Theatre
Events are listed by city, then alphabetically by venue. Submit listings at least 16 days before publication to theatre@list. co.uk. Listings are compiled by Laura Ennor. ✽ Indicates Hitlist entry Victoria Bianchi, Stephanie Black & Aby Watson, Black Sun Drum Korps, Mona Kastell, Calum MacAskill, Peter McMaster, Lou Prendergast, Sleeping Warrior Theatre Company, Solar Bear & Tigerstyle and Wild Card Kitty. See preview, page 85.
GLASGOW
■ THE ARCHES 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. The Static Mon 3 & Wed 5 Sep, 7pm; Thu 6 Sep, 7pm & 9pm. £11 (£8). A cross-disciplinary performance from ThickSkin theatre telling a hypnotic tale of love and guilt. Ages 14+.
✽Arches LIVE Mon 17–Sat 29 Sep, times vary. Prices vary. A vibrant programme of new and experimental dance, live art and experimental theatre events that takes over the myriad nooks and crannies of the Arches. Artists appearing this year include
■ BARROWLAND 244 Gallowgate. Call 0845 330 3501 for tickets.
✽The Barrowlands Project Sat 8 & Sun 9 Sep, 8pm (Sun mat 3pm).
£10–£15. A special piece of dance created by Scottish choreographer Michael Clark together with local people as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
■ CITIZENS THEATRE 119 Gorbals Street, 429 0022. The Monster in the Hall Fri 7, Thu 13, Wed 19 & Fri 21 Sep, 7.30pm; double bill with Yellow Moon Sat 8, 15 & 22 Sep, 8.45pm. £12.50 (Fri 7 Sep preview,
all tickets £8; double bill £20). Highly successful play by David Greig following the trials of Duck Macatarsney, a teenager who cares for her MS-sufferer father, the Duke. When one morning he wakes up blind, she is told that she is going to be taken into care, something that she will do almost anything to avoid. Yellow Moon Thu 6, Wed 12, Fri 14, Tue 18 & Thu 20 Sep, 7.30pm; double bill with The Monster in the Hall Sat 8, 15 & 22 Sep, 7pm. £12.50 (Thu 6 Sep preview, all tickets £8; double bill £20). A modern Bonnie and Clyde-style tale from acclaimed Scottish playwright David Greig, in which Leila and Lee get mixed up in a murder and have to flee town. Suitable for over 15s. First part of a double bill with The Monster in the Hall – bookable separately or together. Tam O’Shanter Tue 11–Sat 15 Sep, 7.30pm. £12–£19 (£2–£16). Gerry Mulgrew’s adaptation of the Burns classic offers a highly visual, musical and comical evening of theatre.
■ EASTWOOD PARK THEATRE Eastwood Park, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, 577 4970. September Spectacular Sun 2 Sep, 7.30pm. £12. A mix of Irish dance and popular songs from Rhythm of the Celts and R3 Tenors. The Complete History of Scotland . . . in 55 minutes! Wed 12 Sep. See Kids listings. The Static Sat 15 Sep, 7.30pm. £13 (£9–£11). See The Arches, Glasgow.
■ KING’S THEATRE 297 Bath Street, 0844 871 7648. The Ripple Effect Sat 1 Sep, 7pm. £6–£40. A brand new play written by Ursula Rani Sarma and starring children from around the Glasgow area in a story about a dystopian future society where segregation, isolation and barren wastelands are all that people know. The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Carnival Queens Tue 4 Sep, 7.30pm. £23 (£21.50). The new show from the Lady Boys is an energetic, bright affair with a carnival theme. Sister Act Tue 11–Sat 22 Sep (not Sun), 7.30pm (Wed & Sat mat 2.30pm). £18.50–£48.50. Produced by Whoopi Goldberg, this musical brings you all your favourite songs from the film, such as ‘I Will Follow Him’, ‘Rescue Me’, and ‘Shout’. ■ MITCHELL THEATRE 6 Granville Street, 287 2999. Whistle Down the Wind Wed 12– Sat 15 Sep, 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm. £14–£16 (seniors & under 16s £12–£13). Glasgow’s Runway Theatre Company presents the Scottish amateur premiere of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman, which contains the hit single ‘No Matter What’.
