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SENSITIVE CHAMBER DRAMA - SMHAFF TOMORROW Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 3–Sat 11 Oct LIVE ART FESTIVAL ARCHES LIVE! The Arches, Glasgow, Thu 2–Sat 11 Oct
Vanishing Point established an international reputation for their intelligent combination of spectacular scenography and thoughtful scripts. Having taken on legal hypocrisy (Beggar’s Opera), violent pornography (Wonderland) and the horror lurking beneath mundane lives (Saturday Night), Tomorrow tackles the onset of old age as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (see feature, page 25).
‘Tomorrow explores, metaphorically, what it is like to be disorientated by old age and some of the conditions that go with it,’ director Matthew Lenton explains. ‘Like much of our work, it uses an abstract structure, inviting the audience to enter a dreamworld and to make their own connections.’ Tomorrow harks back to the company’s chamber pieces – ‘small and deeply intimate,’ Lenton adds. It explores the emotional consequences of old age, and the painful loneliness: not just the need for care, but the need to care. Lenton’s sure sense of dynamic theatricality has led to Vanishing Point becoming one of Scotland’s top artistic exports: this run at Tramway is the only Scottish chance to see the company known for the large-scale demonstrate attention to small detail. (Gareth K Vile)
Arches Live! has become the traditional start of the autumn season in Glasgow. This year kicks off with Rob Jones’ AARG!!!, an interactive mystery in the dark basements that is equal parts immersive theatre and parlour game. Later, there is visual art (Katie Gallagher subverting sexually charged adverts in American Aparel), an intense ‘sensorial experience performed using singing bowls, medicinal noise music, restorative attention and chakra clearing frequencies’ (FK Alexander), a meditation on turning 30 from Amy Conway and the return of live artist Stephanie Elaine Black in a ritual evocation of the marriage ceremony.
Thomas Hobbins is also returning after last year’s cycling endurance solo show, with Max Powers Says. ‘It’s an immersive participatory performance,' he says, 'where the audience are welcomed to Powers’ very own self-help seminar workshop. Powers is fun and very persuasive: but a darker undercurrent is at play.’ With both Jack Webb and Louise Ahl in the lineup, as well as the promise of Smashy Smashy from Edinburgh-based poet and activist Harry Giles, Arches Live! is full of its usual verve, vim and vigour, a snapshot of now and a prediction of future glories. (Gareth K Vile)
SHAKESPEARE’S ACTION HERO HAMLET Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 19 Sep– Sat 11 Oct
’As an actor I have done a lot of new writing,’ explains Brian Ferguson. ‘These plays are often about the things that aren’t said, more so than the things that are. Shakespeare’s characters don’t have this problem. They shout and weep and rage and love each other passionately, without apology, and they use a whole world of words and imagery to express themselves.’ Taking on the role of the prince in Hamlet is, as
Ferguson admits, ‘the big one indeed!’ Fortunately, far from being intimidated, he is clearly enthusiastic about the challenge, even finding a contemporary relevance. ‘The play is about a time of huge change in the country as one very established order was being threatened by new ways of thinking and being. These new ideas felt exciting and extremely necessary to many people and chaotic and dangerous to many others.’
While he does not make it explicit, Ferguson’s vision of Hamlet could reflect post-referendum society. Directed by Dominic Hill, who has already shown the skill to update the classics, the Citizens’ Hamlet has enough risk, and imagination, to rescue it from the predictable retreads that are so familiar. (Gareth K Vile)
CHEKHOV CLASSIC THE THREE SISTERS Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 1–Sat 18 Oct
John Byrne’s idiosyncratic vision has always brought mischief to drama, as with perennial favourites The Slab Boys and Tutti Frutti which spoke in a no-nonsense yet nostalgic way of old, tough Glasgow. Following on from his recent, critically acclaimed adaptations of The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya, he now lends his distinctive voice and design to another Chekhov classic, The Three Sisters, by transporting it from Russia at the turn of the 19th century to the not-terribly swinging 60s in a parochial Dunoon. The titular siblings Maria, Irina and Olga thus become Maddy,
Renee and Olive (played by Muireann Kelly, Jessica Hardwick and Sally Reid), all waiting for life to begin. It’s a reimagining that works, according to director Andy Arnold. ‘The situation provides parallels,’ he explains, ‘and the narrative of the original is kept very much intact: a comment on the circumstances of a family struggling to survive in very unfamiliar surroundings, and a long way from home.’
He has very much enjoyed the collaborative process with Byrne. ‘John and I have been planning this for the past year or more,’ says Arnold. ‘He has a very visual and theatrical approach which I relate to, and we seemed in tune with each other very quickly. He saw my production of Ulysses last year and really liked it, so it was easy for us to connect with the same theatre language.’
Chekhov’s universality is also something that chimes with Arnold, and he believes this is why the work still resonates with audiences today. ‘The themes – loss, envy, unrequited love, a sense of failure – are common to all civilisations. It is a wonderfully crafted play which combines great tragedy with love and humour.’ (Lorna Irvine)
18 Sep–16 Oct 2014 THE LIST 89