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The Arches, Glasgow, Sat 16-Sun 17 Apr
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Director Antcr‘ Adassrnsrr ex;,rarns uh, he i)f:ll‘;'.":‘> pl‘.,'srr;al theatre has a greater power for audiences, 'The body rs truly an international language. It". the sarne all over the .world ~ everyone has two hands. two legs. a head, ‘3/hether ,ou're rn Ghana or Russia or even Scotland. Any
language Ill translation loses its power.
but a feeling goes from heart to heartf And being non Eanguage»based opens the potential for rntt~3rnatronal touring. In South Arnerrca. Adassrnskr notes. the company rs more warmly lt:(i(3l‘.(:fi because its way of lrfe reflects the Russians — logical and uncomplicatetl. ‘Performrng Ill Europe rs sometimes hard because audiences there have been poisoned by the arts. always thinking. trying to understand. rather than Just accepting and teelrngf
But Adassrnskr always looks forward to returning to Scotland. he says. because Scottish people are so straight with therr opinions. They don't worry about the right or wrong way of saying something, they just say it. They 're so honest.’ Catch the latest show, inspired by the stOry of Aztec leader Ouet/aicoatl. for two performances only at the Arches. (Gareth Davresl
sco‘n’rsa PREMIERE BLUE/ORANGE
Paisley Arts Centre, Fri 29—Sat 30 Apr, then touring
Rapture Theatre deserves great credit for its capaCrty to pick up on major plays before much larger companies. presentrng Scottish premieres while the biggies are gr\rr‘.g rt ten years to see how things pan out. The industry of Michael Emans' company. after premiers of such maJOr works as Closer. Proof and Frank/e and John/ire at the Claire De Lune. has got to be admired.
And Its striking again with Joe Penhall‘s hrt. which so shook the English National Theatre rn 2000. The story of a man who b8l|€\’eS himself to be the son of Idr Amrn. a delusion which puts hrm under the care of two psychiatrists. this piece is as much ab0ut rnstrtutr0nal power structures as mental illness. It‘s not so much the old ‘who rs madder. the patient Or the shrink?" wheeze as an examination of contestrng ideologies within an institution. FOr the two psychiatrists are so engaged in a methodorogrcal power struggle that the patient e\entua|ly becomes more a yrctrm of contending Ideas and struggles for promotion in the health system than hrs illness. Ultimately. as well. rt has a lot to
say about institutionalised raosm.
With a cast that includes Jimmy Chrsolm. Greg Powrre and Christopher John Hall. there’s plenty of potential here fer a grand production of a major play. Go
see. rSteve Cramerr
Andy Gray in panto guise
ADAPTATION BABY DOLL Citizens‘ Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 26 April—Sat 7 May
The sensation that greeted the release of Tennessee Williams’ screenplay for Elia Kazan’s film of 1956, a follow-up to the same director’s A Streetcar Named Desire, has long since abated. At the time, religious leaders reacted to the sight of Carrol Baker’s scantily clad body lounging about between an insalubrious old man and a ruthless philanderer by calling for the film to be banned in several states of the US. But these days, it’s difficult to see what all the fuss was about. So why revive it?
The right man to ask seems to be Andy Gray. As one of Scotland’s favourite sons, Gray’s long list of TV credits is echoed in the theatre, where the watchword has to be versatility. He has distinguished himself in everything from panto to Shakespeare on our stages, and Williams’ work, which at its best stands comparison to the latter, and at other times camply teeters on the edge of the former, seems to call on all these skills.
He reckons, though, that we might be in a better spot to see more of the qualities of the story, adapted here for theatre by Lucy Bailey in Jeremy Raison’s production, now that the sensation is over. ‘I don’t actually think it’s that sensational; it was an overreaction from a Catholic Cardinal in the 503,’ he says. ‘I mean it’s not as if she gets shagged upside down. OK, she gets slapped, but that’s of the time. But people will recognise certain traits in the characters. And there’s stuff about money and people wanting all the trappings of an affluent life, but having done all the right things, they don’t really get what they want. That’s a more modern thing.’
All the same, the sheer ickyness of his character, Archie, an older man who has married the teenage protagonist, and awaits her 20th birthday and his conjugal rights, is still eyecatching. So, too is his burning of rich neighbour Silva’s cotton, and the latter’s sleazy overtures to Baby Doll. Gray, though, sees the characters as more ambivalent, and funny. ‘There’s all that ambiguity through it, though. No one is completely innocent. And I think there’s 3 humour coming out of his frustration, and the fact that he loses control of the situation around him. Without the humour, Archie is
just this horrible old lech, but as it is there’s a kind of warmth.’
Not to mention downright heat. But go see, and rediscover film as theatre. (Steve Cramer)
Jimmy Chlsolm
Theatre
Stage Wlispers
I Must Whispers stop supporting the Hibees? Or. even worse, West Ham United PC? It would seem so, if the slightly hysterical response from the arts community to SAC chairman Richard Holloway’s comments about football as an art form is anything to go by. What’s all the fuss about? One can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the Bish with the Wish List. It seems to Whispers that, from a philosophical perspective, everything that is not nature, and therefore made by humankind, is art, from football to opera to your front door. How else would one define it?
If the arts community believes the Arnoldian 19th century tenet that art must be something that somehow uplifts or inspires high visions in people who receive it (football can do this anyway) then they must account for the fact that the camp guards at Auschwitz also read poetry and listened to Beethoven. lf postmodernism gave us nothing else, it told us that any art form from Mahler to 2000AD can be equally valid, if the experience it engenders is of some (not necessarily moral) value to the person who has it. Any attempt to discriminate between these forms is elitism, pure and simple, usually based upon class, race or gender prejudice.
All the same, art can be useful to society and culture. The subsidised sector of the theatre is of enormous importance to the development of ideas and cultural discourse, which itself can contribute to a debate about culture and society. There’s no problem about this, nor about the rational need to subsidise less commercial art forms. Football generates enough cash to look after itself. And the theatre? Well, that really is the theatre of dreams, so we need, in the culture’s rational interests, to subsidise, not just the National Theatre of Scotland, but the Scottish theatre infrastructure it’s intended to contribute to. Good for you Bishop Holloway, but cough up, all the same!
o Holloway
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