Theatre
Review
DOCUMENTARY THEATRE
TIPPING POINT
STUC Centre, Woodlands Rd, Glasgow, Fri 10 June, then touring
The mighty creative wave that has, in the shape of the YIMIZFestival, greeted the arrival of the GB summit in continues to churn out responses to the ruthless launch “at Gleneagles. One of the most notable responses is bound to be that of 7:84, Scotland’s best- established political theatre company. It has combined with Davy Anderson, writer of the much acclaimed Snuff, a new play that won so many plaudits at the Arches recently, to produce what promises to be a highlight of the festival.
Tipping Point continues artistic director Lorenzo Mele’s experiment with documentary drama. This form presents a short play, and follows it with a second half which invites the audience to stay and discuss the issues raised, inviting some notable political figure, a different one for each night, to lead the chat. In this piece, we follow two parallel stories, one that of a woman on a housing estate, who, in seeking some redress for her damp house, which effects the health of her children, finds much larger political issues at the heart of her problem. Meantime, a mainstream politician who has become disillusioned with
98 THE LIST 9-2: Jo" 2-295
contemporary politics finds local issues and community activism are the way ahead for people.
At the heart of both stories is the idea of our disillusionment with and detachment from modern politics as a society. ‘We’re trying to address the attitude that politics is for the politicians, that it has nothing to do with everyday life, that we have to leave it to the experts,’ Anderson explains. ‘Part of the philosophy of this piece is that the experts are those people that experience the problems first hand on a day to day level. We don’t want to overwhelm people, which it would be easy to do when you look at things like global poverty and the environment. 80 we try to do it in a way that says that there are some quite simple everyday things to do with trade justice and environmental responsibility that we can do. We just want to plant some little ideas, not in a heavy handed way.’
If this sounds rather dry, Anderson assures me that it’s not without humour. One particular piece of research turned up a song, funded by foreign aid, and broadcast in Tanzania. ‘It was a pro-privatisation song, supposedly part of a development fund, that found its way to a PR company. If you don't laugh you cry, and every time I see it in rehearsal, it cracks me up,’ says Anderson. Real life is invariably funnier, and more shocking than fiction - the cliche is true. But if you need it verified, come along to Tipping Point.
(Steve Cramer)
NEW WORK CROSSINGS
MODERN DANCE NDT2
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Sat 10 8. Fri 11 Jun
Once upon a time, Nederlands Dans Theater 2 was little more than an appendage. a stepping stone for young dancers desperate to get into
the main company, NDT1. Not any
more. Eight annual visits to the UK
. have secured NDT2 a place in our ' hearts. and public and dancers alike
see it as a company in its own right. ‘NDT2 is such a separate entity now that not everyone feels the need to go
into NDT1,’ explains dancer Andrea
Schermoly. 'Obviously. it's what you aspire to. but it's not the end of the world if you don't, because of the experience you have in NDT2.‘ South African Schermoly joined
. NDT2 in 2003 via the Royal Ballet 1 School and Boston Ballet. Like all 5 NOT dancers. a classical grounding
was essential before moving into a
, modern idiom. We always been i interested in NDT. My mum and I used
to watch videos of them when I was a child,‘ she says. 'So my passion was always for their style of dancing, and the repertoire at NDT2 is incredible.‘ For its 2005 tour, the company is performing .Jiri Kylian's striking new piece. Sleepless. along with two
works by Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon.
and Hans van Manen's Simple Things. As Schermoly says. the NDT2 repertoire is always exceptional. but that's only half the secret of its success. ‘There's a big turnover in the
company, so new people are always ~ coming in, which refreshes the whole
group. So the energy is always really high, and that comes across to an audience. which is what makes the company so attractive.’ (Kelly Apter)
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 15-Sat 18 Jun
doesn't.’
Clare Duffy spent five years as a youth worker in Leeds and Crossings is the outcome. Struck by the characters she came into contact with. she wanted to explore a plot that would give these young people the chance to be heroes for once. ‘I was trying to present a stOry that hadn't been told before. Theatre sometimes feels like it belongs to older people.‘ says Duffy. ‘And it shouldn‘t and it
After a history of collaborative writing with the award-winning Unlimited Theatre. Duffy's first solo creation takes us on a theatrical road trip through South Wales. When teenager Jane is confronted by her recently dead best friend. Sam. she is drawn into a murder mystery that will change her present through the discovery of his past. Like many a road trip, this one proves to be a rite of passage. albeit a dark one. Dealing openly with self-harm, sex and sexualities. the play reads as a list of broken taboos. But Duffy doesn't see her script as confrontational so much as an opportunity to view the world through different eyes. 'l want it to be challenging. but I don't want to bat people over the head. I'd like the audience to have a good time. to come away and feel quite hopeful.’ And Duffy's commitment to engaging and thought-provoking theatre promises just that. (Corrie Mills)