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Rhymes with Purple’s Drumhead provides an interactive element to the Tron’s Mayfesto season
Shock of the new Human interest stories take centre stage as the Tron launches exciting new festival
I nspired by the sadly missed ‘Mayfest’, which came to an end in the mid-1990s, the Tron’s new Mayfesto season is hoping to capture some of its namesake’s excitement and popularity. The brainchild of artistic director, Andy Arnold, its programme will focus on politically-charged new plays, human interest stories and unseen work. Highlights include the Tron Theatre Company’s UK premiere of George Packer’s Betrayed, based on interviews the US journalist conducted with young Iraqis in Baghdad, and Katharine Kressmann Taylor’s controversial Address Unknown, which takes fascism as its subject matter.
The short play series, From the West Bank, explores the political struggles in the Middle East, and includes world premieres of David Greig’s Ramallah and An Imagined Sarha, and An Arab Woman Speaks by Franca Rame. Visiting companies will also play an
integral role: Rhymes with Purple’s Drumhead, based on case studies of suspected terrorist or criminal interrogation, transports the audience to an off-site location as the piece unfolds.
‘Glasgow has all types of arts festivals – especially music and visual art – but no celebration of theatre in a city with such a great theatre tradition,’ says Arnold. ‘We present plays at the Tron just about every week of the year but in May we are making it even more special and focusing on drama born out of events.’ The List is teaming up with the Tron for this bold new venture, so stay tuned over the coming issues for new programme announcements as well as in-depth previews, reviews and online content.
Mayfesto will run at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 7–Sat 22 May.
T IN THE PARK LINE- UP ANNOUNCED ■ Muse, Eminem (pictured) and Kasabian will be headlining the main stages at TiTP this year with Black Eyed Peas, The Prodigy and the mighty Jay-Z also playing. Further down the bill there’ll also be sets by Faithless, Stereophonics, Paolo Nutini, Biffy Clyro, Florence and the Machine, Dizzee Rascal, Vampire Weekend and Calvin Harris. The fact that Jay-Z, one of 2008’s Glastonbury headliners,
is not in a headline slot has drawn a few raised eyebrows, but for rap fans it’s a case of the more the merrier. Goldfrapp and Hot Chip from the UK and Dirty Projectors and Broken Social Scene from the US and Canada respectively will be satisfying the indie kids. The current ticket allocation is now sold out so look out for List ticket competitions coming up. Visit www.tinthepark.com for info on further ticket releases and additions to the line-up.
5 Things. . . BEST ONE-LINERS We bring you some rib-ticklers from the stars of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival
1 ‘The world is a dangerous place;
only yesterday I went into Boots and punched someone in the face.’ Jimmy Carr
2 ‘Act your age, not your shoe
size. That means something different on the Continent.’ Richard Herring
3 ‘They say being a hostage is
difficult. But I could do that with my hands tied behind my back.’ Phil Nichol
4 ‘I can't believe Amy Winehouse self-harms. She's so irritating she must be able to find someone to do it for her.’
5 ‘The right to bear arms is
slightly less ludicrous than the right to arm bears.’ Chris Addison
Zoe Lyons.
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USHER HALL REVEALS NEW WING
Following months of surgery, the Usher Hall facelift is now complete, with its new wing open to the public. The latest addition to the A-listed building completes the second phase of their refurbishment. The glass- fronted wing has a café-bar, a bigger box office area and new hospitality spaces. Councillor Deidre Brock said: ‘Unveiling the brand new wing is the penultimate step towards the completed project in the summer.’ 4–18 Mar 2010 THE LIST 7