Theatre
SCOTTISH PREMIERE BROKEN GLASS Tolbooth, Stirling,
Thu 26—Sat 28 Apr, then touring
There is a simple believability in Arthur Miller's characters and stories which makes them as relevant today as they ever were. be they tales of quotidian salesmen betrayed by the American Dream, or illegal immigrants living in hidden poverty in an affluent country. Such characters were many in Miller's oeuvre. If they occurred less frequently in his latter years as a dramatist. they were all the more powerful when they did.
One late Miller. never seen before in Scotland, which falls into this category is Broken Glass, his tale of a Jewish woman. seemingly paralysed. who, in the late 19308. hears with increasing alarm stories of emerging German anti-Semitism broadcast over her radio. COuld her physical condition and the reports be connected? When the play received its premiere at the English National Theatre in the early 90s. it won Ken Stott an Olivier. Here given its first Scottish outing by Michael Emans' Rapture theatre company. the piece shows a connection between great political upheavals and everyday people.
‘This character is aware of things that are happening in other parts of the world that other people are
dismissing' Emans explains. ‘When idea that a human being has done that.’ So says you think about the things that Pauline Knowles, who’ll be playing Aldonza (the Sofia happen around the world now that \ ‘ Loren role, for the film literate) in this revival at the barely make the news. like what's MMUAblfiAbF LA MANCHA Lyceum of the story of a gentlemanly idealist telling happening in Darfur, it's atrocious. | Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, stories to his-fellow prisoners in a dungeon during the thought it was absolutely relevant. Fri 20 Apr_sat 18 May Spanish lnqutsrtion. Knowles’, an actress of formidable because we tend not to be aware of talent, reminded audiences of her abilities as a singer what's happening in the world unless Recent times might incite us to pray for leaders who (first explored at Borderline in the early 905) when she it affects ourselves.‘ (Steve Cramer) believe in nothing. The zealous idealism of our current appeared in the NTS’s Tutti Frutfi last year. crop of proselytising free market politicians, and their Knowles points out that Don Quixote’s idealism monomaniac religious opponents might make us makes us uncomfortable partially because of our own hanker sentimentally after the hard-headed jaded view of the world. ‘He reminds us of the nobility pragmatists of a generation ago. Usually, those who in ourselves. He reminds us we haven’t just sprung up have alternative ideas are labelled idealists, but from the dirt. There’s a choice we make - we can perhaps we need such people for the health of choose to see the negative and be cynical, or we can democracy. Dale Wasserman’s musical rendering of choose to see the heroism and nobility in life. Usually Cervante’s novel, presented here, dares to ‘Dream the we choose to believe that the worse choice is the real Impossible Dream’ and became a legendary Broadway world, but the other, more positive, world is just as real. hit of the 705. When we respond cynically to the world, we take the ‘One image that comes to mind when I think of this easy path, but is the real world really that bad, or is that play is the student standing in front of the tank in something created by the media to make us conform to Tiananmen Square - it’s an act of madness, but there’s a cynical agenda? It’s an open question.’ Go on, tilt at such heroism as well. We can take such pride in the the odd windmill. (Steve Cramer)
NEW WORK REUNION Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 11-Sat 14 Apr, then touring
Given the amount yOu'll be reading over the next few weeks on the issue of the future of the union, l'm loathe to add to your burden. But 7:84 are determined to approach this issue from angles that you won't expect. True to their general commitment to current issues. they‘ve managed. in fairly short order. to commission four writers from different countries to each produce a 20-minute play on the subject of the dividing of nations.
All four pieces will be presented in a single evening. each creating a story set at significant turning points in their various c0untries' histories. There are contributions from Nicola McCartney on Ireland in 1921, Haresh Sharma on India/Pakistan in 1947. Selma Dimitrijevic on Yugoslavia/Croatia in 1991. and finally Linda McLean on Scotland in 2007. But the stories are as much metaphor as historical commentary. looking at ideas of families and relationships in the context of these huge events.
Director Lorenzo Mele is looking to downplay the element of political rumination. allowing these matters to emerge as part of various personal stories. 'We wanted to do something that looks at this moment in Scottish history. We didn't want to do a documentary on the history of the union — we knew that the newspapers would provide plenty of facts, figures and history.‘ he says. ‘Three of them take a very metaphorical line. where personal lives of individuals. families and so on become ways of unlocking these big global events. People don‘t go to the theatre for history lessons — they go for emotion, stimulation and surprise. So you don‘t have to know the history of Ireland. India. Croatia or even Scotland to enjoy these pieces.‘ (Steve Cramer)
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