‘THE LABOUR PARTY IS
THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY'
PM is 8'3 aid Shock
Steve Cramer talks to Rik Mayall about the new full length stage version of The New Statesman. which sees Alan B’stard return as a New Labour apparatchik.
Steve Cramer So tell us ahout the show. Rik Mayall My sltoyy is l'ucking good put that in newspaper .spcak‘.’
SC The original telcyision show was an immensely topical series. satirising the 'l‘hatcher (ioyernment week by week. With characters like (‘ondy Rice and so l‘orth inyoly'cd. this new incarnation also sounds like pretty tip to the minute as satire.
RM Well. wry up to the minute. w c had to really think about the timing . . . Alan was hrought out lrom whcrcy‘cr he was hy the writers hecause it was time to hring down the goy‘ernment again. just as we hrought down the Thatcher administration. Think ol' St (ieorge. the people‘s hero. and here's Rik. putting on his .'\lan armour to strike again [he giggles]. .-\ctually. the decision to put it on now came quite late w c said. luck it. we‘d hetter put it on now. and not later. hccausc Tony might he gone it we do it in liehruary. SC Beneath your irony. I suspect there's a serious political point . . .
RM This is why .-\lan is so attracted to New Lahour: he‘s always liked right wing middle class parties who hate the poor. The l.ahour party is the (‘onscryatiy'c party. and the (‘onscryatiye party is will the (‘onscry'atiy'e party. so there‘s no opposition: the theatre is the opposition until they stop our l‘ree speech. There‘s a kind of grey area in lact. ahout how much :\lan had to do with the rise ol‘ New Lahour. hut you‘ll haye to come and see it to lind out . . .
SC llow' haye you found the transition to theatre. Do you enjoy a liy‘e audience‘.’
RM It's great. It's been such a pleasure not heing constricted hy teley'ision people. The freedom ol~ the
how do you
stage is just hliss. and I know I'm always hetter in l'ront ol' a liye audience. They might he a studio audience. like with The lining ()nm or lint/om. htit as long as they‘re there. that's what I like hest. l was doing the play last night. and a great hig piece ol the set tell ol‘l‘. hill 1 got a lot ol laughs out «ii that hy making jokes ahout .-\l ()uacda.
SC So )ou l‘ound tcley ision restrictiyc‘.’
RM 'lcleyision is w restrictiye. l douht it you could make programs like The lit/mg (him or [in/loin now. It‘s hccomc yery puritanical. and they delinitely don't like people saying things that might displeasc the authorities. so liy'c theatre is the opposition. That's why you get such a hot reaction; theatrc allows so much more lreedom ol speech. 'l'eleyision was hetter 2i) years ago. hut c\ en then there were restrictions. l rcmemher trying to do this scene where Rik was smoking. hccausc I wanted to show him as heing \cry had at rolling cigarettes. and they wouldn't allow it. We were giyen an upper limit ol‘ liye 'hloodies' per show. and so l‘orth. but now there are eyen more restrictions.
SC Interesting that you should raise smoking. Did you know it‘s now hanncd on Scottish stages'.’
RM I didn’t. and I'm going to smoke tonight. I rcmemher doing this .\'oel ('oward a couple ol years ago. and people in the audience started coughing when I lit a lag. I just turned to them and shouted. ‘wcll it. you don't like it luck oil. and leayc quietly eyery hody point at them and shout "(‘untl‘". l neycr had a good time in .\lalyern. hut that was great.
Playhouse, Edinburgh, Mon 5-Sat 10 Jun
Theatre >l<
Hit
THE BEST THEATRE & DANCE
=3 Monkey Spectacular entertainment for all ages in Dundee Rep/SDT's version of an epic novel, best known for the cult television series it spawned in the 703. Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 27 May.
3|: The New Statesman Rik Mayall reprises his role as Alan B'Stard from the cult television series. This time. though he‘s crossed the floor from the Conservative Party to New Labour. Playhouse, Edinburgh, Mon 5—Sat 10 Jun.
1‘ The Seer Ali Smith's full- length stage debut should attract plenty of interest, given the cult status of this novelist. Dogstar present the new production, in which an anarchic outsider disrupts the smug comforts of a bourgeois couple. Macrobert Arts Centre. Stirling, Sat 27 May, then touring.
* Spanish Train Restless Sleepers present this devised piece. which takes as its starting point the Madrid bombings. Questioning whether the notion of terrorism benefits the governments that profess to protect us from it, it uses a young girl and a dancing bear as a metaphor.
Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 25-Fri 26 May.
3|! Ghost An eerie night of site specific theatre is promised to all who attend this event among the shops and alleyways of Leith’s watertront. Reflecting the ghosts of past communities and the meaning of the current one, Judith Adams' piece promises an evening of spellbinding entertainment. Lamb '3 House, Burgess St, Leith. lickets available from Traverse box office, Fn' 2—Sat 10 Jun.
'.‘y:, ", , .' l- .f THE LIST 79