Theatre
PREVIEW . e \CraTLNlE CLASSICS CLASSIC CUTS: MEDEA Oran Mor. Glasgow. Mon 1—Sat 6 Jun
Sada. Cumieeh s ‘as‘. cementing a 'el‘ut.il'0l‘ as the Wu 0' lunchtime flieatfe Foilotuiiig ret‘or‘t A Play a Pie and a Pint successes Peers and 1133‘ 0' 3‘0 Ct‘ri.‘ "i'. "t: his affiliation with Qrah Mei continues with this .ear's Ciassic Cuts season. for which he's adapted the opener, Euripides .‘.7et}ea. 'educ‘et to iust xiii minutes
The series aims to offer digested aiia )tations of i‘iassic plays. and Canheen's ,‘Jedea Will be followed by mm 11 :r‘iuermere's Fa". Cirano ae Bergerac and Romeo and Juliet Cunneen ~ who shrank king (or for last .ear's season is enthusiastic about the effect these distillations may leaxe on their audiences 'F ort‘, -fi\e minutes is jLiSl long enough to gel the Job done but it doesn't make phenomenal demands on the attention span] he says 'I think it's a great way of inducting an audience into a whole classic cannon.‘
What's more. he seems undaunted by the task of adapting Euripides tragedy, in which Medea kills her children in revenge for her husband's betrayal — an action that Cunneen believes is commensurate With the iniustices inflicted upon her. Indeed. Cunneen‘s interpretation of the play gives it an unmistakably contemporary ring one that might convrnce many disbelievers of Greek drama's undying
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A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE :trengths, it has a universal relevance and has that relevance , \ ‘ g \ Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Mon 1-Sat 6 Jun ind of terror that the great early Greekplays do. At Look at various (,()llill(,t8 in the the same time it’s a really great domestic tragedy world at the moment where there is a
One of the gifts that made Arthur Miller such a about working class Brooklyn longshoremen from disproportionate response to significant dramatic writer was his ability to capture the immigrant Italian families.’ aggression,' he says ‘The play asks world of Greek tragedy - on the face of it an unfamiliar Posner also asserts that the play can still present a us: how far should we go when we theatrical landscape with its dark blood feuds, incest commentary on contemporary multicultural Britain. ‘It feel aggrieved? And how far are we and primal passions - and make it significant to the certainly still has something to say about the issue of entitled to go in seeking retribution? modern world. immigration,’ he says. ‘Nowadays you can see that (Yasmin Sulaiman)
The director of this new touring production of A View whether it’s a Muslim, Asian or Polish community, From the Bridge, Lindsay Posner, sees this as those groups do have their own forms of law that don’t essential to the play’s success. Without the always correspond to British law.’ As Carbone, Ken underpinnings of Miller’s ancient model, the story of Stott, making a rare return to the Scottish stage, is also Eddie Carbone, a working class postwar everyman, his a clever piece of casting. ‘He was born to play it really — passion for his niece and his betrayal of both family he has all the emotional and physical range that it and community as a result of his repression, would requires,’ Posner asserts. ‘One of his parents, his make no sense. ‘lt’s inescapable really, it has a mother, was Italian, so he’s very acquainted with the relentless drive, a rhythm that works like a Greek culture. Also, I think Scottish and Irish actors in tragedy, so you have to incorporate it, to make the play particular seem to have a facility with American - he’s work,’ Posner says. ‘I think that’s one of its great very good with the language.’ (Steve Cramer)
PREVIEW EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE WAYN TRAUB: MARIA-MAGDALENA Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 4—Sat 6 Jun
The best things come in threes. At least. that's what fans of Wayn Traub WI” be hoping as the experimental theatre-maker returns to Scotland this fortnight with the third and final instalment in his Wayn Wash trilogy. Maria-Magdalena is cut from the same holy cloth as earlier works. Maria-Dolores and Jean-Baptiste, in its layering of text. mUSIC. film, dance and performance to create an ingenious theatrical collage. Traub calls this technique ‘Cinema-opera'.
'I always knew I could combine real mowe With actors on stage,‘ he says. ‘The opera part is related to the way of acting of my actors and me. They Sing, dance. act in a more barooue way. It's not opera but it is influenced by it. I liked the idea of combining old art with new.‘ Traub. who originally trained as a filmmaker and also worked as a protessonal dancer. developed his oeuvre out of frustration wrth existing practices combining multi-media With performance. ‘I liked the idea of performing in front of a public because I believed in the ritual idea of art.‘ he says. ‘In a ritual the public is needed. At the same time, I saw a lot of theatre where movie proiection was used and l was disappOinted in the way it was used. So I believed I could do something about that.‘
Traub is particularly excited about this stripped-down new piece. ‘This performance is darker. better made. more original and more dangerous. I'm alone on stage. that's also a big difference. It makes it more personal.‘ (Allan Radcliffe)
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