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nonsense that we did.‘ remembers ('olin Mc(‘redie (l)(' liraser in STV's Taggart). at the time a drama student in (ilasgow and regularly employed at the club alongside performance troupe Mischief l.a Has. ‘Some of us in our final year did mad stuff every Saturday night: me. Tony ('urran (now working in Hollywood. recently in Miami Vice and Red Road) and Paul Blair (recently in NTS~ Rea/ism). l retnember one titne we tnade a suit of toast. We got a hundred pieces of toast and sewed them together and then pttt butter and jatn on it. And we'd be running round the club giving people things. We used to get 20 qttid. two places on the guest-list and a free pint. It was great fun to he involved with something like that as a student.‘
Mc(‘redie went on to star in Arnold‘s production of (:‘lengarrjv (ilwm Ross in IOU-l. At that time the theatre company was organised strictly on a profit-share basis. revenue from the clubs barely paying the rent. ‘You got no wage as such.‘ explains McCredie. ‘just 60 quid cash in your hand every week. It was up-and-coming ~ you went because you loved the work. It was Andy Arnold‘s troupe of different people. But it was a very grubby place. There were no
‘AUDIENCES DEFINITELY EXPECT SOMETHING DIFFERENT WHEN THEY COME HERE'
showers. It had a real guerrilla feel which made it very special.‘
And so it has been ever since. The clubs — massive nights Inside Out and Colours joining Pressure in l995 and WW) — have grown bigger; and as they grow. they make more money for theatre. Rent. door tax. bar takings. in fact. any profit at all. is reinvested into the arts programme. Your cloakroom pound fttnds an exhibition from an emergent local artist: the price of a pint helps lly an experimental musician from Japan to Glasgow. ln 2()()l. using Lottery funding. the company knocked through the arches to their new entrance on Argyle Street. opening up a café/bar/restaurant wing downstairs.
Somehow the Arches still maintains that ‘guerrilla‘ edge. though. As well as an adept arts administrator and shrewd media manipulator. Arnold is clearly a svengali who succeeds in inspiring those who work with him. Among the yottthful team currently running the venue. theatre programmer Jackie Wylie (who Arnold describes as a ‘theatrical soul-mate‘) and live music and clubs programmer Joe Splain are both overflowing with enthusiasm.
.-\s she waxes lyrical about the forthcoming programme for Arches l.l\'l{l tan annual show case of new theatre talent). Wylie e\pounds her dream for the venue's future. “People should always hay e a good time when they come and see a show here.‘ she says. 'lt ought to be like a really good rock'n'roll night out. We're in a uniqtte position to provide that: because of all the clttbs and live music. audiences definitely expect something different when they cotne here.‘
Arnold himselfcontinues to be inspired by the possibilities of the building. He‘s staged large- scale promenade productions r Beowulf. an adaptation of l'i‘it/ Lang's .IIr'lI'upu/is'. and the recent version of Dante's Inferno and tnuch smaller experimental theatre. His latest work. Spear/xi I’emrv. keeps both the attdience and the cast to eight. and is staged in the club toilets.
'We're going to charge them a penny to go and see it. which froin all points of view is ludicrous really.‘ he says. 'When we began. I was much more conventional. I suppose. even though the theatre we put on was irreverent and off the wall — deconstrttcting theatre. Nonetheless. it was always in a straightforward performance space with an audience sitting there.’
Theatre at the Arches doesn‘t stop at the in- house productions. (‘lyde Unity. Raindog. Wise (iuys. Vox Motus. Theatre Babel. Suspect (‘ulture and Scottish darlings of location- specilic theatre (irid lron all started at the Arches or produced early work there while developing an audience. With free access to rehearsal rooms downstairs. many a simmering talent has grabbed the opportunities available with both hands. gaining the venue‘s fttll support and a chance to try out new ideas on- stage.
()ne such company is lidinburgh’s Highway Diner. which produces bold experiments in what Arnold describes as ‘total. non-narrative. visual theatre' and currently hold a residency there. (‘o-director Laura Cameron-Lewis explains why they enjoy working at the Arches. ‘lt's very difficult for artists at the beginning of their professional careers to contest with established methods of working and access institutions.‘ she says. ‘The Arches is different. The freedom offered there is exactly what artists need. at ANY stage in their career.‘
‘There’s an atmosphere at the Arches that I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered anywhere else, a kind of frenetic, demented goodwill.’
Sam/v Thomson. artistic director; Poor/my“ theatre company
At the heart of the Arches‘ philosophy is a willingness for projects to be unsuccessful. lf
“4.; ..-.-s -----«-~~-~~--.'~ ~ 4 . ~.----- June 2001 . November 2001 2002 November 2002 October 2003 October 2004 A bumper month tor The; first met lost: The .nat nq theatre: The: ‘ 'st (:ve' Death Disco. SOrna Records run Jandek Illa/S i1 Superstar Dds. as Paul title Arches ttV-V'7 ttrtxjra'ttriwc it; channeltxt ttv: Arches having-cjrrnvn SOlHa Skool and Stlfpfl‘f: set at Oakentold plays experimental muse his ‘43s: vats, wth the (amino r‘ q"t. 500 young people trustal: his first-ever Colours, Felix Da i(?SIl\'ZIi' is a to tt arch of the Arches turn or. to learn how lw‘: PAM/maria,- lit a Housecat plays one-day mm: Theatre:- Festtvat iMarcn, am to get into the musm ’ 5-year career. Pressure and Judge Aches LIVET. a festival of lfldUSTF/
Jules plays Ins‘ide Out. new work by emergent
companies in October.
18 THE LIST 21 Sep—S Oct 2006