Theatre
ighiffir
E3
ADAl ’ lAl l( )N THE SEER MacRobert, Stirling, Sat 27 May, then touring.
A citizenry insecure with itself, haunted by troubling, unanswerable questions, and frequently in denial about injustices within the system they uphold will always have the tendency to carefully designate, then persecute, outsiders. We can see this quite clearly within our own culture of recent years, with various folk enduring penal servitude for, well, frankly, we know not what.
Ali Smith’s first real full-length play, staged here by Highland company Dogstar deals with this issue of the outsider, but here we see not the familiar and glibly demonised figure of the Muslim, but a rather intangible individual, an anarchist full of mystical beliefs. This character is the sister of a comfortable bourgeois woman in an urban environment. She and her husband seem to exist in smug unquestioning comfort in their city executive lifestyles, seeking, in their reliance on affluent multinational conformism to drown out larger and more troubling existential and ideological questions with the bland and deafening white noise of consumerism. But their visitor, who proclaims faith in the Brahan Seer, a Highland mystic of yore, creates
82 THE LIST ‘35 May—8 June 2006
farcical chaos by asking the simple questions any responsible society would have its public ask of themselves.
As much a domestic comedy as a social metaphor, Smith’s novel The Accidental was as entertaining as it was thought provoking, and shares some striking parallels with The Seer. Under the direction of Matthew Zajac, a cagey and much respected Scottish practitioner, her abiding thematic concerns look set to come to life nicely. Dogstar have been much acclaimed for their previous touring work, combining clever theatricality and music to present a voice from the Highlands not often enough heard in central Scotland. Those who saw their Seven Ages a couple of years back, which visited a number of venues in central Scotland, will attest to the quality of the work.
Smith herself, though these days resident in Cambridge, has frequently returned to Scotland for her imaginative vision. She’s perhaps best known for her 2005 Booker Prize nominated The Accidental and Hotel World, and the wit and dark insight of The Seer shows many striking parallels to this brain food potboiler. Given the people involved, there’s no shortage of promise to this night out. (Steve Cramer)
NEW WORK SPANISH TRAIN
lives is debatable.
(Steve Cramer)
Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 25-Fri 26 May
OLD TIMES Brunton Theatre. Musselburgh. Tue 30 May. then touring
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years. lltirre't; some l)l()ll‘,lf»‘.‘ l‘.r tliit, night. lSteve ()rariier.
We all. no dOubt have Views on the current era/ed atiriowhere of .’./ll(,ll hurt created less by terrorists than the gOVOHllHCl‘l '7 that Britain is; currently enduring. Whether or not you agree With the steps taken by the Blair administration to enhance our security. what can't be denied is the llllll'f:ll‘,‘r Changes we continue to undergo in terms of Our ciVil liberties. Stop and ‘,‘,‘«':l’,ll laws. identity cards. incarcerations wrthout trial — the list goes on and or: Whether we are safer Or Simply more curbed and controlled in our even/lay
One of the biggest reforms pushed by the government is lflfflilily cards. a token which Wlll readily tell the authorities who you are. but ‘.‘/lli, as tar as one can see from other c0untries' experience. do absolutely nothing to prevent an atrOCity. The tragic train bombings in Madrid are Just one of many exarriples of how little use these cards are. and it is this particular event that Restless Sleepers have taken as the starting pOint for their latest devised piece. l'l it, the politics of fear and hysteria are treated metaphorically through the figures; of a girl and a dancrng bear. It's in the nature of the ongoing process through which this often visually striking company works. that it is difficult to tell you more, but expect an evening of thought-provoking and political entertainment.