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. Pause with a Smile Tue 5–Sat 9 Apr: Tue, Wed & Fri 7pm, Thu & Sat 8.30pm. £11 (£8; Tue preview all tickets £5). A comic jaunt through the most unlikely of true stories, written and directed by Gareth Nicholls with original music by Michael John McCarthy of Zoey Van Goey. A ticket deal is available to see this show together with Money . . . The Gameshow and Blackout for £22 (£16).
✽✽ Money . . . The Gameshow Tue 5–Sat 9 Apr, 8.30pm (except
Thu, 7pm). £11 (£8; Tue preview all tickets £5). Interactive theatre from Clare Duffy, in which two former hedge fund managers make the unlikely move to performance art when the crash comes. See Stage Whispers, page 108. Blackout Wed 6 Apr & Fri 8 Apr, 8.30pm; Sat 9 Apr, 7pm. £11 (£8). Beautifully brutal multimedia 45-minute story of the life of a young offender from ThickSkin Theatre.
When We Meet Again (Introduced as Friends) Fri 8 Apr, 5.30pm–7pm, 8pm–8.30pm & 9.20pm–10.30pm; Sat 9 Apr, 5.30pm–7pm, 7.50pm–8.30pm & 9.40pm–10.30pm. £4 (£3). An experimental piece involving a video goggle headset and a questioning of the boundaries between the real and the imaginary. ‘Performances’ are every ten minutes within the times given. Tom Pritchard: As Yet Untitled Fri 15 Apr, 7.30pm. £3 (£2). The Arches’ latest associate artist presents a series of pieces emerging from his ongoing research into cross-artform improvisation. ■ CCA 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. Talking Dance Sat 2 Apr, 7pm. £3. An informal sharing of work made in the course of the CCA spring season’s development residency, followed by discussion. Oblivia: Entertainment Island 1,2,3 – the Trilogy Thu 14 & Fri 15 Apr, 7pm. £5 (£4). Oblivia, aka Timo Fredriksson, Anna Krzystek and Annika Tudeer, perform their three-part project exploring popular culture and entertainment.
£10–£17.50. Brian Friel’s Olivier Award-winning play about life in 1930s Ireland. See preview, page 110.
✽✽ Laurel and Hardy Wed 27–Sat 30 Apr, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm).
£10–£17.50. A second tour of Mull Theatre’s production about the late, great comedy duo. See feature, page 109.
■ COTTIER THEATRE 93–95 Hyndland Street, 357 3868.
✽✽ Six Black Candles Wed 6, Thu 7, Sun 10 & Tue 12–Thu 14 Apr,
7.30pm; Fri 8 Apr, 8pm; Sat 9 Apr, 5pm. £14 (£12). Des Dillon’s black comedy about six sisters out for vengeance against the adulterous husband of one of the brood returns after an acclaimed run at the Lyceum several years ago. See preview, page 110. ■ EASTWOOD PARK THEATRE Eastwood Park, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, 577 4970. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Wed 20–Sat 23 Apr, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £10. Giffnock Theatre Players present Ken Kesey’s disturbing tale of friendship and insurrection on the psychiatric ward.
■ CITIZENS THEATRE 119 Gorbals Street, 429 0022. Dancing at Lughnasa Tue 19–Sat 23 Apr, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). ■ GILMOREHILL G12 29 University Avenue University of Glasgow. Booking via The Arches – 565 1000.
✽✽ Claire Cunningham Wed 20 Apr, 7.30pm. £9 (£5–£7). Two solo
dance works, Evolution and Mobile, by this engaging performer. See interview, page 114.
■ GLASGOW UNIVERSITY UNION 32 University Avenue, 339 8697. Northern Streams 2011: Day of Dance Sun 3 Apr, workshops 1pm, 2.45pm & 4.30pm; ceilidh & performance 7pm. £20 (£15) for a day ticket; individual workshops £7 (£5) each; ceilidh/performance £8 (£6). Three dance workshops with tutors representing Scottish, Norwegian and Danish traditional dance styles. Followed in the evening by a ceilidh and performances from Norwegian Halling dancer Andreas Aasberg, Scottish Highland dancer James MacDonald Reid and the Dancing Danes troupe.
