Theatre
Events are listed by city, then alphabetically by venue. Submit listings at least 16 days before publication to theatre@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Laura Ennor. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
GLASGOW ■ THE ARCHES 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. It’s Her Birthday Sat 5 Mar, 6–9pm. £3. A Moment’s Peace Theatre Company celebrates International Women’s Day with an evening of performances celebrating and exploring the stories of women. UWS BA Performance Showcase Wed 23 Mar, 1pm & 7pm. £7 (£5). Final-year students from the University of the West of Scotland showcase 5–10 minute pieces created during their studies, ranging from conventional playwriting to experimental devised pieces. The 7pm show is suitable for ages 18+ only.
■ CITIZENS THEATRE 119 Gorbals Street, 429 0022. Lear’s Daughters Thu 3–Sat 5 Mar, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2pm). £10 (£7). XLC Theatre Company and Langside College present a sequel imagining what happened to King Lear’s daughters after the end of Shakespeare’s play. Marilyn Thu 3–Sat 12 Mar (not Sun/Mon), 7.30pm (Sat 5 Mar mat 2.30pm). £10–£17.50 (£7.50). See review. Off the Page Wed 9, 16 & 23 Mar, 2pm. £20 for four sessions. Informal, participatory play readings. Death, Dumb, Blonde Wed 9 Mar–Sat 12 Mar, 7.30pm. £12.50. A violent, psychoanalytical thriller from Seenunseen.
✽✽ Girl X Wed 16 Mar–Sat 19 Mar, 7.30pm. £10–£17.50 (£7–£14.50).
Ages 14+. See preview,right. National Theatre of Scotland: Works in Progress Wed 16–Sat 19 Mar, 7.30pm. £10. The National Theatre of Scotland presents Molly Taylor’s one- woman show Love Letters to the Public Transport System (Wed) and Gary McNair’s exploration of the political systems we are born into and bound to accept (or not), Count Me In (Thu). At the end of the week (Fri & Sat) you can see both plays as a double bill. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Tue 22–Sat 26 Mar, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £10–£17.50 (concessions £7–£14.50; Tue all tickets £10). Headlong Theatre and The Nuffield, Southampton present Shakespeare’s best- loved comedy, relocated to a 1960s Hollywood film set. Somersaults Wed 23–Sat 26 Mar, 7.30pm. £12.50 (£7.50–£9.50). The National Theatre of Scotland presents a play exploring words, language and their importance when it comes to identity by Iain Finlay MacLeod. ■ EASTWOOD PARK THEATRE Eastwood Park, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, 577 4970. Smalltown Thu 10 Mar, 7.30pm. £12 (£10; students £8). See review. The Wedding Singer Tue 15–Sat 19 Mar, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £10–£14. Musical based on the Adam Sandler movie of the same name. Presented by Theatre South. Glasgow Tales Tue 29 Mar, 7.30pm. £3. A new piece of theatre devised by Eastwood Park Theatre Young Company and inspired by the snippets of conversation picked up on Glasgow’s streets, buses and trains.
■ KING’S THEATRE 297 Bath Street, 0844 871 7648. Half a Sixpence Thu 3–Sat 5 Mar, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £16.50–£21.50. Big-hearted musical performed by the Lyric Club. 116 THE LIST 3–31 March 2011
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and directed by Davey Anderson. Ticket price includes a pie and drink. A Play, A Pie & A Pint: The Soap Hour Mon 14–Sat 19 Mar, 1pm. £8–£12.50. A play that explores whether your identity is forged in the day-to-day life around you. Play, A Pie & A Pint: One Night in Iran Mon 21–Sat 26 Mar, 1pm. £8–£12.50. Lunchtime theatre about an illegal tryst in Iran. A Play, A Pie & A Pint: St Catherine’s Day Mon 28 Mar–Sat 2 Apr, 1pm. £8–£12.50. Michael Marra’s play tells the story of different generations of romantic Irish balladeers. ■ PAVILION THEATRE 121 Renfield Street, 332 1846. The Kilkennys: ‘Fine Girl, Ye Are!’ Sat 12 Mar, 7.30pm. £16.50 (£13.50). The story of the Clancy Brothers, in a theatrical show narrated by Cathal McCabe.
■ PLATFORM The Bridge, 1000 Westerhouse Road, Easterhouse, 276 9696. Shooting Truth Thu 10–Sat 12 Mar, 7pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £2.50. Platform Performance presents a show about a teenage film making project.
✽✽ Around the World in 80 Days Thu 31 Mar, 7.30pm; Fri 1 Apr,
PREVIEW NEW WORK GIRL X Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 4–Sun 13 Mar; Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 16–Thu 19 Mar
About four years ago, performer and disability rights activist Robert Softley came to the National Theatre of Scotland with an unusual proposition. He’d been following the case of Ashley X, a pre-pubescent disabled girl in the US whose parents filed an injunction to halt her puberty, removing her womb and breasts. Softley had been participating in intense online debates surrounding the case, and knew he wanted to develop the ideas somehow.
