Theatre
N O S T R E B O R S A L G U O D
I
K C R D L O G C M N N O M A E
PREVIEW CLASSIC KING LEAR Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 20 Apr–Sat 12 May
It’s been 33 years since David Hayman last performed at the Citizens Theatre. ‘Backstage is very different so I now need a chaperone to get me from A to B,’ he laughs. Widely recognised for his role as DCS Walker in ITV’s Trial and Retribution, Hayman was lauded for his turns as Hamlet and Lady Macbeth at the Citz in the 1970s, and April will mark his first appearance as King Lear. ‘It’s a great play,’ Hayman says. ‘It’s about a king
who learns to be a man. His wealth, power and position are stripped away from him and he’s left abandoned. Suddenly he sees life through the eyes of a pauper and he finds his own humanity. That’s a wonderful message and it’s particularly relevant today when you think of the haves and the have nots in this world, and the gap is getting greater. It’s got a real contemporary resonance.’
This social conscience is echoed throughout
Hayman’s life. His charity, Spirit Aid, has set up a range of humanitarian projects, from mobile clinics in Afghanistan to Christmas presents for destitute families in the UK. ‘It’s a wonderful antidote to this industry,’ he explains, ‘I think it’s incumbent in all of us to do what we can to help those less fortunate than ourselves.’ And as he prepares to tread the boards at the Citz
once more, Hayman is clearly excited about working with director Dominic Hill and a cast that includes ‘old pals’. He explains: ‘I think it’s been generations since we’ve had a home-produced, Scottish production of King Lear. I think it’s really bold of Dominic to do it but it is his favourite play. He’s a man who adores the classics and he’s been longing to do it. It’s fab that he’s seeing his dream come true at the Citz and in Scotland.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)
I
E D E R C C M N A L A
REVIEW COMEDY DOUBLE BILL WATERPROOF/ FROM PAISLEY TO PAOLO Touring Scotland until Sat 21 Apr. Seen at Paisley Arts Centre, Mon 12 Mar ●●●●●
These short comic plays, being toured by Mull Theatre, began their lives at A Play, a Pie and a Pint (Òran Mór, Glasgow’s famous lunchtime theatre). Both contemplate the life disappointments of young, Scottish, working-class men (most often with a fairly low grade, sexual comedy). In Andy Duffy’s Waterproof (in which lovelorn shop
worker Gordon and his friend, cocky university student Alex, go on a fishing trip), Alex emerges from the tent to inform his pal that he is sweating like ‘a rapist’ and ‘a paedo in a nursery’. This is typical of the recycled nature of much of Duffy’s script.
Martin McCardie’s From Paisley to Paolo, in which Paolo Nutini wannabe Jack wins tickets for himself and two friends to a festival at which Nutini is headlining, is an altogether more substantial, and funnier, play; even if its gear changes from comic set piece to pathos-laden monologue are executed with all the subtlety of a foghorn. An extended debate about how Nutini would get into hot water for his supposed in-tent jacuzzi is a comic highlight. (Mark Brown)
112 THE LIST 29 Mar–26 Apr 2012
REVIEW NEW PLAY THE MAN WHO LIVED TWICE Touring until Thu 5 Apr. Seen at Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Fri 23 Mar ●●●●● REVIEW ADAPTATION THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, until Sat 14 Apr ●●●●●
For a few years in the early 20th century playwright Edward Sheldon was the toast of Broadway, with melodramas such as Romance notching up lengthy runs and inspiring hit movies. Crippled by rheumatoid arthritis, he withdrew Hughes-like to a penthouse apartment and began a new career as confidante to such luminaries as John Barrymore. Garry Robson’s fascinating play speculates on the meeting in 1936 between Sheldon and a youthful John Gielgud, the latter breaking box office records with his Hamlet but rather adrift in the Big Apple. Paul Cunningham gives a striking performance as
the dramatist, immobile for much of the play but evoking through richly nuanced inflection the charisma and vulnerability that inspired such trust. Laurie Brown, too, is very moving as Gielgud, whose struggle with his sexuality is coaxed to the surface. Alison Peebles’ production achieves a romantic atmosphere through stylised design, songs and the device of having Sheldon’s macaw pass comment on the action, and while Robson’s text is wordy, its main theme, of hiding from oneself and the world, is quietly brought into focus at the end. (Allan Radcliffe)
With this energetic adaptation of Beaumarchais’ 18th-century original, DC Jackson has breathed fresh life into a classic. It’s a good-humoured, good- time show, with just enough emotional power up its sleeve to make you feel more than just belly laughs. The action is relocated from the bloated French
aristocracy to the equally affluent (and possibly equally ill-fated) top floor of an Edinburgh banking firm. Figaro and fiancée Suzanne are about to merge their too-good-to-be-true fair trade finance start-up with former bosses the Chief – a despicable old- school banker with a ‘BUPA-certified sex addiction’ – and the Chair – his long-suffering wife. It feels fresh and up to date, but there’s no time to let the rapacious actions of the boardroom get you down, as this was always more sex comedy than satire at heart. The humour is fast and fun, the cast wrapping their tongues around wordy one-liners and making some complicated physical farce look easy. With jokes at the expense of Dundee and accountants, not to mention cross-dressing and an unexpected penguin, it’s even a little pantoesque, but done with enough intelligent wit to stay classy. (Laura Ennor)