A US or THE MIND Dundee Rep. Sat 16 Oct—Sat 6 Nov
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Freud defined the uncanny as the intrusion of the prerational or The i v '1 a ll" w- «(i .i w. -‘ - t "
supernatural world into the perfectly ordinary one that we all know as W» ...:.;i»;. .ivwi :,.:i‘.» 11.1' .. i " quotidian reality. So the creepiness of the opening sequence of Night of inf'w ’ i .".7.' .. T'~ l i- the Living Dead comes from an average brother and sister having an ‘.i"’ w. .i "um : wit it m: . ti:. everyday argument in broad daylight — and suddenly being attacked by a ul'w- m» in ~ iv w l '.::" 2.:l' .r lb 1. zombie. One suspects that the secret of the success of The Blair Witch -Ir ,i i am; r» li .iv 2" Project also owes something to this formula. .i
There’s more than a hint of this latter film in the text of this new 1 . production from Visible Fictions. It might be retitled The Blair Bitch Project, '1’ Mn". f"r:.:.". 1i f;l‘~;l.li iri't ux luv. though, since there are many allusions to the contemporary urban deprivation suffered by the group of self-declared ‘schemies’ at the centre. All the teen movie archetypes are in place, with sensible boy (Grant 0 Rourke), fatboy (Anthony Strachan) and his sexy sister (Claire Knight) out on a jaunt with thick Geordie (Paul Charlton) and local hardboy (Simon itr lll‘()|(:)< tlui'i il‘wni; ’Ji Mam -t. It}. Donaldson). They decide on a venture into the woods, where a weird old ill“ lintiint; out. Sti ".t: (Lrgiii mi lady (Vari Sylvester), possibly a witch, lives. There follows a good deal of the ‘jumping out of the cupboard to scare your girlfriend‘ kinda thrills and frights, with increasingly grim social signals about these teenagers.
Donald McCleary's script has some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, dialogue fraught with quick, sharp wit, and some sudden scares that had the largely teenage audience screaming on the night. Douglas Irvine directs with pace and wit, but there are some downsides to Evelyn Barber’s design, of which, in fairness, a little too much is asked. The resemblance to the movies becomes a problem at times as there’s a lot of faffing about in creating the expanses of the forest and the old lady’s house, somewhat breaking up the atmospheric illusions necessary to the play. Also, the piece seems to want to say so much that its final effect is a kind of scattergun of discontents and social critiques. All the same, the young performers toil away to very good effect, with Strachan‘s sensitive Iardarse and Knight‘s young woman toiling against expectations of gender and sexuality from the boys around her exceptional in a strong cast. It’s not perfect, but it’s great fun. Go see. (Steve Cramer)
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Theatre
Stage Whispers
Re: Treading the boards
I Exciting news from Queen Margaret University College’s Gateway theatre, where the drama department hosted the launch of an admirable new project in community theatre. The official opening of The Centre for Community Arts and Practice saw a rather glitzy gathering of the great and good of Scottish arts, higher education and local government, who spoke in rotation to sing the praises of the project, to be directed by the admirable Stephanie Knight, a seasoned and highly skilled community theatre worker.
This new initiative, funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland, should provide access to a broader community than ever before offered by community theatre. The early results, demonstrated by performers from Edinburgh's Asian community with a video out from a developing piece about forced (not arranged) marriages, and a group of older people who confronted the audience’s expectations with a rap number, spoke volumes for the work performed so far. The empowerment that community theatre can bring to people from all walks of life is a blessing, and this initiative should extend its benefits to a greater numbers of folk than ever before.
I It was only as Whispers compiled this week's hit list that the benefits of the Citz studio theatres. currently under threat of going dark for the foreseeable future. became apparent to him. Kenny Miller's ingenious experiment with four new directors. ‘A Little Bit of Ruff', has produced a hat trick of fine shows. which work in the tight space of the circle studio to perfection. Yet they are only there on sufferance. as a special one-off grant is the only thing between these delicious little creative greenhouses and oblivion. Surely Glasgow's traditional funders of the arts. usually so generous. can find the extra resources required to keep open this tremendous facility. which has long given the Citz a youthful edge so often lacking in traditional mainhouse rep? Whispers will keep his eye on the situation.
The Lady Aoi at the Citz
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