list.co.uk/theatre Previews | THEATRE
NEW PLAY A RESPECTABLE WIDOW TAKES TO VULGARITY Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 18–Sat 23 Feb; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 26 Feb–Sat 2 Mar ’I started off with the idea of calling someone “a cunt” but meaning it nicely,’ says Douglas Maxwell of his new play, ‘and then I thought of people who just don’t swear. Theatre’s a sweary industry, working in it we assume that everyone swears, but some people just don’t have it in their vocabulary.’ He says this one-act two-hander, directed by the Trav’s artistic director Orla O’Loughlin, is ‘like My Fair Lady in reverse’, the tale of a middle class woman who can’t find the words to express her grief when her husband dies, and is taught to swear by a working class guy from the haulage depot she owns.
NEW PLAY TOO LONG THE HEART Malmaison, Edinburgh, Thu 21–Tue 26 Feb
Over the last decade, Siege Perilous has cemented itself as one of Edinburgh’s most exciting theatre companies. Their new offering, Too Long the Heart, concerns itself with the burden of the past in Northern Ireland, when a man holidaying in County Cork is suddenly abducted and taken hostage.
It’s the second production to come out of the
Avalon Mentorship, a development scheme for new playwrights launched by Siege Perilous in 2011, and is written by Scottish playwright David Hutchison. For Andy Corelli, Siege co-founder and the play’s director, it instantly stood out from the other Avalon Mentorship entries and the recent flag riots in Northern Ireland have added extra poignancy.
‘She’s interested in language, she’s the kind of ‘The play is such an engaging thriller,’ Corelli says.
woman who does crosswords,’ says Maxwell, ‘but she looks down on that kind of thing. Yet she comes to learn there’s a richness to swearing, that it can be used to express meaning. That’s what language is about, articulating how you feel.’
It sounds like it was great fun to write. Did he have to do much research into swearing? ‘No,’ he laughs, ‘I knew it all already.’ (David Pollock)
‘Despite the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, there’s still an uneasy peace lurking, there are still issues that certain people want to fight about. ‘Too Long the Heart is a sad story about how people are locked into the past and how best to move out of it – to let the past help them move forward and not be chained by it.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)
REVIVAL ABIGAIL’S PARTY King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Mon 25 Feb–Sat 2 Mar
‘It is a great period, the 70s,’ laughs Martin Marquez, best known as Gino Primirola in TV’s Hotel Babylon. ‘It’s far enough away now to appreciate – I won’t say its “style” – but its fashion.’
Marquez has the decade ringing around his head, as he is touring with Abigail’s Party, Mike Leigh’s spectacular deconstruction of suburban aspiration which premiered in 1977 and shot Alison Steadman to fame as hostess-from-Hell Beverly.
Marquez’s Spanish father ensured a more
sophisticated appreciation of world cuisine than his character, Beverly’s put-upon husband Laurence. But he still carries a nostalgic spot for the decade’s Chopper bikes and space hoppers. ‘I’m loving playing Laurence,’ he says, although
he would have cast himself as taciturn ex-footballer, Tony. The drive and dynamic to the part stretch him – sporting a moustache is not quite as fulfilling. The play has travelled better than the decade it portrays. ‘You might think only an audience alive in the 70s will find it funny,’ says Marquez, ‘but although fashions have moved on, those observations of relationships, of people arguing in front of their guests seem to be still relevant and still cringeworthy and still funny.’ (Thom Dibdin)
REVIVAL WHITE ROSE Touring Scotland, Tue 21 Feb–Sat 16 Mar
In 1985 the Traverse Theatre staged an intriguing studio play by an emerging young playwright by the name of Peter Arnott. White Rose told the story of Lily Litvak, World War II fighter pilot and decorated Hero of the Soviet Union. Nicknamed ‘The White Rose of Stalingrad’, the Jewish pilot was one of a thousand outstanding female fighter aces in the Red Air Force.
Arnott has since become one of Scotland’s best known dramatists, with works including The Breathing House and The Infamous Brothers Davenport. It is, he says, ‘weird and exciting’ to see his early play being revived by Borders-based touring theatre company Firebrand.
The author remembers being commissioned by the Traverse to write a play for three actors to be performed during the Edinburgh Festival of 1985. ‘I wanted it to be a Second World War play,’ he says. ‘It was the 40th anniversary of the end of the war. Also, in Britain at the time, we had the peace movement and the miners’ strike, both of which had very strong women’s groups.’
As he looked around for a subject which connected World War II with the Cold War and the female political activism of the mid- 80s, Arnott came across Bruce Myles’s book Night Witches: The Amazing Story of Russia’s Women Pilots in World War II. He was fascinated, not only by the heroism and brilliance of Litvak and her colleagues, but also by the politics of writing a play, in 1985, about a heroine of a former ally which was now an enemy.
In a strange way, 2013 is an equally relevant time to perform the play, Arnott suggests. ‘Now we have two Cold Wars. One with Islamism and a new one with Putin’s Russia.’ (Mark Brown) ■ For tour dates see firebrandtheatre.co.uk
21 Feb–21 Mar 2013 THE LIST 97
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