■ ÒRAN MÓR 731-735 Great Western Road, 357 6200.
✽A Play, a Pie & a Pint: Dead Famous Mon 3–Sat 8 Sep, 1pm.
£8–£12.50. A new play by Keith Temple about a stage psychic trying to bring back the ultimate ‘celebrity’ from beyond the grave. Ticket price includes a pie and drink. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: The Room in the Elephant Mon 10–Sat 15 Sep, 1pm. £8–£12.50. A new play by Tom Wainwright inspired by the unusual story of a water tank in Los Angeles which was used by graffiti artist Banksy and, immediately becoming hot artistic property, taken away – only for it to be discovered that someone had been living in it for 17 years. Ticket price includes a pie and a drink. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: Chalk Farm Mon 17–Sat 22 Sep, 1pm. £8–£12.50. New play by AJ Taudevin and Kieran Hurley (writer of the acclaimed Beats) written in response to the English riots of 2011. Ticket price includes a pie and a drink.
■ PAVILION THEATRE 121 Renfield Street, 332 1846. Peter Powers Fri 24 & 31, 7.30pm; Sat 25 Aug & 1 Sep, 7.30pm & midnight. £12–£15 (family tickets £7 per person, Fri only). Hypnotist act from Powers, who has been called ‘the Ali G of stage hypnosis’. Please note the Fri show is a ‘Family Fun Night’, Sat 7.30pm show is ‘Anything Goes’ (safe for teens) and the Sat ‘Midnight Madness’ is over 18s only. The Good Old Days of Music Hall & Variety Wed 5 Sep, 2pm. £13 (£11). Stu Francis takes audiences back to the glory days of variety shows, with comedy and music from Gordon Cree, Cheryl Forbes, Steve Hewlett, Tom Rolfe, Pete Lindup, Jimmy McWilliams and Duggie Chapman. ■ PLATFORM The Bridge, 1000 Westerhouse Road, Easterhouse, 276 9696. Scottish Dance Theatre: What on Earth!? Thu 20 Sep. See Kids listings.
REVIVAL THE GUID SISTERS Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, Fri 21 Sep–Sat 13 Oct; King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 23–Sat 27 Oct
In 1989, Michael Boyd (then director of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, now director at the Royal Shakespeare Company) staged his acclaimed British premiere of The Guid Sisters (Les Belles-soeurs) by the great Québécois playwright Michel Tremblay. It has come to be seen as a defining moment in the modern history of Scottish drama. The play, in which Germaine invites 14 female friends and family round to her modest apartment to help her
stick the million trading stamps she has won into books, was translated beautifully by Martin Bowman and the late Bill Findlay. The east-end Montreal vernacular (known as joual, or ‘horse language’) was seamlessly transformed into a Scots, working-class demotic. Twenty-three years on from that seminal production, Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum and the National Theatre of Scotland are restaging the drama, with a cast led by Kathryn Howden and Karen Dunbar. Excitingly, it will be directed by leading Québécois director Serge Denoncourt, famous for his work with, among others, Tremblay and Cirque du Soleil.
‘All the conditions were right to make this production here in Edinburgh,’ the director tells me. ‘The
translation is fantastic; there is a strong connection between Scotland and Québec, which makes Scotland probably the best place in the world, after Montreal, to do the play; and Scotland has wonderful actresses. ‘I have directed this play in French three times,’ he continues, ‘and I refused to direct it in any other
language. Then I saw the Scottish translation, and I thought it was brilliant.’ Perhaps the greatest joy for the director, however, was in discovering how easily he could cast the 15-woman play in Scotland. ‘In my experience, Scotland has the best actresses in the world. You can compare it to Québec, which also has very strong actresses. To direct a good production of The Guid Sisters you need a country where the women are strong . . . It was the easiest casting I have ever done. I met a lot of actresses, and I could have created three casts.’ (Mark Brown)
86 THE LIST 23 Aug–20 Sep 2012