Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics Wed 28 Mar, 8pm. £6 (£4). Eastwood Park Theatre Young Company presents an investigation into the power of information, using humans to illustrate statistics and vice versa.
■ GLUE FACTORY 22 Farnell Street, Garscube Industrial Estate, Maryhill. glasgowbuzzcut.wordpress.com FREE Buzzcut Festival Sun 18 Mar, 1pm–3am. See main listing under Old Hairdressers, below. ■ KING’S THEATRE 297 Bath Street, 0844 871 7648. All The Fun of the Fair Until Sat 3 Mar, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £15–£37.50. David Essex performs from his repertoire of hits and brand new songs in this musical featuring candy floss, dodgems, fighting and romance. Save the Last Dance for Me Mon 5–Sat 10 Mar, 7.30pm (Wed & Sat mat 2.30pm). £17–£37.50. Relive the music of the 60s as Jennifer and Marie travel through the summer of 1963 on a family holiday where they meet a handsome
American Airman. Circus Of Horrors: The Ventriloquist Sun 11 Mar, 7.30pm. £18.50–£27.50 (£15.50–£19.50). A freaky show, not for the faint of heart, featuring circus performers, contortionists, trapeze artists, aerialists and jugglers, all set in 1920s Berlin. Spamalot Mon 12–Sat 17 Mar, 7.30pm (Wed & Sat mat 2.30pm). £14.50–£43. The Knights of the Round Table- spoofing musical from the Monty Python, written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. ■ OLD HAIRDRESSERS Renfield Lane. glasgowbuzzcut.wordpress.com Buzzcut Festival Wed 14–Fri 16 Mar, 6pm–midnight; Sat 17 Mar, 11am–midnight. Prices vary. Cutting- edge performance art festival created in response to the shock cancellation of the well-established New Territories festival. Four days of events at the Old Hairdressers in the city centre are followed by a finale at the Glue Factory in Maryhill (see above). See website for further details.
Theatre
Limbo Thu 8–Sat 10 Mar, 6.30pm. £5 (£3 when purchased together with a ticket to Betrayal). The Citizens Company presents a short play by Declan Feenan about a young Catholic girl’s confession of a relationship with a man twice her age. ■ COTTIERS THEATRE 93–95 Hyndland Street, 357 4000. The Importance of Being Earnest Until Sat 3 Mar, 7.30pm (Thu mat 2pm). £7. Oscar Wilde’s comedy of misunderstandings, double lives and surprising handbags. The Lions of Lisbon Thu 22–Sat 24 Mar, 7.30pm. £10 (£8). Ian Auld and Willy Maley’s play about a group of Celtic supporters who head to Lisbon in 1967 for the European Cup. Performed by the Basement Theatre Company and promising enough laughs to keep even the most reluctant football watcher entertained.
■ EASTWOOD PARK THEATRE Eastwood Park, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, 577 4970. Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida Tue 6–Fri 9 Mar, 7.30pm; Sat 10 Mar, 4pm & 8pm. £12–£15. In 1871, Cairo saw the premiere of Guiseppe Verdi’s tragic opera Aida, the heartrending tale of an Ethiopian slave girl, the captain of the Pharaoh’s guard and their forbidden love for each other. In 2000, Elton John and Tim Rice’s distinctly more upbeat take on the story premiered on Broadway; they still die in the end, but, well, it’s complicated. Theatre South Productions presents the West of Scotland premiere of this Tony-award- winning musical. Eurobeat Wed 21–Sat 24 Mar, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £10–£12. Kitschtastic musical spoof of the Eurovision Song Contest, performed by the Harlequin youth theatre.