■ GRAND OLE OPRY 2–4 Govan Road, 429 5396. Dance House End of Term Party & Performance Thu 31 Mar, 7pm. £5. Participants in Dance House’s varied courses show off what they’ve learned in recent classes.
■ IVORY BLACKS 56 Oswald Street, 248 4114. Scarlett Fever Hullaburloo Fri 8 Apr, 7.30pm. £8 in advance; £10 on the door. Burlesque show as Miss Scarlett Fever celebrates the wedding of the year, a ‘marriage of crime and commerce’. Sounds salacious.
■ KING’S THEATRE 297 Bath Street, 0844 871 7648. Oliver! Thu 31 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. Chess: The Musical Tue 5–Sat 9 Apr 7.30pm (Wed & Sat mat 2.30pm). £12–£33.50. A love triangle set at an international chess tournament.
✽✽ The Hard Man Tue 12– Sat 16 Apr, 7.30pm (Wed & Sat mat 2.30pm). £22.50–£27.50. Powerful drama by Tom McGrath and Jimmy Boyle about the Scottish penal system is revived by Scottish Theatres Consortium. See feature, page 109.
■ MUGDOCK COUNTRY PARK Craigallian Road, Milngavie, 956 6100. Indian Summer Fri 1 Apr, 7.45pm. £9 (£8). Two-hander from Cow in a Raincoat Productions. ■ ÒRAN MÓR 731–735 Great Western Road, 357 6200. A Play, a Pie and a Pint: St Catherine’s Day Thu 31 Mar–Sat 2 Apr, 1pm. £8–£12.50. Michael Marra’s play tells the story of different generations of romantic Irish balladeers. Ticket price for all Play, Pie & Pint shows includes a pie and drink. A Play, a Pie and a Pint: What Love Is Mon 4–Sat 9 Apr, 1pm. £8–£12.50. Linda McLean’s play deals with two people who’ve forgotten what’s outside but remember what love is. A Play, a Pie and a Pint: The Dacha Mon 11–Sat 16 Apr, 1pm. £8–£12.50. Helen Kluger’s tale of two women struggling with their lives in modern Russia. A Play, a Pie and a Pint: The End of Hope, The End of Desire Mon 18–Sat 23 Apr, 1pm. £8–£12.50. David Ireland’s play focuses on two strangers, political and cultural opposites who meet for casual sex in Belfast. A Play, a Pie and a Pint: Battle of the Bands Mon 25–Sat 30 Apr, 1pm. £8–£12.50. A new play by Martin McCardie.
■ PLATFORM The Bridge, 1000 Westerhouse Road, Easterhouse, 276 9696. Around the World in 80 Days Thu 31 Mar, 7.30pm; Fri 1 Apr, 11am. £8
PREVIEW TRANSLATION EDUCATING AGNES Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 8 Apr–Sat 7 May
Two years ago, following the success of Tartuffe in 1985 and Miseryguts (née The Misanthrope) in 2002, Scotland’s Liz Lochhead returned to translating the work of the 17th-century French satirist Molière into Scots, with the original rhyming couplets intact. This time the source material was L’Ecole des Femmes (The School for Wives), about a middle-aged man who schools the teenage girl he intends to marry in ignorance, in the hope she’ll end up unworldly but faithful. In Lochhead’s new title there’s also an echo of a more contemporary touchstone, Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, reinforcing a sense of pervasive paternalism.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve worked with Liz,’ says director Tony Cownie, who has worked on all the new
makar’s Molière adaptations and is giving this one a second airing after the Theatre Babel premiere. ‘But I love her fantastic use of the Scots dialogue, her understanding of the way we actually speak. The challenge is to use her rhymes in a different way every time, because if you had to spend the evening listening to them bouncing back and forth it might get boring. Molière’s characters use them like weapons, though, like it’s a verbal joust, and sometimes it’s as much about what they don’t say.’
Although Cownie feels the original shock value of the play has dissipated over the centuries, he still believes it touches upon universal themes. ‘The belief, for example, that you can mould a wife – that you can tamper with human nature, essentially – is quite ridiculous.’
He stops short of calling it feminist, but points out
Agnes’s awakening and believes the message is ‘absolutely, don’t underestimate women’. (David Pollock)
116 THE LIST 31 Mar–28 Apr 2011