Theatre
PREVIEW CLASSIC THE TEMPEST Dundee Rep Theatre, Wed 6–Sat 23 Jun Irene MacDougall has been a member of the Dundee Rep ensemble since its inception, but 2012 will mark her first turn in The Tempest. Like Helen Mirren in Julie Taymor’s recent film of Shakespeare’s classic, MacDougall will play Prospero as a female. The show also features a female Ariel and, more unusually, a female Caliban.
After a five-year tug of war over rights, Sligo-based Blue Raincoat arrives in Scotland this month with its fêted production of Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs. Director Niall Henry, who co-founded the company in 1991, is thrilled about the tour and cites The Chairs as one of his favourite plays.
‘In a way,’ MacDougall explains, ‘the island where ‘What’s exemplary in some of Ionesco’s work was
the story is set represents the periphery of the world. Women have been, for whatever different reasons, placed there on the edge, on the outside. It’s a place where things that are no longer needed in society are placed, and that includes inanimate as well as animate objects.’
The production will be modern ‘with a twist’, according to MacDougall, who appears unfazed by the challenges of her role. ‘All Shakespeare’s stories are so good,’ she says, ‘and these characters are so interesting. They’re all flawed, even the goodies, Prospero very much so. All Shakespeare’s stories are journeys – this is the journey of someone who has become slightly inhuman and I suppose it’s a journey towards humanity really.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)
128 THE LIST 24 May–21 Jun 2012
the intention to work against what some people would view as traditional theatre, in terms of plot structure and character development,’ he says. ‘His plays are very metaphorical. They have an appearance of being normal but they don’t follow normal lines so they become very immediate for the audience.’ Blue Raincoat has been lauded for its absurdist
productions, and Henry has his own theory on why this genre appeals to the company. ‘I think it’s a west of Ireland black humour thing,’ he laughs, ‘it’s that sort of sensibility that us put upon Irish think is funny. I think other people find it a bit absurd but the problem is we don’t find it as absurd as everyone else. So maybe it’s just a cultural thing.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)
PREVIEW BALLET/CONTEMPORARY DANCE GB Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tue 19–Sat 23 Jun
‘Am I allowed to swear?’ asks Martin Lawrance politely, before going on to describe how he felt when Scottish Ballet first knocked at his door. Suffice to say, he was a little nervous.
A dancer with Richard Alston Dance Company for many years, Lawrance’s status as a choreographer currently lies somewhere between fledgling and established. But when three of the biggest dance companies in Britain ask three choreographers to create new work to celebrate the sporting event of the decade, and you’re one of them, you must be doing something right.
In fact, Lawrance has been doing lots of things right – and Ashley Page, artistic director of Scottish Ballet, had noticed. ‘Ashley has been watching my work for a while now,’ explains Lawrance, ‘and he saw a piece I did last year and thought “now Martin’s ready”. So he wanted to give me something on a bigger scale than I’ve had previously – and Dance GB is huge. It’s daunting, but I’m loving it.’
Lawrance’s work for Scottish Ballet, Run for it takes an abstract look at various Olympic sports, and will sit alongside new pieces by Christopher Bruce and Itzik Galili, choreographing for National Dance Company Wales and English National Ballet respectively – with all three companies performing together on one bill.
Previous works created for Alston’s company have shown Lawrance to be an emotionally intelligent choreographer, with a real ear for music. And for Dance GB, he was offered a whole new box of tricks to play with: dancers on pointe, a live orchestra playing John Adams, and a specially commissioned set by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Boyce.
‘I really feel as though I’ve come up trumps,’ says Lawrance. ‘I’ve taken everything that’s been given to me and used it. I don’t know when I’m going to get this opportunity again, so I thought sod it, let’s just go for it.’ (Kelly Apter)
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PREVIEW CLASSIC THE CHAIRS Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 7–Sat 9 Jun; Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 13–Sat 16 Jun REVIEW NEW PLAY SLEEPING BEAUTY INSOMNIA Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 26 May. Seen at Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 14 May ●●●●●
Lebanese playwright Abdelrahim Alawji bounds to the front of the stage. ‘This play is set in a theatre, during the Israeli war, where people used to hide during the . . .’
Then boom, acrid smoke and the lights go up on
two figures clinging on to each other on the stage of a bombed-out theatre. Younger Man, David Walshe, is a big jessie, terrified of the dark. Older Man, Stewart Porter, is an ornery piece of work. ‘If I could see you,’ he says wearily at one point, ‘I’d batter you.’ Graham Eatough has trimmed Alawji’s original for
the Play, Pint and Pint slot and directs with huge gusto. Walshe and Porter are terrific, agreeing on nothing, battling for the affection of Girl (Clare Gray), who arrives mysteriously after a particularly violent raid. Casting the Irish Walshe with the gruff Scottish Porter points up the Christian-Muslim divisions while making the themes universal. The characterisation and comedy are so absorbing that, towards the end, the politics come like a kick in the stomach. In a good way. (Anna Burnside)