Theatre
SPRING AWAKENING Now in its second year, politically themed theatre showcase Mayfesto is shifting focus to the Celtic nations. Yasmin Sulaiman gets a flavour of some of the dynamic new work being unveiled at the Tron
102 THE LIST 28 Apr–26 May 2011
Last year’s inaugural Mayfesto – a theatre festival that aims to showcase politically-themed work at Glasgow’s Tron – took the problems of the Middle East as its overarching theme. This year, Artistic Director Andy Arnold has opted for a more local bent, focusing on the political and social issues affecting modern- day Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, just as these countries are gearing up for their own general elections.
The result promises to be a fascinating month of theatre, with a collection of plays and performances that offer snapshots of unique problems affecting communities in these Celtic nations but with an eye on their global relevance. One of these is A Slow Air, a new work from Knives in Hens and Blackbird playwright David Harrower, which will be one of two produced by the Tron at Mayfesto. Born in Edinburgh but now living in Glasgow, Harrower focuses in his play on Athol, a self-made Glasgow businessman, and his sister Morna, an Edinburgh cleaner, as their lives are reconnected after 14 years of estrangement. It’s not an overtly political setting for what’s ostensibly a politically-focused festival, but according to Harrower it offers an examination of Scotland’s place in today’s world. ‘It’s a dramatic meditation on two people living in Scotland now,’ he says, ‘and the different pressures that are put on them by living in a small nation in Europe in the modern world. ‘So it’s maybe not political with a capital P, to use a cliché, but it does bring up the different difficulties and strains of living in the early 21st century. I’ve never been a shouty political writer in that sense. It’s a quieter and more meditative play but a lot goes on.’
Another play that looks at political and social issues through the lens of sibling communication is David Ireland’s Stormont-set Everything Between Us, in which two sisters come to blows on the first day of a fictional, South African-inspired Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Northern Ireland. For Harrower, family relationships offer ‘a familiar prism’ through which to look at these issues and Ireland, who is soon to be playwright-in-