list.co.uk/theatre Previews | THEATRE
Y D E N N E K B O R
DEVISED THEATRE PEOPLE SHOW 124 CCA, Glasgow, Mon 16–Sat 21 Jun
NATIONAL TOUR ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Mon 30 Jun–Sat 5 Jul CLASSIC THRILLER DIAL M FOR MURDER Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tues 24–Sat 28 Jun
People Show emerged in the 1960s, part of a wave of collaborative, collective companies making performances in ways that challenged the traditional script and director process. A clear influence on many of the succesful devising companies that followed, performerJessica Worrell notes that ‘while we are coming up to our 50th anniversary, we have stayed close to our roots in how we make work and what sort of work we make.’ ‘It is a non-hierarchical company, she continues.
‘The whole thing is we don’t use conventional roles or name tags. We still use the same process as in 1966 – although I wasn’t there – and the key phrase is: it is the sum of the imagination of the people in the room. There may be routines we fall into, but it is about how we all come together and make it.’ People Show 124 is a typical mixture: concerned
with isolation and fear, it wanders through discussions of media control and football, with live music and video. ‘There is an installation during the day, and the performances in the evening,’ says Worrell. A reminder of how theatre can break boundaries, People Show is a living link to the foundations of contemporary experimental performance. (Gareth K Vile)
With the West End version coming to an end after a three-year run in March of this year, it’s with a certain inevitability that Richard Bean’s blockbuster comedy adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s 1743 commedia dell’arte play Servant of Two Masters returns to the national touring circuit for a third time. This time both James Corden and Rufus Hound have passed on from the lead role of Francis Henshall, the 1960s Brightonian lad employed by a working class boss (deceased) who’s being impersonated by his sister, and an upper-crust guv’nor who’s the lover of the sister and the killer of the brother. If that sounds confusing, perhaps it’s best you just see it. In lieu of such career-making turns, this version
includes Gavin Spokes as Henshall and former Eastenders stars Barry Williamson and Jasmyn Banks amid its extensive ensemble. ‘I loved the play when I first saw it two years ago,’ says Banks, who plays dead man’s love interest Pauline Clench, ‘and I went back to see it with a friend who never goes to the theatre because I knew he would love it too. It’s so much fun – silly, clever, witty and there are so many gags in it. It’s just a great night out, first and foremost.’ (David Pollock)
Having toured the rest of Britain, Fiery Angel’s production of Dial M For Murder finally reaches Glasgow. The classic play by Frederick Knott, adapted by Hitchcock into the iconic 1954 film, is now being directed by Lucy Bailey. Bailey has an established track record, having had London West End sell-outs with The Postman Always Rings Twice and Baby Doll, and she was nominated for an Evening Standard award for best director for Timon Of Athens at the start of this year.
The tale of greed, blackmail and sexual jealousy focuses on an ageing tennis professional trying to have his wealthy wife killed when he discovers she is having an affair, but his plans backfire considerably. It’s here the plot twists, not once but twice and an intriguing study of betrayal emerges. Sympathies for each main character shift throughout the play.
Christopher Timothy plays wily Inspector
Hubbard, while Kelly Hotten takes the role of Sheila Wendice, the glamorous but troubled socialite, immortalised by Grace Kelly in the film. Through sparse, menacing lighting and an acerbic take on the characters, Bailey aims to reclaim the play’s cold, yet sensual, terror. (Lorna Irvine)
SHAKESPEARE IN THE SUMMER THE COMEDY OF ERRORS Botanic Gardens, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jun–Sat 12 Jul
Bard in the Botanics has become a venerable tradition in Glasgow’s West End. ‘It’s year 13,’ laughs artistic director Gordon Barr, ‘but we are going to take that as lucky!’ Running from the West End Festival and then into August, it is an annual outdoor celebration of Shakespeare, offering fresh interpretations of classics and a great opportunity for new performers.
‘From year to year, myself and assistant artistic director
Jennifer Dick will talk about titles we haven’t tackled yet or looked at for a while and what kind of balance we want,’ Barr explains. ‘We wanted to tackle some of the questions that are floating around Glasgow and Scotland: and this involved looking at plays that are about identity, personal and national.’ In particular, Barr is directing Comedy of Errors with one eye on the referendum. 'It is a little sly dig at the excesses that can develop when an issue like this is raised,' he says. 'In the play, there are two city-states that have a long standing feud and some of the rhetoric sounded familiar . . . vaguely reminiscent of Scotland and England!’
Dick, meanwhile, looks at the commemoration of World War I. ‘Henry V has been on Jennifer’s agenda for a while and she was looking at this concept of it as an end of school pageant. Then she realised she was staging it during the centenary of WWI. It gives us an opportunity to look at Shakespeare’s big war epic in the light of the Scottish experience of that war.’
The 13 years have not sapped Barr’s enthusiasm. Asking himself ‘what does telling this story now mean to our audiences?’ drives his productions. ‘We want to find the junctions where they fit with what is happening today. The reason the plays have survived so long is they have a universal quality.’ (Gareth K Vile)
12 Jun–10 Jul 2014 THE LIST 91