Theatre
www.|ist.co.uk/theatre
PREVIEW NEW WORK NEW WORK NEW WORLDS Arches, Glasgow, Wed 1-Sat 4 Jul
The New Writing New Worlds festival at the Arches has become something of a fixture on the Scottish arts scene over the past few years. This year there’s a subtle but important title change to this rough-hewn showcase for developing work.
‘New Writing New Worlds was focused very much on literary developments,’ says curator Suzi Simpson. ‘Basically we’re presenting work of all kinds, live art, visual art, poetry and music, as well as writing.’ There’s also a change in the artists’ remit to a more explicitly political focus. ‘We’ve encouraged artists to engage with the wider political and global contexts in this festival: commercialism, climate change, ecological crisis, international conflicts - I’m kind of asking these artists to say where they stand in relation to these things and what they think. I’m also asking what kind of role art has to play in all this.’
The variety of work is too great to go into here, but
82 TH‘ LIST 25 Jun—9 Jul 2009
there are two notable experienced hands present in the form of guerrilla theatre legend Tam Dean Burn and live art guru Richard Dedomenici. Burn will bring back his Tron hit The Year of the Horse, a thrilling engagement with the brief career of political cartoonist Harry Horse. He’s adding a piece of new work in Gorbals Tumcoat, which draws a line straight from the life of Gorbals- born private detective Allan Pinkerton, whose private army in the US caused an act of congress to be passed against him in 1893, to the modern, unchecked form of mercenary armies we’ve seen more recently in places such as Iraq. Dedomenici’s Plane Food Cafe recreates an in-flight meal (which the audience will be served) as a reflection on irresponsible uses of airline travel. Younger, emerging artists include Kieran Hurley, whose Hitch features a pre-made installation, which will be added to daily to reflect Hurley’s personal journey to the GB summit in Italy, and Philip Spencer, whose Cardboard Castle, directed by Neil Docherty, is a piece of new writing, reflecting our loneliness and isolation in contemporary society. (Steve Cramer)
PREVIEW NEW PLAY THIS YEAR’S THING
PREVIEW DOUBLE BILL
SELF HELP/RESPECT The GRV, Edinburgh, until Sun 28 June
Three years after her Fringe debut Pendulum attracted positive reviews. Anita Gallo is staging a new double bill of work at The GRV. Self Help and Respect — directed by Pendulum actor Andy Corelli - were initially written to be performed as separate pieces but. according to the Edinburgh writer, ideally complement each other.
In Self Help, Victoria turns to a self improvement book to find herself a boyfriend — a situation with which Gallo feels most women will relate. “I’ve had bad dates,’ she says. “All my girlfriends have had bad dates. Most people have actually been in a dating agency but they’d never admit it and virtually all of us buy self help books but we don't like to confess to it. I wanted to look at these issues in a light-hearted way.’
Conversely, Respect is a thriller in which Stella has a one night stand but the man refuses to leave her flat in the morning. It was inspired by an event experienced by Gallo when she lived in London, when a woman in the neighbouring tower block was found dead after taking a man from her local pub home - an event she describes as ‘not that uncommon'.
While both plays may vary sharply in tone, they send out the same message. 'I really want people to enjoy Self Help,’ she says, ‘and I'd like Respect to make them feel frightened. But there is an underlying message in both that, ultimately, you are responsible for your own life.’
(Yasmin Sulaiman)
Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Edinburgh, Fri 26—Sun 28 Jun
LGBT community'.
together.‘ (Yasmin Sulaiman)
It's been 40 years since the death of Judy Garland and the (arguably unrelated) Stonewall Riots, a violent police raid on a New York bar that's often seen as the beginning of the gay rights movement. To mark the anniversary, Edinburgh's foremost LGBT theatre group, The Luvvies, has devised This Year's Thing. 3 play that director and co-writer Martin Walker says is ‘holding a mirror up to Scotland's
A comedy set in a fictional gay bar, Walker emphasises the play’s honest assessment of LGBT people today. ‘There are prejudices within our community,’ he explains. “Some lesbians don't get on with men, some gay men can be very misogynist, and there's a lot of phobia against bisexual and transsexual people. So, while the audience are laughing at those things, I’d also like them to think that we should treat each other with a little more respect.’
Walker doesn't just hope the play will challenge opinions; he also sees it as a tool to promote cohesion between lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenders. He says: ‘Some people consider the phrase LGBT to be quite new. But the Stonewall Riot was an LGBT riot and this play is really about bringing the LGBT community — who were forced together through oppression — back