Theatre
f/Jllil LAW/MW v’ DANCE
X FACTOR
Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 3 Feb; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 15 8- Thu 16 Feb
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l/le/Vter Hot/If; blends trro.r:rrrerrt. tnusrr; and text to exploit: the jrlittb‘) we vré.rt while sleeprntr And if ‘,<)tl thrrrk that sounds like farrrrlrar X l actor territory, you'd be rrtjht. Hre/‘lfte/ _. .........._-..r......cm.-Lm , Nor/r}; if; in fact a major rev/orkrrrt; of /rr Your /)/e.’r/rrf., a piece created h», (.‘HUIH rrr I’llllfi whrrgh he was lardel,
rlrssatrslred wrth. 'l drdn'f fhrrrk rt there's any hope for these characters, they need him. workedf he explains. ‘But I've always All this goes on over Laura Hopkins‘ design, a roof in been fascinated by drearns, so I ‘.‘.‘<,'lll Ni x',‘ >le need of proper repair, but which Blair and sidekick back to the piece, but fit)“ of rt rn the THE ESCAPOLOGIST Tommy Mullins decide to quick fix, self deceptively choreography brrr and created a Tramway. G'aSQOW. run ended O... believing that concealing the problem is better than a whole new show out of its; ashes. [he proper rebuild. It’s a bit ‘geddit?’ on the psychoanalytic After Hours; has a drffer'ent energy to rt The lurking subcurrents of the unconscious have been symbolism front, but not so much so as the various and rt looks very different wrth new a staple of the theatre since Strindberg. From Miss stunts, with actors being lowered upside down from dancers. lnrri;rt: and costumes. llltrfff Julie’s phallic dreams of tree climbing, through the the vertiginous flies of the Tramway, reenacting tall are elements of //r Your Urea/us, but smoulderingly sexual cigarettes of Coward, Williams building jumping and drowning stunts, and so on. For they've all been played wrth,’ and Rattigan, symbols of the buried but ever bubbling all the gimmickry of the escape from relationships and (Kelly Apten semiotic of repression abound. No doubt sometimes a commitment symbolism, though, this is really a sturdy cigar is a cigar, but never in the theatre. So it is that piece of televisual psychodrama with bells on. With full Suspect Culture enter into this world with Simon Bent’s respect to Phillips’ book, do we really need Houdini‘s adaptation of Adam Phillips book, Houdini’s Box. tricks for the story? And a pretty free adaptation it is, for a multiplicity of But if the visual imagery, complete with projection (in patients, not one, make their way to therapist Kevin every sense) doesn’t match the more mundane and McMonagle‘s couch. From Paul Blair’s macho builder, naturalistic half, it works well in spite of itself. Partially through Selina Boyack’s permanent PMTer of a doctor this is because of Graham Eatough’s direction, which and on to Mary-Anne Lynch Small’s little girl with a has the courage to pace the action to a steady, never constant desire for concealment, all place their faith, frenetic beat. But most of all, the performers are reluctantly, in McMonagle's shrink. But it seems that, terrific. McMonagle is splendid at the turbulent centre, sadly, he has been reading his Foucault, so is fraught while Boyack’s makes a beautifully measured job with with insecurities about his own profession, a duel roles of his put-upon wife and said irritable doctor; shamanistic apparatus operating more through two characters not permitted a full journey by the guesswork and the authority of the institution than script. Indeed, the whole cast are very much on their empirical evidence. Ever since Shaffer’s troubled metal, making this an intriguing night of theatre. psychiatrist in Equus we’ve seen such figures, but if (Steve Cramer)
POl llltlAl llll Allt‘l THE MEMORANDUM Perth Theatre, Thu 2 - Sat 18 Feb, then touring. ' Zla‘a" our,
In the 80s and 90s Gerry Mulgrew's (Iorrrrnunrcado .‘.(I‘f2,' rrr-rhaps the tiornrnarrt force in Scottish theatre Bringing; continental tet‘hrrrtrur-s. ursuals and storytellrnt; to a theatre community that had been. Inltralh ttlllte lt?§§li$lttlll to thrs torrrr of theatre. In the late 90s the company went into a kind of trrbernatron after fundrnrj difficulties. Those who had seen their” earlier work must have felt arrlr r.-. as Cornrnunrcado began to strr again a couple of years back ‘.'.'rth . 'rqrfa’x Darn. the adaptatron of the famous young grrl's book about her ex; rt:l't'll(‘('t; of The more rgt' Sarajevo.
Mulgrew and long-term collaborator Gerda Stexenson are back this t'*(:t‘:tfi And once again wrth the concerns of Eastern Europe to the fore But Vacax llama}: The Merrrorarrdurrr rs quite a different terrrtor\. for though satrrrsrr‘rt; the bureaucracy of cornrnunrst C/echoslmakra. rt might be taken as an alletrtr. atmtut any vast and faceless rnstrtutron. In rt. a nev. language rs rnxented tor a corpOratron. rn order, theoretrcally. to facrlrtate ettrt‘rer‘rtf‘, l rke so many such rnanagerral rnrtratrves rt creates chaos. With tart‘:t:al. and ultrrrratel‘, traurr consequences. If ever you felt your rnanauerrrerrt farl tt~ .rsten, er react approprrately to change. thrs rs the play for you. If you're neyer felt this. .vhere do you work, and are there any vacancres’? rStex e Crarrxer.
' THE LIST 83