Theatre
A Play, a Pie and a Pint: Goldilocks and the Glasgow Fair Mon 4–Sat 23 Jul (not Sun/Mon), 1pm. £8–£12.50. PPP pioneers Dave Anderson and David MacLennan revive the tradition of the Summer pantomime, with a madcap theatrical trip doon the watter aboard the Paddle Steamer Waverley in the company of a drunk kids’ entertainer, a dixie jazz band, three bears, Cameronian charity ‘Big Society Arts’, and yer granny. Performed by Juliet Cadzow, Cora Bissett, John Kielty and Dave Anderson. Ticket price includes a pie and drink.
✽✽ The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart ●●●●● Thu
21–Sat 30 Jul (not Sun/Mon), 8pm and Sun 24 Jul, 4pm. £14 (£10). Another chance to see this lively, pub-set, recent production created by David Greig with the National Theatre of Scotland, inspired by the Border Ballads.
■ PAVILION THEATRE 121 Renfield Street, 332 1846. Jukebox Memories 2 Thu 21–Sat 23 Jul & Thu 28–Sat 30 Jul, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2pm). £13.50–£16.50 (£14.50). Comedy musical packed with tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
■ RAMSHORN THEATRE 98 Ingram Street, 552 3489. No Time Has Passed in Hippo Land Thu 23–Sat 25 Jun, 7.30pm. £9 (£6). New play by Kenny Boyle and Clare Sheppard dealing with euthanasia.
■ RSAMD 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. Entertaining the Truth Tue 28 Jun, 7.30pm. £3 (£2). The adult drama beginners’ class presents a devised piece. Stuff of Dreams Tue 28 Jun, 8.15pm. £3 (£2). Another original show from the beginners. Breath Thu 30 Jun, 7.45pm. £3 (£2). A devised performance from the Intermediate drama class. This is Me Trying Thu 30 Jun, 8.30pm. £3 (£2). An original performance by the Advanced drama class. ■ RUDI’S 16 Cresswell Lane, 334 6776. Deckchairs Thu 23–Sat 25 Jun, 7pm. £16 (includes supper and corkage). The second offering from Stark Theatre this festival comprises two short plays by Jean McConnell, performed in their ‘cafe theatre’ style with food on offer and BYOB. Part of the West End Festival.
■ SECC Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. Elma Whyte Sun 26 Jun, 1pm & 7pm. £15. The Paisley dance school puts on a show. Carolyn Anderson School of Dance Sat 2 Jul, 1pm & 7pm. £11. Pupils from the dance school perform. Carrie’s Dance Company Sun 3 Jul, 7pm. £13. Presenting a performance entitled ‘Far From Over’.
■ SLOANS 62 Argyll Arcade, City Centre, 229 5270. The Sloans Project Wed 20–Fri 22 & Sun 24 Jul, 2pm & 7pm; Sat 23 Jul, 11am. £10 (£8). A brand new opera written by young composer Gareth Williams and librettist David Brock, inspired by the rites of passage played out in Sloans many times over the years – christenings, birthdays, engagement parties, weddings and wakes. The performance takes place over the three floors of the pub, and culminates in an interactive finale in the Grand Ballroom. ■ THEATRE ROYAL 282 Hope Street, 0844 871 7647. Yes, Prime Minister Until Sat 25 Jun, 7.30pm (Thu & Sat mat 7.30pm). £13.50–£29.50. The writers behind the classic television series have teamed up again to update the antics of Hacker and Appleby to the present day.
110 THE LIST 23 Jun–21 Jul 2011
L A G E S L E A H C M I
■ TRAMWAY 25 Albert Drive, 0845 330 3501. FREE Gail Pickering: Sixty Seconds of Neon Sat 2 Jul, 7pm. As part of the British Art Show 7 programme of events, performance artist Gail Pickering presents a work influenced by her interests in socio- political theatre and broadcasting.
✽✽ Knives in Hens ●●●●● Tue 5–Sat 9 Jul, 7.30pm. £10–£15
(£8–£12). A new production of David Harrower’s internationally successful play from the National Theatre of Scotland. A love triangle in a pre- industrial landscape leads to a young woman making a remarkable journey from ignorance to knowledge, mirroring
the switch from rural to urban going on in the world around her. See review, page 106. ■ TRON THEATRE 63 Trongate, 552 4267. True Colours Thu 23 Jun, 2pm & 7.45pm. £5 (£3). Three young characters struggle to live up to their families’ expectations in this new comedy from Ignite Theatre. Part of Refugee Week Scotland. Backbone Thu 23 Jun, 7.30pm. £8 (£5). Six shorts explore notions of courage. Refugee Week. Vox Asylum Fri 24 Jun, 7.30pm. £5 (£3). Real life stories told by members of Maryhill Integration Network are woven
into a performance. Refugee Week. Here I Am and Colours of Life Sat 25 Jun, 8pm. £8 (£5). Two multimedia works combining dance with film, poetry and traditional costume to explore the struggles faced by refugees. Refugee Week. FREE Cabaret with Seeds of Thought Sat 25 Jun, 9pm. Seeds of Thought hosts an array of guests whose work spans spoken word, music and comedy. Refugee Week.
✽✽ Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut Thu 7 Jul–Sat 23 Jul (not Sun/Mon), 7.45pm (Sat 23 Jul mat 2.30pm). £11–£15 (£7–£11). Of all the theatres in all the world, Morag Fullarton’s three-hander heads to The
PREVIEW NEW WORK WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BENNY HILL? Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 20–Sat 23 Jul
Grant Smeaton stormed Glasgay! in 2009 and the Edinburgh Fringe in 2010 with Bette/Cavett, a re- imagining of a 1970s television interview between Bette Davis and American talk show host Dick Cavett. This month at the Tron, he’s turning his hand to vintage TV again in a new play, Whatever Happened to Benny Hill? Devised with Raymond Burke as a three-hander, it
features Smeaton as the outrageous comic and adopts a sketch show format to dissect how one of Britain’s most prolific performers went from being a major star of mainstream TV in the 1960s and 70s to a comedy outcast by the late 1980s. ‘I wouldn’t say I
was a huge fan of Benny Hill,’ Smeaton explains, ‘but he was a big part of my – and a lot of people’s – childhood. You’ve got to remember he had been on TV since the 1950s before the show was cancelled in 1989. So, over four decades, he produced a lot of television. He had a remarkable and long career. But by the late 1980s, the show got more bawdy and licentious and he just pushed it a bit too far.’ And like Bette/Cavett, which re-created the experience of watching a talk show on stage, Smeaton hopes that this new work has a similar televisual feel. ‘It’ll be like watching an episode of The Benny Hill Show,’ he says. ‘The sketches will seem familiar but they each have a deeper subtext on one aspect of his life, so what you get is a darker, more three-dimensional picture of Benny Hill himself.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)