Theatre
I The theatre represents an opportunity for the free play of ideas that few other media come close to. As a performance medium it can operate outwith the commercial constraints imposed upon such art forms as television and film. The necessity of imagination in this process and of the agreement from both audiences and artists to ‘play' at reality also engages the political imagination in a way that transcends the limits of other media. it’s important that we take the opportunity to use this space for ideas seriously, and it is good to see that the NTS is doing so, with the second event falling under the title of Diaspora.
This event, which incorporates the skills of the Tron, the RSAMD and the University of Glasgow, brings together young artists from all over the wodd, to workshop and exchange ideas with their Scottish counterparts. Mixed in with this group are far more seasoned artists from within the Scottish theatre. The upshot will hopefully be an explosion of creativity, the workshops resulting in a succession of performances at the Tron, in both the main house and the studio, running over a fortnight, from Tuesday iii-Sunday 25 June. On this final day, as well, Whispers’ chum and esteemed colleague Joyce McMillan will be leading a symposium to discuss the possibilities created by this mighty meeting of theatrical minds, young and old.
Among the weil-kent faces involved from the Scottish theatre will be the likes of Simon Sharkey, formerly of the Cumbernauid Theatre, and now at the NTS, Muriel Romanes of Stellar Quines, Matthew Lenton of Vanishing Point and Andrew McKinnon, whose work has frequently been seen at the Arches. if you have an evening or two spare, you might find yourself in at the ground floor of many a future phenomenon.
Muriel Romanes
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Nicolae Ceausescu, eh? What a hero. Well, at least that‘s what we were all saying about the Rumanian dictator from the mid—late 705. ‘At last, here is a man with whom the West can do business‘, the Daily Telegraph told us
on the occasion of his first state visit, when he was feted by the Queen. Still, in those days, Saddam Hussein was a sound secular leader, keeping those nasty Islamic Fundamentalists away from the oil, if you read the papers. Even Hitler wasn‘t such a bad sort of bloke according to the Daily Mail through most of the 305. Mind you, the Mail has changed its mind
now, though this isn‘t always evident on its pages. All these are minor examples of the way in which ruling elites designate good and evil according to their own best interests, and rewrite history when it suits. But aren‘t we all, individually guilty of the same kind of rationalisation, if on a smaller scale?
This seems to be the starting point of Sinner. the debut piece of London physical theatre company Stan Won’t Dance. Any serious examination of good and evil returns to no very tangible or definable concept, but seems, instead, to indicate that such terms are about ways of making the unreasonable rational. This seems to have been the modus operandi of David Copeland, the Soho bomber, who caused devastation throughout London in 1999 with a series of bombs aimed at the Asian and gay communities. But each bomb had a different motive. Copeland's twisted neo-fascist philosophy justified the attacks on the Asian community as political, but he called the attack on the gay community ‘personal’. It has been widely speculated that this latter attack was the result of a self-hating homosexuality in denial, an even more complex definition of evil, for it seems to have been a displaced attack on himself.
Stan Won’t Dance seem to be the right outfit to surmount the complex challenge of this piece, its two performers, Rob Tannion and Liam Steel having become experienced in such matters with their former company, DV8. Combining physicality, multi media and performance with text, it looks a fascinating exploration of ambivalent political and personal realms. (Steve Cramer)