 'Q—Q-i At"
possibilities. What if, haying won his case. he chose to show up to work in a skirt? It wouldn't bother me — how abOut yOu’?
If writer John Clifford COuld realise the fantasy at the centre of his fasCinating monologue. that might rust happen. In it. Clifford traces the personal histom of one Billy Smith, a boy taught by both SOCiaI convention and church doctrine to disregard. indeed destructiver repress his comfort in the clothing of the opposite gender. In Clifford's subtle exploration of this notion of opposites. we
runs a line right to the door of our Current troubles. identifying the defensive machismo of the military and political minds that have Created so much misery in Iraq. and throughOut the world as being part of the denial of an essentially more feminine self. You can't help but wonder at this. for it is difficult to aSSign any rationality at all to our monkey prime minister and his Suspiciously-Sirnian organ grinder from across the pond. unless their violence is the reSuIt of some psychological trauma. An engaging and thought- provoking evening out. iSteve Crameri
Stage Whispers Re: Treading the Boards
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