‘It’s funny, because I actually thought it would make a very, very bad play,’ he says. ‘It’s such an emotive subject: it could easily become weepy and overblown as a piece of theatre. So I went to the National Theatre of Scotland and said, look, I’ve got this idea, but I’m really worried that it could go horribly wrong. And that’s why I’m thankful that they teamed me up with Pol.’
Pol is, of course, Belgian director Pol Heyvaert, best known to Scottish audiences as the man behind 2007’s brutal, unflinching Aalst, in which the testimonies of a couple accused of murdering their children were put forth for public scrutiny. Softley and Heyvaert have been involved in an NTS-supported collaboration almost since that production finished. The resulting piece, Girl X, an innovative, confrontational and entirely un-weepy interaction with those issues, begins a Scottish tour this month.
‘Aalst was also about a potentially emotive subject, and I really responded to the way Pol veered right away from anything hysterical,’ says Softley. ‘He pared it right back to debate, deliberately didn’t go for the big sob story. With Girl X, we’ve gone some very interesting places. My original idea was to focus tightly on the issues, but Pol was interested in the whole idea of political correctness and how that can stifle debate. He’s not scared to do things that I don’t know we’d ever think of in the UK.’ (Kirstin Innes) ■ A longer version of this piece can be found online at list.co.uk/theatre
Young Variety 11 Sun 6 Mar, 7pm. £15 (children £10; family ticket £45). Almost 200 children from across the Central Belt join forces with Michelle McManus and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.
✽✽ Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo Tue 8 & Wed 9 Mar,
7.30pm. £16.50–£29.50. The very talented all-male American company returns to Scotland with another witty, yet respectful, homage to some of classical ballet’s finest moments. Highly recommended for newcomers and aficionados alike. The Circus of Horrors: The Four Chapters From Hell Mon 14 Mar, 7.30pm. £23.50–£27.50 (£20.50–£24.50). Recreated early 20th century-style freak show and horror fest. The Chippendales Tue 15 & Wed 16 Mar, 8pm. £26–£29. The greasy hunks
are back with a new pec-rippling show: Most Wanted. Cabaret Noir Sat 26 Mar, 10pm. £16.50. A barnstorming night of comedy, cabaret and burlesque hosted by the sword-guzzling Miss Behave of La Clique. Part of Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival Oliver! Tue 29 Mar–Sat 2 Apr, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £12–£21. PMOS presents the all-singing, all-dancing tale of the boy who just wanted more. ■ ÒRAN MÓR 731-735 Great Western Road, 357 6200. A Play, a Pie and a Pint: A Dead Man’s Dying Thu 3–Sat 5 Mar, 1pm. £8–£12.50. The season of South American theatre continues with this tale of a raucous Colombian funeral, written by Esteban Navajas Cortes and adapted
11am. £8 (£4.50). Award-winning company for actors with learning disabilities Lung Ha’s presents a new adaptation by Douglas Maxwell. See interview, page 107. ■ QUEEN MARGARET UNION 22 University Gardens, 339 9784. The Man in the Iron Mask Sun 20 Mar, 5pm & 8pm. £8 (students £6). The University of Glasgow’s Cult Classic Theatre performs an adaptation from the work of Alexander Dumas.
■ RAMSHORN THEATRE 98 Ingram Street, 552 3489. FREE Comedy a la Carte Sun 6 Mar, 2–5pm. Select dishes of comic delight from the menu, to be served at your table by Stathclyde Theatre Group. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Thu 10–Sat 12 Mar, 7pm. £5. Insurrection on the psychiatric ward with STaG. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Wed 16–Sat 19 Mar, 7.30pm. £8 (£6). Performed by Glasgow College HND Acting and Performance students. Part of Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival
✽✽ The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Thu 24 Mar–Fri 1 Apr (not Sun), 7.30pm. £7–£10 (£4–£7). See preview, page 116. Part of Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival.
■ RSAMD 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. Notes to Self – Watertight Sat 12–Thu 17 Mar (not Sun), 7.30pm. £8 (£5). New musical theatre pieces from the RSAMD’s second year students. John Cairney’s Greasepaint Monkey – An Actor on Acting Fri 18 Mar, 2.30pm. £1. Delve into the world of the luvvie. Romeo and Juliet Thu 24–Sat 26 Mar, 7.30pm. £7 (£5). Modern re- interpretation of the ultimate love story from the RSAMD’s Dramaworks programme, in which students use technology and social networks to explore themes and relationships in existing plays.
■ SECC Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. Mamma Mia! Sat 5 Mar–Sun 3 Apr (not Mon), 7.30pm (Sat & Sun mat 2.30pm). £15–£39.50. Smash hit Abba musical. ■ THEATRE ROYAL 282 Hope Street, 0844 871 7647. Lord of the Flies Until Sat 5 Mar 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £10–£26.