BENEATH YOU - SPIDER GIRLS ARE EVERYWHERE The Tron Theatre. Glasgow. Thu 27—Sat 29 Sep. then touring
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l 5 4‘ Psychologically he‘s very complete and very modern as '* l' :" " i" ' l ' » ' PEER GYNT a character,” he says. ‘My whole motive in doing this ’ z, ‘ - - " l‘ " r ' Dundee Rep‘ Mon 24 sep—Sat 13 oct play was to get away from that kind of rustic, folksy : z. z - " - v.
Dominic Hill‘s last project at Dundee Rep, here interpretation, which for me, softened the edges. l z ' 2 l l " 2 z ' . combining its resources with the National Theatre of wanted to do a version that focussed more on the z '. 't a: .' ' .1" ~ Scotland, shows no lack of ambition. The soon-to—be modern world. This is a loud, boisterous modern play.‘ . .' : : -' l - ' I ‘- ' l’ * " artistic director of the Traverse has chosen a complex, But beyond its modernity, Hill feels that there's an " 2' : " « ll : " " 1‘ :. 1:1 1! picaresque classic full of incident as his swan song in existential question at the centre of the piece. He says:
Tayside. lbsen‘s mighty theatrical verse poem was not “He very much engages with the question of who one
originally intended for full scale production, yet its is, of identity. He does all the things that he‘s meant to
power on a stage is undeniable. do to realise himself, like make lots of money and shag
The adventures of the eponymous philandering, lots of women. But the advice he takes at the occasionally violent, frequently acquisitive lad, who, beginning, to know yourself, doesn't necessarily entail from a modest start becomes King of the Trolls, a all that, so we‘re left questioning whether he‘s in fact multimillionaire and the inmate of an African asylum, to wasted his time.‘ This, itself, ties up with the question note but three of many incidents in the text, is, for Hill, of whether what we all seek from life is emotional a supremely modern figure, as relevant today. perhaps closure. ‘He's running away from the people who want more so, as at the text‘s creation in 1867. The character him. For all the people he shags, he doesn‘t find that himself, Hill contends, sets the contemporary tone. emotional fulfilment,‘ Hill adds. A play about the ‘He‘s an only child, an outcast from the community, all modern, love or identity? There‘s enough to Peer Gynt that is really accessiny drawn in the first half. for it to be about all three and more. (Steve Cramer)
:g HAMLET Citizens' Theatre, Fri 21 Sep—Sat 13 Oct
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