PREVIEW MONOLOGUE UN FOU NOIR AU PAYS DES BLANCS Institut Français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh, Tue 20 Mar, Alliance Française de Glasgow, Wed 21 Mar
Having toured extensively since 2001, taking his autobiographical show from France to Guadalupe, Martinique and Canada, writer, storyteller, psychotherapist and professor of humanities Pie Tshibanda gives his debut performance in the UK at Edinburgh’s Institut Français d’Ecosse. The monologue marks the launch of a number of shows hosted by the Institut in collaboration with Wallonia-Brussels – the body governing Franco-Belgian cultural policies – which will take place throughout the UK this year. Tshibanda fled Congo for Brussels seeking political asylum and his French
language show details the culture shock experienced by a young man unfamiliar with Western behaviour. His initial ideas of global harmony did not correspond with his new neighbours’ views. ‘When I knocked on their doors, they asked me what I was selling. I just wanted to say good morning.’ Documenting his tumultuous time in Europe, from experiencing racial
prejudice to forging a path as a successful author and storyteller, Tshibanda maintains that the show is not angry. Instead, he combines sincerity and humour to encourage audiences to search for meaning themselves.
‘I don’t give morals,’ he says. ‘I ask questions. It is a show with lots of
questions.’ (Kirstyn Smith)
116 THE LIST 1–29 Mar 2012
■ ÒRAN MÓR 731-735 Great Western Road, 357 6200.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau ✽✽ A Play, a Pie & a Pint: The Show Until Sat 3 Mar, 1pm. £8–£12.50. For its 250th play, the venerable lunchtime theatre project has called on the services of ‘every young, firebrand writer we could recruit and a few old gits who have never grown up’ to produce a new work. The result is a playful interpretation of Rousseau’s idea of the social contract. Beware playwrights brandishing pens and contracts . . . Ticket price for this and all Play, Pie & Pint shows listed below includes a pie and a drink. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: Rolls in their Pockets Mon 5–Sat 10 Mar, 1pm. £8–£12.50. A new play by Rob Drummond about the disturbing incursion of a young doctor, covered in blood, into the mundane quotidian of two ageing barflies. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: Facegone Mon 12–Sat 17 Mar, 1pm. £8–£12.50. Will Gore’s new play is inspired by the short stories of Junot Diaz, and deals with a wannabe superhero kid and two brothers who set out to foil his plans. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: Slice Mon 19–Sat 24 Mar, 1pm. £8–£12.50. Mel Giedroyc tells a story about death, secrets and Victoria Sponge. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: The Last Great Dictator Mon 26–Sat 31 Mar, 1pm. £8–£12.50. A new play by Kieran Lynn about the final chapter in the life story of a great dictator.
■ PLATFORM The Bridge, 1000 Westerhouse Road, Easterhouse, 276 9696. Hand Me Down Fri 2 Mar, 7pm; Sat 3 Mar, 2pm. £8 (£3.50–£4.50). Glas(s) Performance presents an examination of everyday life, in collaboration with a group of women from the same family. Chow Mein & Hex Tue 6 Mar, 7pm. £8 (£3.50–£4.50). Chow Mein is a play about Terry and Susan, whose Chinese takeaway has a surprise for them. Hex is about Gwen and Toby and their dabbling in Magik (with a K). Strangetown’s double bill returns after its success in the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe. See preview, page 118. The Grandfathers Thu 15 & Fri 16 Mar, 7pm; Sat 17 Mar, 2pm. £8 (£3.50–£4.50). A piece written for young people by Rory Mullarkey, and performed by the Platform’s Lab Station drama group as part of the National Theatre’s New Connections festival of youth theatre. The play imagines what would happen if today’s teenagers were suddenly faced with the prospect of national service. Recommended for ages 14+.
✽✽ Antigone Wed 21 Mar, 1.30pm & 7.30pm. £8 (£3.50–£4.50). Sophocles’ classic tragedy about a young woman who defies the power of the state in order to bury her brother’s body, in a new version by Adrian Osmond. Performed by inclusive theatre company Lung Ha’s in collaboration with NYOS Futures, the contemporary music ensemble of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland. See preview, page 111.
■ ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. Notes to Self Thu 1–Sat 3 Mar, 7.30pm. £10.50 (£7.50). The first in a series of new musical theatre pieces from the Conservatoire’s second year Musical Theatre students. The Who’s Tommy Sat 10–Sat 17 Mar (not Sun), 7.30pm (Thu & Sat mat 2.30pm). £13.50 (£11). The Conservatoire’s BA Musical Theatre students present The Who’s comic opera about a deaf, mute and blind pinball player who becomes an international messiah.