Festival Theatre THE LASSES, O Scots narrative by the Scottish Bard’s women ●●●●●
Janet Paisley re-animates a spectre from the hearts and minds of all those who were raised in Scotland or study its literary history, Robert Burns. Through the testimonies of five women close to him (midwife, storyteller, mother-in-law, smuggler and neighbour) her script conjures a well- rounded picture of the well-kent figure by defining the negative space that surrounds him. Director David Paisley makes the
most of the performance space. Hunkered down in Henderson’s low- ceilinged basement the action circles around the audience, the five actresses in period costume and in possession of percussion tools and fine voices birl round like dervishes or Macbeth’s witches. It’s clear who holds the power as history is put back into their hand (and mouths). Each of the cast is adept at bringing her facet of Burns to life, the evocations made all the more powerful by being in Scots. The use of language that is familiar in Scotland through oral traditions rather than formal schooling, the same language used by Burns 200 years ago, suspends time to allow for a portal into the past and into Scottish culture. (Suzanne Black) ■ Henderson’s Vegetarian Restaurant and Arts Venue, 225 2131, until 29 Aug, Sat 10am, Sun 8pm, £12 (£8).
KEEPERS Lighthousekeeping meets the Odd Couple ●●●●●
N A L R A H L E U N A M
Two lighthouse keepers (Fionn Gill and Martin Bonger) keep their vigil over some obscure crag of coast in 1801, with a sense of incrementally increasing tension. Tom and Thomas are very different people, the younger something of a daydreamer who spends his days communing with birds, some stuffed, some alive, and pining for his mum while his more experienced colleague insists on the need for rigid discipline and devotion for GLASGOW THEATRE see page 107
50 THE LIST 26 Aug–9 Sep 2010
to duty. A storm arrives, bringing tragedy. This piece by the Plasticine Men is admirable for its structural sleight of hand midway through, where it moves from affable physical comedy along the lines of a kind of pre-Victorian Odd Couple, on to tragedy by way of psychological horror. It’s a difficult trick to pull off, but the alterations of tone are cleverly managed. Accompanied by sweetly ambient live music, the performers display an array of mime skills with a minimum of props that are bound to impress. That said, while there’s a nice conversation about social expectation and personal desire under the text, there isn’t quite the profundity here that the piece’s central metaphor seems to promise. (Steve Cramer) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug, 4pm, £10–£11 (£8.50–£9.50).
LITTLE BLACK BASTARD Moving and shocking story of abuse ●●●●●
Noel Tovey – one of Australia’s most respected performers and choreographers, and a leading indigenous and LGBT rights activist – has enough raw material to draw on from his personal and professional experiences to fill several books and umpteen hours of theatre. This monologue, based on his 2004 autobiography, largely deals with his early life, a shocking contrast to his later career, in which he worked with the showbiz likes of Judy Garland and Kenneth Branagh. Tovey and his sister were taken into care at an early age and adopted by a seemingly respectable man who removed them to the countryside. Years of sexual abuse followed before Tovey returned to Melbourne, working
as a street prostitute until he was arrested, tried and convicted for buggery. Tovey, now seventy-six, has an unassuming but magnetic stage presence that very quickly draws you into the story: his matter-of-fact delivery of each harrowing episode has the effect of rendering the abuse the performer suffered even more unsettling, and the bravery with which he picks up the pieces of his life and determines to make a positive contribution to society is extremely moving. (Allan Radcliffe) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 30 Aug, 11.45am, £8.50–£9.50 (£7.50–£8.50).
PAS PERDUS Delightful family-friendly clowning ●●●●●
I
C S A R O B P
CALEDONIA History repeating itself ●●●●●
There is a moment in Alistair Beaton’s new play that provokes a collective audible intake of breath from its audience. It is the point where Paul Higgins’ deluded huckster of a banker announces that his private corporation is now bigger than the state itself. Those few who had not spotted Caledonia’s metaphor about our current state could be left in no doubt from that point on. The collapse that proceeds from this is just as inevitable as the one that has recently transpired in the offstage world. Higgins plays William Paterson, creator of the Bank of England, who, on his return to Scotland in the 1690s proposed an expedition to the Isthmus of Panama. Paterson claimed that by digging a road from one ocean to the other he would create a colony that would make vast fortunes for its Scottish shareholders. This misbegotten venture would land Scotland in debt for generations, and alter its political landscape for centuries. The play maps the journey of Paterson, whose frequent recourses to financial trickery and can-kicking nationalism led him to the swampy midden in which so much of Scotland’s wealth and human endeavour was squandered.
Anthony Neilson’s production for the NTS plays like a big, hairy rambunctious school play on steroids. There’s a good deal of singing and dancing in front of Peter McKintosh’s wooden scaffold set, with the unmissable grim ironies of a country enamoured of financial speculation always to the fore. There are some wonderful performances, with Paul Blair’s overblown, hypocritical Presbyterian minister and Tam Dean Burn’s drunken sea captain particular highlights, in a generally strong cast. The dark, moving final spectacle of thousands of paper chits, symbolising both the debts incurred and the lives these debts cost is especially affecting. The NTS is to be congratulated on taking on the subject of the play, which many other companies have shown a want of courage in avoiding, and if there are a few rough edges in the delivery of a couple of the songs, the pure gusto of the piece makes for a compelling watch. (Steve Cramer) ■ King’s Theatre, 473 2000, until 26 Aug (not 23), 2.30pm (Sun, Wed & Thu) & 7.30pm, £12–£27.
The booming voiceover that introduces this charming piece of physical theatre is that of a hypnotist inducing the calm of sleep on its audience. What then transpires is the appearance of a dream world, though the night visions we experience are far from tranquil. We are confronted with four clowns dressed in what looks like a cross between industrial smocks and flannel pyjamas, and five wooden boxes of the dimensions of a tall bookcase. The ensuing series of sketches provokes wails of mirth from both the under 10s in the audience, and those of lamentably greater age.
The clowning skills of the performers are inspiring, moving from chasing games around the wooden blocks, to their restructuring into perilous monuments atop which our protagonists play dangerous games. Along the way there’s some delightful juggling, and a finale where each makes a delightfully cacophonous din with trumpets, saxophones and drums. What’s so admirable about this demonstration of circus skills is its evocation of an astutely observed tradition of buffo, with Chaplin in particular suggested by the physical action. Even the minor gaffes that happen along the way are slickly covered amidst all the well-paced family comedy. (Steve Cramer) ■ Zoo Southside, 662 6892, until 30 Aug, 2.20pm, £12 (£9).