Theatre Glasgow
■ THE ARCHES 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. Lynda Radley: BIRDS and Other Things I Am Afraid of Until Sun 21 Feb. 7pm & 9pm (Sun mat 2pm). £9 (£6). Directed by Sandy Thomson and with original music from Michael John McCarthy (Zoey Van Goey), Lynda Radley hunkers down in a garden shed for an intimate performance about shedding family mythology. Due to the off-site location, meet at Kelvinbridge tube top entrance 15 mins before the performance.
■ CCA 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. Funny: Don’t Make Me Laugh Tue 9 Feb. 8pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Reeling and Writhing and Platform aim to find out what tickles funny bones and why we laugh at the most inappropriate of times with a piece of theatre based on the writer’s experiences as a human rights campaigner. Age 16+.
■ CITIZENS THEATRE 119 Gorbals Street, 429 0022.
✽✽ Backbeat Tue 9 Feb–Sat 6 Mar (not Sun). 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm).
£9.50–£17 (previews 9–11 Feb £4; Mondays £7). Iain Softley re-imagines for the stage his 1994 film about John Lennon, German photographer Astrid Kirchherr and ‘fifth Beatle’ Stuart Sutcliffe. A world premiere by the Citizens Company. See preview, page 82.
✽✽ The Ching Room / The Moira Monologues Tue 9–Sat 13 Feb.
7.30pm. £12 (Tuesdays £7). Novelist and playwright Alan Bissett stages two shorter pieces: The Ching Room’s black comedy in a toilet cubicle and the musings of Moira, Falkirk’s hardest woman. See caption, page 87.
✽✽ Neil Labute Triple Bill Tue 16–Sat 20 Feb. 7.30pm. £12
(Tuesdays £7). A triple-header of works from the adroit pen of Neil Labute, comprising The Furies, Helter Skelter and Land of the Dead. See preview, page 84.
■ EASTWOOD PARK THEATRE Eastwood Park, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, 577 4970. How Cold My Toes Fri 5 & Sat 6 Feb. See Kids listings.
✽✽ Promises Promises Thu 11 Feb. 7.30pm. £10 (£8). Johnny McKnight
directs Douglas Maxwell’s tense classroom drama about an alcoholic supply teacher and a six-year-old pupil believed to be possessed. The Nutcracker Fri 12 Feb. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). The young dancers from Ballet West return to perform the story of Clara and her adventures with the magical Nutcracker doll, set to Tchaikovsky’s classic score. Rhinoceros Thu 18 Feb. 7.30pm. £3. Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist comedy about a town overrun by rhinos. Presented by East Renfrewshire Youth Theatre.
■ THE GLASGOW ART CLUB 185 Bath Street, 565 1000. Glas(s) Performance: Life Long Thu 18–Sat 20 Feb. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). An exploration into monogamy and longevity inspired by Tillie and Ronnie Jeffrey who have been married for 52 years. ■ KING’S THEATRE 297 Bath Street, 0844 871 7648. Blood Brothers Until Sat 13 Feb (not Sun). 7.30pm (Wed & Sat mat 2.30pm). £11.50–£30. Set in Russell’s native Liverpool, Blood Brothers tells the tale of twin boys separated at birth who are reunited later in life by a twist of fate and a mother’s secret. Dancing in the Streets Mon 15–Sat 20 Feb. 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £12–£25.50. Enjoy a night of Motown’s greatest hits at this spectacular celebration of songs from the most prolific hit-factory ever.
86 THE LIST 4–18 Feb 2010
■ ORAN MOR 731–735 Great Western Road, 357 6200. Ticket price includes a pie and drink. Doors 12.30pm on Monday, noon the rest of the week.
✽✽ A Play, a Pie & a Pint: The Secret Commonwealth Until Sat 6 Feb. 1pm. £8–£12.50. The 2010 PPP season debuts with Catherine Czerkawska’s exploration of 17th century beliefs, centred on Reverend Robert Kirk who wrote a factual account of fairies. See First Word, page 2. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: Crunch Mon 8–Sat 13 Feb. 1pm. £8–£12.50. A solo performance by writer/performer/director Gary McNair about his five-step programme to happiness. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: Company Policy Mon 15–Sat 20 Feb. 1pm. £8–£12.50. Comedy set in a unisex toilet written by Daniel Jackson.
■ PAISLEY ARTS CENTRE New Street, 887 1010. Funny: Don’t Make Me Laugh Fri 5 Feb. 7.30pm. £10 (£6). See Glasgow, CCA.
■ PAVILION THEATRE 121 Renfield Street, 332 1846. Peter Powers Fri/Sat until Sat 27 Feb. 7.30pm (also Sat midnight). £10–£13. Hypnotist act from Powers, who has been called ‘the Ali G of stage hypnosis’. Please note the Friday show is a ‘Family Fun Night’ and the midnight Saturday show is over 21s only.
An Evening with Larry Lamb Thu 18 Feb. 7.30pm. £17.50. Stories and entertainment from the Eastenders actor.
