PREVIEW CLASSIC KING LEAR Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Mon 7–Sat 12 March
‘You would never do Lear without an actor in mind,’ says Michael Grandage. The outgoing director of London’s Donmar Warehouse has had just such an actor in mind for several years. He has built his acclaimed production of Shakespeare’s great tragedy around Sir Derek Jacobi who, at the age of 72, feels he is ready to play the old king, a man who bequeaths his kingdom to his daughters only to be cast into the wilderness and surrender to madness. The conversations between director and actor have gone on
for seven years, each man preparing himself psychologically for a gargantuan undertaking. ‘At the odd dinner, at least once a year, he would usually say, “Have you thought about where our Britain is?”’ says Grandage. ‘It says he’s king of Britain in the play, so where is it?’ The answer is in some ancient, primitive time, an empty
place of stripped-back timber and functional fashion. Here, in a deeply moving performance, Jacobi gathers his family round and says: ‘Tell me my daughters . . . which of you shall we say doth love us most?’ He treats the line as a whimsical afterthought, a casually conceived idea, yet his whole tragedy rests on it. When things don’t go his way, he digs in his heels, banishing the faithful Cordelia and irritating the scheming Goneril and Regan.
‘We want to present a Lear that concentrates on the
domestic tragedy at the centre of it,’ says Grandage. ‘That’s what excited me and, it turned out, what excited him.’ To work with an actor of such charisma makes perfect
sense. ‘He’s the highest ranking person on the stage and he needs to carry some kind of star quality,’ he says. ‘Put a crown on Joe Schmo and hope it has its effect; put on a crown on Derek Jacobi and something happens to the play.’ (Mark Fisher)
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PREVIEW CLASSIC MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN Paisley Arts Centre, Thu 10 Mar; Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Thu 12 Mar; Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 30 Mar–Sat 2 Apr. For touring schedule see birdsofparadisetheatre.co.uk
‘She’s like a lioness with her cubs – she keeps them close,’ says Alison Peebles preparing to take on the formidable title role of Mother Courage, the powerhouse at the heart of Bertolt Brecht’s study of economic survival in the 30 Years’ War. The character is witty and entertaining, yet capable of acts of chilling calculation. ‘She has the charisma of a monster,’ says
Peebles. ‘You’d enjoy spending time in her company but you’d be horrified by what she’s coming out with.’ It puts her in mind of the looters who appear at times of natural disaster and put their own desperate needs ahead of the common good. ‘She’s an opportunist and a woman of her time and situation,’ says Peebles. ‘War makes people different. She’ll do anything to survive. Morally, you might not agree with her, but everything she does is for the best for her family.’ Heading an impressive cast in a touring production
by Birds of Paradise, Peebles is delighting in the character’s contradictions: ‘Brecht himself believed you should be surprised by each moment and that’s what I want to do.’ (Mark Fisher)
110 THE LIST 3–31 March 2011
PREVIEW NEW PLAY WILD LIFE Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 11 & Sat 12 Mar; Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 16 Mar. For touring schedule see www.magneticnorth.org.uk PREVIEW ADAPTATION SWEETNESS Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Thu 3 Mar; North Edinburgh Arts Centre, Edinburgh, Fri 4 Mar. For touring schedule see www.dogstartheatre.co.uk
Voyeurism has long been a part of human nature, and the internet has only increased the opportunities for pointing and staring at those who stand out. Playwright Pamela Carter is convinced that in our voyeurism we are – at least in part – searching for some truths about the human condition. The idea is explored in Carter’s play, Wild Life. She
was asked by Magnetic North to write something based around the story of Victor, the so-called ‘Wild Boy of Aveyron’ – a feral child who was found and studied by various doctors in the early 1800s in an attempt to reach a definition of humanity. After a series of associative leaps from that starting point, Carter alighted on the idea of a ‘modern-day wild child’, picked up on and sensationalised by the media in the manner of so many TV shock-docs. Her protagonists are ‘a very average couple’ who interact with the world via TV and the internet. In a plot that plays on that horror-movie desire to be shocked while safe within a comfortable home, they become obsessed with the idea of a feral child they believe is lurking outside. Carter is tight-lipped on the nature or indeed existence of this ‘virtual child’, but we can be sure her new work will play on some familiar fears and morbid fascinations. (Laura Ennor)
In between touring internationally with The Tailor of Inverness, co-artistic director Matthew Zajac’s award-winning account of his father’s journey from Poland to Scotland, Dogstar theatre company has managed to put together Sweetness, a tragicomedy in which Zajac stars and directs with assistance from Licketyspit’s Virginia Radcliffe.
Adapted by author Kevin MacNeil from the novel by Swedish writer Torgny Lindgren, Sweetness focuses on the bitter relationship between two brothers, played by Zajac and Sean Hay, but the action has moved from Sweden to the north of Scotland. ‘It’s a play which is essentially about death and a very bitter sibling rivalry,’ Zajac explains. ‘These are universal themes in human existence so I’m hoping that audiences will relate quite strongly to them.’ Despite our growing awareness of Swedish authors like Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell, Lindgren remains little-known in the UK. But Zajac isn’t daunted by the task of attracting audiences to an unknown work: ‘There’s always a risk in what we do, that’s just the nature of producing new plays. It’s a challenge but we’ve got to depend on the audience that we’ve built over the years and the reputation the company’s got.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)