Theatre
REVIEW SITE SPECIFIC PLAY AN ARGUMENT ABOUT SEX Tramway, Glasgow, until Sat 17 Oct, then touring ●●●●●
Pamela Carter’s updating of 18th century playwright Pierre de Marivaux’s comedy La Dispute opens with a discussion between two hedge fund managers. Helen (Selina Boyack) has been shot down in flames for suggesting that the economic downturn could have been so much less painful had there been more women with their steady hands on the tiller. Charlie (Stuart Bowman) believes the issue is less clear-cut than one of inherent male recklessness versus female risk-aversity and points to a social experiment in which four human guinea pigs (two boys and two girls) have been raised in isolation, without nurture. At this point Selina and the audience are conducted into a nearby ‘Garden of Eden’ to witness the results of the 18-year experiment. What follows is an intermittently amusing, but generally coy, hybrid of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Blue Lagoon as the four teenagers are introduced to each other for the first time. As Marivaux’s/Carter’s re- enactment of the dawn of creation is mainly an exploration of male/female betrayal, it has little to contribute to the debate on the contemporary economic situation. It’s left to an onscreen lecture from scientist Matt Ridley to explain in lay terms the latest thinking on nature versus nurture, awkwardly topping off an unwieldy piece that confuses by its lack of thematic focus. (Allan Radcliffe)
86 THE LIST 8–22 Oct 2009
www.list.co.uk/theatre
PREVIEW CLASSIC OTHELLO Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 21 Oct–Sat 14 Nov
Andy Clark is perhaps Scotland’s most in demand actor at present. From his earliest days at Dundee Rep a decade back, his performances have long garnered praise, but in such productions as The Ching Room and The Last Witch over the last year, he has reached new peaks. His latest role, as Shakespeare’s most complex and
charismatic villain, Iago, looks set to showcase his talents to good effect. Guy Hollands’ production for the Citz goes beyond the simple politics of race in exploring the traducing of the decent title character by the ignoble Iago. ‘We all know that there’s a generation of Scots that are still inadvertently racist, so there’s a certain relevance to that theme,’ says Clark. ‘It’s funny, though, you always think that race is the main thing, but actually, aside from that deep seated, unconscious racism in people that we see
early on, it becomes less of an issue as the play goes along.’ There are, Clark maintains, many strands to the play,
one hitherto overlooked theme being the consequences of filling the streets of peaceful cities with soldiery. ‘It’s a contemporary setting, very military, lots of grey and dark colours,’ he explains. ‘Othello and probably Iago have only known combat – Othello has known nothing but war since he was a child. When they get to Cyprus and there’s no war, all hell breaks loose.’
As to his famously treacherous character, Clark sees
him as more multifaceted than you might expect. ‘I’m certainly not trying to go down the simple evil route. He’s a realist really, and a lot of the stuff he says, you can’t argue with. Even though he’s a got a cynicism about him, some of what he says is sadly true. I don’t think he’s an out-and-out psychopath. You don’t want people to be too sympathetic with him, but he has a certain quality, however flawed he is.’ (Steve Cramer)
REVIEW PHYSICAL THEATRE BRIGHT BLACK Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline, Tue 13 Oct; Howden Park Centre, Livingstone, Fri 15 Oct; Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock, Sun 17 Oct; Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Wed 21 Oct. Seen at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 16 Sep ●●●●●
The latest show from those masters of theatre’s dark arts, Vox Motus, focuses on Claire (Meline Danielewicz), a recently bereaved young woman. She struggles through her grief while caged in a ‘post-apocalyptic converted abattoir’ of a flat. Kettles, milk cartons and bottles of whisky are plucked from nowhere and have vanished before we even have time to believe in them. Then, most alarmingly, a maroon parka hanging on the front door grows arms, then
legs, and finally sprouts a man (Martin McCormick). This truth-taunting demon-castaway torments Claire, coming and going through a just-visible maw that spits him out then sucks him in again. Malevolent and insistent, he bombards Claire with questions: Is grief really just guilt?
Is it all about you? Can you honestly say you wouldn’t rather lose your mother than your lover given the choice? Rarely has a prop been so elegantly and arrestingly used as the maroon parka with which Claire dances. It is through her relationship with the coat that the rich physical textures of the production become vivid and meaningful, alongside other moments of spare, impulsive movement, in which Claire expresses herself most articulately.
The show’s handling of its subject is more gothic than tragic. There is despair without
bleakness and hope without glory. The overall effect is complex but ultimately consolatory. (Elliot Ross)