■ PLATFORM The Bridge, 1000 Westerhouse Road, Easterhouse, 276 9696. Class Act Thu 11 Feb. 7.30pm. £7 (£5). A performance by students from Visual Statement’s weekly dance classes. Keep Smiling Through Thu 18 Feb. 7.30pm. £8 (£3.50–£4.50). A look at life on the Home Front during WWII. ■ RAMSHORN THEATRE 98 Ingram Street, 548 2558. Twelfth Night Until Sat 6 Feb (not Sun). 7.30pm. £6–£9 (£4–£6). Mistaken identity, shipwrecks and transvestitism. Strathclyde Theatre Group relocates Shakespeare’s action to the roaring 20s, where androgyny, jazz and passion are de rigueur. FREE Love à la Carte Sun 14 Feb. 6–9pm. Tempting, love-themed, nibbles of poetry, song and speeches for those in the mood for love. The Ladybirds and Rites Wed 17–Sat 20 Feb. 7.30pm. £9 (£6). Two plays that foreground the female experience. Tony Layton’s The Ladybirds, directed by Mags McNulty, is set in a village am-dram group that has lost all its male actors, and the stir that their subsequent all-female production causes. Rites (written by Maureen Duffy and directed by Bruce Downie), a piece of experimental theatre from the 60s, relocates The Bacchae to a ladies’ loo.
REVIEW MUSICAL THE SOUND OF MUSIC Edinburgh Playhouse, until Sat 20 Feb ●●●●●
There is a moment, quite near the end of this mostly jolly musical, when Nazi Germany comes to Edinburgh. The hairs stand up on the back of your neck, and it’s almost possible to imagine what life under the swastika was really like. Other than that, the show does exactly what you would expect it to: songs are sung, curtains are turned into costumes, family wounds are healed and the local convent loses a nun. No more, no less. Which is perhaps a little disappointing from what is regularly termed the most popular musical of all time.
An impressive set does much to take us from the house of God to the Von Trapp residence, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s songs have lost none of their allure. Yet despite this, the show lacks that certain spark that gladdens the soul.
Having triumphed on the BBC’s How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria,
Connie Fisher is suitably feisty but fair in the lead role. But vocally, it’s hard for her – indeed anyone – to hold a candle to Julie ‘four octaves’ Andrews.
The real stars of the show – as their voluminous applause at the curtain call clearly demonstrates – are the cute but highly professional Von Trapp children and Margaret Preece as the Mother Abbess, who could climb pretty much any mountain with her stunning vocal range. (Kelly Apter)
■ ROYAL CONCERT HALL 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. Raymond Gubbay: Anton & Erin Steppin’ Out UK Tour Sat 13 Feb. 3pm & 7.30pm. £20–£37.50. Stricly Come Dancing’s Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag are back with a new show after last year’s sell-out tour. They are joined by singer and West End star Graham Bickley, guest dancers and a live orchestra in music by Cole Porter, Gershwin, Jerome Kern and more. ■ SCOTTISH YOUTH THEATRE The Old Sheriff Court, 105 Brunswick Street, 552 3988. How Cold My Toes Thu 4 Feb. See Kids listings. Youth Music Theatre UK Auditions 2010 Mon 15 Feb. 10am–noon. £25. Have you got ambitions to tread the boards? This two-hour workshop audition aims to find new talent for seven musical theatre productions and covers singing, dancing and acting, although no experience is necessary.
■ SECC Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. The Wall of Death: A Way of Life Thu 4–Fri 12 Feb (not Mon). 6.30pm & 8.30pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 5pm. £10 (£6). Visual artist Stephen Skrynka joins the world-famous Ken Fox Troupe to learn to ride the motorcycle Wall of Death. The show comprises live action from the motorcycle team and the unveiling of Skrynka’s installation looking at his emotional response to the act. Strictly Come Dancing Thu 11–Sun 14 Feb. 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm); Sun 1.30pm & 6.30pm. £42.50–£65. See stars from past series of the hit TV show gather their gowns and don their dance shoes to once again become dance contestants, competing for the votes of the Glasgow audience. ■ STEREO 22–28 Renfield Lane, 565 1000. Andy Field: Motor Vehicle Sundown Tue 9–Sat 13 Feb. Noon–10pm. £4 (£3). Mixing installation, participatory performance and audio show, this is a journey in the last car in the universe. Performances leave from Stereo at 25-minute intervals. Etiquette Tue 9–Sat 13 Feb. 12.30–4pm & 5.30–9pm. £6 (£4). Participatory theatre as part of the Arches off-site programme. An intimate isolated performance for two people at a time who wear headphones issuing instructions to follow, with no audience. Performances take place at 40-minute intervals.
■ THEATRE ROYAL 282 Hope Street, 0844 871 7647. Traces Thu 4–Sat 6 Feb. 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £17–£23. Light relief at the circus with Traces, which combines urban acrobatics with traditional big top skills to an eclectic soundtrack of hip hop, rock and classical music.
✽✽ Rambert Dance Company: The Comedy of Change Thu
11–Sat 13 Feb. 7.30pm. £10–£21. Britain’s flagship contemporary dance company commemorates Charles Darwin year with The Comedy of Change, which is set to a specially- commissioned score by Julian Anderson with production design by Kader Attia, as well as two other new works. See preview, page 83.
■ TRAMWAY 25 Albert Drive, 0845 330 3501
✽✽ Clutter Keeps Company Tue 16–Sat 20 Feb. 8pm. £6–£10.
Birds of Paradise Theatre Company presents an accessible tale about defying bedtimes and babysitters to run away to the shows. Signed performance on Thu 18 Feb. See preview, page 83.