list.co.uk/theatre Previews | THEATRE
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MUSICAL MISS SAIGON Edinburgh Festival Theatre, until Sat 17 Feb ●●●●●
It’s 43 years since the war in Vietnam ended, and 29 years since Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s musical about the mess left behind first hit the stage. A lot of time, therefore, for the public to forget about the devastation the 20-year conflict brought about.
So this revival scores a point for reminding modern- day audiences that outsiders arriving in a foreign land, mis-using it, then buggering off, is nothing new. And the moments when Miss Saigon focuses on the political agenda are genuinely captivating – whether it’s a stunning helicopter flight, a tightly synchronised street parade in Ho Chi Minh City or emotive real- life photographs of orphans abandoned by mothers similarly abandoned by their GI sweethearts. The lyrics sung by those GIs, now returned to their homeland, highlight the real issue here: ‘Conceived in hell and born in strife, they are the living reminders of all the good we failed to do.’
But Miss Saigon is based on Puccini’s Madame
Butterfly not Apocalypse Now, so it’s love, not war that’s the focus. Specifically the ill-fated relationship between Kim, a 17-year-old virgin and John, a soldier that’s been around the block. Their fall is quick and hard, and therefore difficult to truly believe in, while the gyrating prostitutes she works alongside feel stereotypical and unnecessarily sleazy. Schönberg and Boublil’s other big hit Les Miserables has run continuously since 1985, largely because every note in it is a priceless gem – sadly, despite strong vocal performances throughout, nothing in Miss Saigon comes close. (Kelly Apter)
DRAMA BOLD GIRLS Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 24 Jan–Sat 10 Feb
Sometimes, words can be as incendiary as weapons. Rona Munro’s tough play Bold Girls is set in Belfast in the 1990s, against a backdrop of police sirens and burning vehicles. Munro’s versality as a writer – she adapted Watership Down for the stage and has written for Dr Who – is placed at the service of a story that lends a rich poetry to mundane details of lives spent at the edge of conflict. It’s here, in typically working-class homes, that four women fight, embrace and laugh, getting
on with day-to-day living in spite of the shadow of the Troubles hanging over them.
Starring Deirdre Davis, Sinead Sharkey, Lucianne McEvoy and Scarlett Mack, it’s all about the lived female experience. As Sharkey explains, ‘its four very different women, with really individual stories, and it’s kind of a world devoid of men, because they’re either in prison or have been shot, or caught up in paramilitary activity. So, it’s all about how they’re coping and surviving.’ Sharkey, who was herself born in Derry in 1994 around the time of the ceasefire, believes that
the play is timeless. ‘It transcends that era,’ she says, ‘because women are at the centre of things, speaking out and having a strong voice.’
And within Munro’s script, and uner Richard Baron’s direction, there is much scope for witty lines and mischief, too. ‘The issues and themes are quite dark,’ Sharkey says, ‘but the humour and resilience does come out.’ (Lorna Irvine)
LIVE ART MOTHERFUCKER CCA, Glasgow, until Wed 7 Feb
Buzzcut’s Double Thrills has settled elegantly in the monthly landscape of Glasgow’s performance scene, bringing work to Scotland from across the live art spectrum while championing local artists in developing their practice. The breadth of genres programmed, ranging from dance through challenging monologues, and even the occasional ritualistic happening, ensures that Glasgow audiences are treated to a consistent diet of unpredictable experiments.
February’s headliner, Nicola Hunter, presents an uncompromising take on an issue rarely
presented on stage: the life of a single mother. From the title to Hunter’s experiences that inspired the piece, Motherfucker refuses to pull any punches. ‘This piece talks not only of my experiences, but of the common and seemingly “just one of
those things” bullshit responses many single parents are fed,’ she says. Coming from a fine art training, Hunter has adopted performance to forge an immediate and personal style. Her previous work, Lost Bodies ‘was rooted in shamanic ritual,’ she adds. ‘Processing the work on site added to the success of the show, all of the emotion was real which I found kept the integrity and heart.’
Motherfucker comes from Hunter’s personal struggles, a cry against the structural and social inequalities that undermine women artists by enforcing a maternal role without recognising its problems. As for the audience, Hunter concludes, they will experience ‘a pissed off mother at the end of my tether’. (Gareth K Vile)
1 Feb–31 Mar 2018 THE LIST 87