THEATRE | Previews
5 MINUTES WITH... BUZZCUT Buzzcut is a five-day festival of live art and performance founded in Glasgow by Nick Anderson and Rosana Cade. Here they explain about the most youthful addition to the city’s experi- mental arts scene and its second year.
What’s the thinking behind this year’s Buzzcut, and how has it developed since the last one? This year is very community driven. We’re having food events each day, hosted by dif- ferent artists, and we’ve also made sure all the events are fully accessible to everyone. This means the whole festival is ‘pay what you can’ and all spaces have entrances either on the ground floor or are fully accessible. We’re really keen for as many people as possible to be engaging with all the work.
You’ve moved into Mono this year. How has that changed things?
We’re really excited to be in the Mono/Tron- gate area as there are so many great things happening around there. Also it’s quite a visual art area, so to be bringing performance work into the community feels like a positive step for dialogue and sharing of practice. Mono is also a great independent venue which we’ll be so happy to be inviting people to. What events are you particularly look- ing forward to?
This year we have done something we’ve always wanted to do, which is lease an empty shop and turn it into a performance space. This is a new challenge and it will also be really exciting to see lots of performance work in a space that has never had any in it before.
There seems to be a huge appetite for experimental live art and perfor- mance, both from people making it, and audiences for the likes of Forest Fringe, Behaviour and the much missed National Review of Live Art. Why do you think that is?
We certainly hope that there is a huge appetite, and programmes like ours, Forest’s and Behaviour’s are definitely supporting experimental practice in Scotland. There could be even more support though! We’d really love to see more investment and advocacy for experimental practice across the levels of support that artists may need, whether they’ve just started their careers or have been practising for more years. What’s next for Buzzcut?
Plenty of exciting things ahead, including an event at The Basement in Brighton and a really brilliant collaboration with other artists at the Edinburgh Fringe. Watch this space! (Neil Cooper) ■ Buzzcut, various venues, Glasgow, Wed 27–Sun 31 Mar.
98 THE LIST 21 Mar–18 Apr 2013
AERIAL DANCE MIND WALKING Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Sat 13 Apr; Loch- gelly Theatre, Sun 14 Apr
One of the cruel tricks that dementia plays on its sufferers is the misconception that they’re living in a bygone era. Coming face to face with this in a care home inspired choreographer Philippa Vafadari to tackle the subject with her Brighton-based company, BandBazi. ‘I met an elderly Iranian man who had lived in the
UK for 30 years, but had developed Alzheimer’s and forgotten how to speak English,’ recalls Vafadari. ‘And it was really shocking, because I hadn’t thought of that as a dimension of the disease.’ Vafadari commissioned playwright and EastEnders writer Tanika Gupta to capture the emotional impact. The result is the poignant yet humorous tale of Indian immigrant Bobby, whose past comes back to haunt him and his family after the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Fusing text and aerial work, Mind Walking uses an aerial hoop not just to add dynamism to the story, but as a visual metaphor for Bobby’s unravelling mind. ‘The hoop is like a door that Bobby walks through when he has his Alzheimer’s episodes,’ explains Vafadari. ‘It’s also counterweighted, and as
aerial artist Jonothan Campbell climbs stealthily up the ladder, the hoop comes down. It’s almost like the hoop is his memory, and Jonothan is the person controlling it.’ Vafadari coaxed Glasgow-based actor Peter D’Souza out of retirement to take on the role of Bobby. ‘His performance is absolutely mesmerising,’ she says. ‘Just talking about it gives me a lump in my throat.’ (Kelly Apter)
REVIVAL BIRDSONG Kings Theatre, Glasgow, Mon 9–Sat 13 Apr
It’s 20 years since the release of Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks’ most celebrated novel. Now, the Original Theatre Company have revived playwright Rachel Wagstaff’s stage adaptation of the book, though it’s been substantially restructured from its 2010 run in London’s West End.
Birdsong tells the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young British man staying in France before the
First World War. He has a passionate affair with his host’s wife, Isabelle, but is later sent to war and fights in the Battle of the Somme. For Wagstaff – who has received ‘incredible support’ from Faulks – the reasons behind the book’s unwavering popularity are clear. ‘I think it’s written with such passion for the individuals involved,’ she explains. ‘I think a lot of people are fascinated by the First World War; they can’t quite understand how such extremity of suffering on such an unprecedented level was allowed to happen. Sebastian’s novel helps to show us what it might have been like to be an individual involved in that conflict.’
This new production features a range of TV talent, including Hollyoaks’ Sarah Jayne Dunn,
Eastenders’ Charlie G Hawkins and Arthur Bostrom, who played Officer Crabtree in ’Allo ’Allo. And Wagstaff is overjoyed with what the company have put together. ‘I absolutely love it,’ she says. ‘This isn’t a criticism of anyone involved in the London run but this
is exactly what I always hoped it might be. It’s perfectly cast, and the director has genuinely done an astonishing job. I can’t imagine a better production.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)