Theatre
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REVIEW REVIVAI
THE WASP FACTORY
Regal Theatre, Bathgate, Thu 15 May, then touring 0..
Our fractured, alienating and individualist society is bound to produce some disquieting anomalies among its youth. In a world where the first priority is self, our capacity to empathise with others is profoundly limited, and violence easily resorted to. This, at least, is the subtext of Iain Banks’ novel, adapted for the stage by Malcolm Sutherland over 15 years ago, and revised here by Ed Robson for Cumbernauld Theatre and the Tron.
In it, we meet Frank (Nicola Jo Cully) a youth who knows himself so slenderly that even his gender is questionable. His quest for certainty leads to the development of a series of bizarre atavistic religious rituals involving animal sacrifice. The purpose of all this might well be to ward off his psychotic brother (Robbie Jack), who’s escaped from state incarceration and on his way back to the island home Frank shares with their
98 THE LIST ti 2)? Ma}. Widtfl
twisted father (Ian Sexon).
Robson’s production in front of his own impressive wood cabin and water’s edge design develops an extraordinary variety of theatrical languages to convey the violent baroque of the novel’s tone. Shot through with bleak gothic humour and striking visuals, such moments as when the characters break into Mama Cass’ ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’, leave one distinctly uncomfortable about the dream landscape these people inhabit and will remain with you long afterwards.
But quite whether Sutherland’s text is all it’s cracked up to be is open to question. At times Banks’ prose is reiterated in long monologues that traduce the action. Cully works bravely in the lead, capturing Frank’s vulnerability nicely but not quite getting the dark, homicidal gravitas that paradoxically accompanies this. For all that, this production shows a constant ingeniousness in its approach to a difficult text, and deftly overcomes its limitations to make for a grimly intriguing night out. (Steve Cramer)
REVIEW NE W lHANSl Al ION EDUCATING AGNES
PREVIEW TRANSLATION LIMBO/ZARRABERRI Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 12 May—Sat 17 May
In the 14th century. Dante described limbo as the ‘first circle of hell' in The Divine Comedy. This 8()O-year-old concept of limbo. in which unbaptised babies who die are said to be stuck between heaven and hell. has since been abolished by the Pope in 2007. Surely the church couldn't have been mistaken all that time? Director Rosie Kellagher explains how her latest piece explores this concept. “The play looks at the anomalies in the way the church perceives certain versions of reality. It pokes fun at the whole idea of limbo in a very gentle way. It's about a man who ends up in the office of the (,lepartment of limbo. It eventually becomes apparent it's not his paperwork being processed but his soul. Will he be sent to hell. heaven or limbo?'
Chris Nolan's translation from Victor lriarte's Spanish text will be performed as a double bill With another Spanish comedy. Zt'irraberri. by Maite Pere/ Larumbe. which pokes fun at arts councils and insurance boards. These translations have been created specifically for Scottish audiences: ‘the translator has been very involved in the process. it's about transferring cultural references and making it work for a Scottish audience.‘
Limbo examines this highly moral issue in a humorous way. 'Where we derive our morals from today is much more of a grey area. particularly with ackiiowledgments such as these from the Catholic church. Whilst it does touch on these serious issues it is a comedy and the audience should have fun.' (Greer Ogstonl
Ros Sydney stars
Citizens‘ Theatre, Glasgow, run ended; Perth Theatre until Fri 9 May .00
When lvloliere's I 'ecoie (/es fem/hes was translated as Let Wives Tak Tent by Robert Kemp in 1948. it set in motion a half-century tradition of Scottish reworkings of the 17th centuiy French playwright. l ike Quebec's lvlichel Tremblay in the 1990s. Moliere was adopted as one of our own. What struck a chord with audiences was not only the Vigour of the Scots language. but the broad. manner in which it was performed. Duncan Macrae and Rikki Fulton have taken lead roles. both performers haying an innate feel for lvloliere's style of direct address.
Now. 550 years after Kemp. Li/ Lochhead has returned to the play and given it a translation that matches the rhyming couplets of the original. This she does Without the clunkiness of many English versions. allowing her poetry to skip along playfully. leasing the audience as it sWings from highfalutin' to common—as muck.
In Graham lvlclaren's production for Theatre Babel. the cast does an impressive j()l) at keeping the demanding text in the air. not least Keyin McMonagle who is hardly off the stage as the ridiculous Arnolphe. an old man with a plan to wed his Virginal ward. He cuts a suitably slea/y figure. one we're happy to laugh at when his scheme ineVitably goes wrong. What he doesn't have. however. is the kind of pantomime verve that \n/ould make the evening raucous instead of merely chucklesome. MOHCFUS pure and simple tWIsts still delight. but the production needs even more comic exuberance to really take off. (Mark Fisher)