CONTEMPORARY DANCE
LES BALLETS C. DE LA B - VSPRS
Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 3—Sat 5 May
Belgian company, Les Ballet C. de la B is the spider plant of the dance world. Small cuttings spliced from the main group regularly take root elsewhere, creating diverse work under the same moniker. This unique structure means that although Les Ballet C. de la B will appear at Tramway three times this season, not one of them will be the same company.
Founder member, Alain Platel has dived in and out of his company in recent years, but his 2001 piece. VSPRS certainly made a splash. A large-scale work featuring ten dancers and ten musicians (who play their instruments sitting on a huge pile of rags), the piece takes Claudio Monteverdi's Mar/a Vespers to a whole new level. Some audience members have acted with their feet, as the religious imagery. stripping and prolonged masturbation proved all too much. For those who go the distance, however. a fascinating and memorable journey into the minds of the mentally ill is promised.
‘Prior to working in the arts, Alain had a background in mental illness,‘ explains Tramway's producer, Steve Slater. “And part of the inspiration for VSPRS is documentation from various therapists. The movement vocabulary of his dancers is based on people with mental illness, their inner world and sense of isolation. Which makes it an intensely difficult but very interesting piece to watch.“ (Kelly Apter)
NEW WORK
REVIVAL ANGELS IN AMERICA, PARTS 1 8. 2 Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 1—Sat 12 May
There’s little doubt that in the future, when the great histories of theatre post-1950 are written, Tony Kushner’s classic will take a prominent role. Reckoned by many a critic to be the greatest play of the 19903, its cultural shockwaves resonate today through various theatrical influences on contemporary companies. But could it still have the same direct impact?
‘The primary theme for me is Harper’s line “How do people change?”,’ comments American director Daniel Kramer, fresh from a succession of recent West End successes. ‘What makes it timeless is that it focuses on four lovers who are trying very hard to change, some because they want to change, some because they have to change. That’s what’s so fascinating - they all go through traumatic experiences, and two of them succeed in changing their lives. We don’t know about the other two. Isn’t that like life?’
The piece, which was last seen in Scotland in 1996, deals with a gay couple, one of whom is diagnosed HIV positive, and a straight couple, the male and deeply religious half of which realises he’s gay. Beyond this, there’s a sprawling panoply of modern life, an
CARTHAGE MUST BE DESTROYED Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 27 Apr-Sat 19 May
The history play is, and has always been, a way to speak of contemporary times. Just as Shakespeare's versions of Henry V, Richard ill and even King Lear were more a commentary on contemporary events than the past, so every history play since has been about the period in which it was written rather than the period in which it is set.
Alan Wilkins' new play. Carthage Must Be Destroyed, looks at the Third Punic Wars — seemingly a great distance from our own period — with an eye, if not to total historical accuracy, then to a representation of the spirit of the age'l wouldn't have written the play if I hadn't been interested in talking about Iraq, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it‘s a direct metaphor,‘ Wilkins explains. “Once I decided to write a play about the third Punic War, I avoided any changes to make a character look more like Bush or Rumsfeld and so on. The politics are both personal and national.‘
Wilkins’ play throws light on a society, represented through the personal dealings of four political figures and a cynical c0nspiracy to create a war, which parallels our own.
‘I suppose the big parallel is that the war was fought on very dodgy grounds after slogans had been repeated by influential people again and again. It's interesting that in 1498C the same
methods were used as today.’
The upper political strata seem strikingly similar in the two societies. 'lt's as if there's this elite who are able to play a media game, and people outside who aren't considered,’ says Wilkins. ‘Voters are regarded as just a nuisance, and that ’s certainly a parallel with the way that the elites behave in
the play.’ (Steve Cramer)
Theatre
encounter with Kushner's version of Roy Cohn, the right wing former McCarthyite lawyer, and an examination, through many characters, of the body politic of the American state. Above all, as Kramer reiterates, it’s a love story about change.
‘All kinds of things can happen; you might be left by your lover, you might contract AIDS, but do you actually change? The other related theme is people taking responsibility for their actions.’
And does the play still carry a contemporary resonance? ‘Well, there’s still the figure of this savage and corrupt self interested politician in this blossoming capitalist environment,’ comments Kramer, emphasising the relevance of this to both the USA and UK. ‘But I think in 1990 having a man diagnosed with HIV on stage was a very different thing than it is now. But I hope we heighten awareness of HIV today. One of the things that I find disgraceful as a gay man myself is that AIDS has risen by 42 per cent in the gay male community, showing that a lot of men have resorted back to unsafe behaviour. The idea that AIDS is now somehow treatable, like diabetes, is dangerous, and the shift of focus to places like Africa increases the dangen’
However these ideas play today, it’s a story about love you won’t want to miss. (Steve Cramer)
2t; Apr—10 May 200/ THE LIST 81