BEHAVIOUR FESTIVAL
BEST OF THE REST The Auteurs Project is only one aspect of The Arches’ performance festival. Here are some more corkers
POKE Amanda Monfrooe, creator of How Keanu Reeves Saved the World, delivers a darkly comic allegorical tale of two women competing to control the planet. The Arches, Tue 23–Sat 27 Apr; Traverse, Edinburgh, Wed 1–Fri 3 May. KITCHEN A reconstruction of Warhol’s titular 1965 film is the jumping off point in this exploration of the 60s counter-culture, from Anglo-German outfit Gob Squad. Tramway, Fri 3 May.
NIC GREEN SHADOWLANDS
KIERAN HURLEY RANTIN
Born: 1982 in Glasgow. Grew up in Yorkshire and now lives in Glasgow. Born: 1986 in Edinburgh. Now lives in Glasgow.
TAYLOR MAC A cabaret performance with a difference, as the dazzling Mac returns to The Arches to put a more flamboyant spin on the ‘protest music’ genre. The Arches, Sat 4 & Sun 5 May.
Background: In 2009, Trilogy was one of the most talked about shows on the Edinburgh Fringe, not least because it featured a naked rendition of ‘Jerusalem’ and an archive interview with Germaine Greer. We gave it five stars and called it ‘joyous, life-affirming stuff’. Since then Green has considered her parentage in Fatherland, Motherland and spent a year living quietly in the countryside to create Slowlo. What she says about Shadowlands: ‘I’ve become interested in waste and how it is processed. I’m hoping to stage the show at a landfill site. The site I visited this week isn’t on the map; it’s a place and a non-place. This is work that could be described as site-specific on a site that’s not recognised as a site. It’s a non-place, which is why they’re called shadowlands. There’s a disruption in facing these sites because everything is out of place. It’s a bit like when you move house and you get all your things out of the drawers and you feel this panic because the order you’ve put on your life has exploded. For me, it’s like that when I go to these places because you’re confronted with all the shit. It feels emotionally disruptive.’
What we expect: A thought-provoking investigation into those hidden areas we’d rather forget were there. When it’s on A site-specific location, Glasgow, Tue 30 Apr–Thu 2 May.
Background: The politically engaged actor and playwright was nominated for a CATS award for Hitch, a true story about a road trip to the G8 summit, and won one for BEATS which was about the illegal rave scene of 1994 and which we called a ‘hugely impressive performance’.
What he says about RANTIN: ‘It’s a series of short stories interwoven with live music and song, drawing on the Scottish folk tradition. With those stories we’re trying to create a patchwork image of a nation. It’s not so much about nationhood as it is about class and power. It’s about the myths by which we construct ideas of collective identity. It’s also about multiculturalism and how ultimately we all need each other. One of our reference points is The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil, because I’m really interested in the ceilidh play. It’s not something that looks or feels like anything 7:84 made in the 70s, but I’m interested in the ethic of that: the performance being the site of community.’
What we expect: They’re calling it a ‘part-living room gathering, part-gig session and part-theatre show’. And that’s good enough for us. When it’s on Stephen’s Hall, Pearce Institute, Glasgow, Wed 17–Fri 19 Apr.
ALL THE SEX I’VE EVER HAD Elderly Glaswegians share the wisdom of years of sexual experience with you, the inquisitive audience. From the people that brought you Haircuts by Children. The Arches, Thu 9 May.
#TORYCORE Perhaps, like us, you felt George Osborne’s 2012 ‘austerity’ address lacked oomph. Lucy Ellinson, Chris Thorpe and Steve Lawson felt the same way, which is why they’ve chosen to recreate it via the medium of death metal. The Glad Cafe, Sat 11 May. (Niki Boyle)
21 Mar– 18 Apr 2013 THE LIST 27