Theatre
StaqulI'spers
I Whispers was not short of acidic comment upon the idea of a National Theatre of Scotland in the years leading up to its formation, but he has to acknowledge the acumen and inspirational thinking that has gone into its formation. After the canny appointment of the splendid Vicky Featherstone as director, it had to be admitted that the new body was off to a flier. Featherstone’s willingness to experiment, her relative youthfulness in both outlook and age augurs well for the National.
The latest appointment, as Featherstone’s effective deputy is also inspirational. Neil Murray, director of the Tron, is as smart and forward thinking a figure as you can find in the Scottish theatre, an adventurous programmer of some fine work. Murray was at the Tron for the best part of a decade after the departure of Michael Boyd, and initially alongside Irina Brown, and later as sole custodian of the Tron’s artistic policy, presided over a period of great creativity and energy in the building.
Murray seems a clever appointment, since his experience as a producer and programmer proves that he’s able to spot talent from some distance, while his general administrative abilities brought a feel of stability to the Tron that experimental and edgy venues often lack. He is living testament to the idea that good art needn‘t of necessity be produced in an atmosphere of chaos. Add to that the affability and general popularity of the Welshman with his staff, and the often underrated need for a happy working atmosphere in institutional bodies, and things look good. Murray has shown a spirit of adventure in his willingness to programme the work of younger companies of humble resources, and this in itself fills Whispers with a rosy glow when considering the National’s possible future. He never thought he'd hear himself say it, but Whispers wishes the National Theatre of Scotland well.
Neil
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Review
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In case you don't know the story, we meet 25-year-old Jimmy Porter (David Tennant) in a dilapidated bedsit, where he punctuates attacks on his posh wife Alison (Kelly Reilly) with the odd sideswipe at his working class Welsh mate Cliff (Stephen McNicoll). He’s a generally pissed off university graduate, whose mood is not improved by a visit from Alison‘s priggish Iuvvie friend Helena, whose motor is apparently sent running by Jimmy’s threats of violence against her. Add a patrician father-in-law left high and dry by the collapse of the Raj (Gareth Thomas) and you‘ve got the ingredients for a general rant against the class system, the loss of empire, Americanisation and anything else in Britain a half century ago that you care to name.
But I wonder if the rage, seen as unfocussed and without ‘great causes' here is the same today? My own frequent encounters with the young seem to indicate that there are definite targets these days for political hostility, far more so than a decade ago. All the same, Trevor Coe‘s set is impressive, and the cast in front of it very strong. Reilly gives a mannered and quite stylised performance as the long suffering Alison, which surprises by working beautifully in the context, McNicoll’s Cliff is wittin presented with a terrific eye for detail, and Tennant‘s complete wanker at the centre is created with a dynamism that makes the character watchable in spite of oneself. Worth seeing for the performances alone.
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