View From The Stalls

"Othello" - November 2009

2009-11-08T00:20:00.001Z

Of all of Shakespeare's plays 'Othello' is the one I'm most familiar with. So, to maintain my interest a production needs to avoid playing things safe. Fortunately director Guy Hollands and the Citizens Theatre Company have taken some bold decisions on the characters - but without taking liberties with the text.

Andy Clark's Iago, while retaining his calculating nature plays down any suggestion of it all being a bit of a game to him - we're in no doubt that he's a nasty, vicious piece of work. He also seems less 'in control'. Rather than following a long planned course of action, at times with his addresses to the audience it feels like he's just making it up as he goes along. Shakespeare's great villain reduced to an almost opportunistic thug? It seems such a waste but actually works incredibly well.

The approach taken with Desdemona is similarly bold. Gone is the notion of a fluffy and flighty young girl - Sarah Haworth instead gives us a strong and independent young woman who loves her husband. But she is rightly angered by his accusations of infidelity and refuses to go quietly to her (distressingly realistic) death. For the first time, this is a Desdemona that actually worked for me as a consistent character - someone I would believe capable of defying her father and convention to marry 'The Moor'.

And initially I thought I was in for a bit of a revelation with Othello also. During his early scenes with Brabantio, Jude Akuwudike has a wonderful moment where a single expression conveys completely the disappointment and frustration of someone confronted by racism. But once we leave Brabantio behind, his Othello - while perfectly fine - is very much played straight down the middle.

Similarly disappointing is a by-the-numbers approach to many of the supporting characters and a performance by Philip Cairns as Cassio that for me never broke the barrier to allow me to see him as more than an actor delivering lines. I also had problems at times with several characters at the rear of the stage lacking sufficient projection to reach the back of the stalls.

But this is compelling theatre and despite a three hour run time (including interval) the production rarely felt it's length. And it was good to see pretty much a full house for the Saturday matinee - it's just a shame two of them were ignorant enough to allow their phones to ring and a group right at the front felt the need to walk out during the curtain call. A bit more respect please people!

Othello runs at the Citizens until Saturday 14th November.
Image by Eamonn McGoldrick used with permission.

"Confessions of a Justified Sinner" - October 2009

2009-11-01T15:20:00.004Z

As one of the few books on a school reading list that I ever actually enjoyed, I was looking forward to seeing this Lyceum production based on James Hogg's 'Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner'. So it's surprising that last night after seeing the show I could summon up so little enthusiasm to post a comment on it that we seriously considered simply posting "What she said" with a link to Shona Craven's review at Onstage Scotland. We really can't remember a production where just about every element fails as significantly as they do here. Performances, direction, set and sound all contribute to making the show almost painful to watch.

Being entirely fair, with its supernatural elements and the significance of perception this was never going to be a simple novel to stage. Mark Thomson, who adapts and directs, manages the trickier elements fairly successfully but it's with the fundamentals that the problems lie.

His focus is very much on Robert and his mental decline/manipulation by the devilish Gil-Martin rather than the real cause of the problem - his belief in predestination. Robert doesn't need to lose his mind or be deceived and manipulated to commit his crimes - they follow logically from his beliefs, but there isn't enough emphasis here on religion being the problem. It's easy to see the story/play as an attack on those who take extreme actions based on faith, but for me that misses the real target - those who hold irrational beliefs of all varieties (whether they have the courage/foolishness to act on them or not).

We've seen enough of Ryan Fletcher in recent years to know he is a very talented performer, and when I discovered he was in the show I was expecting to see him playing the mysterious Gil-Martin (largely due to the fact we'd just seen him do a great job with a similar role in 'The Last Witch'). But cast as Robert he rarely makes the impact we've come to expect from him, and both Waldorf and I entirely independently felt there was something far too close to "Frank Spencer" about Fletcher's portrayal of the character in tone and mannerisms.

Iain Robertson is equally disappointing as Gil-Martin, leaving the character short in terms of charm, cunning or any real sense of power. Many of the rest of the cast are seriously hampered by having to play multiple characters - some to such an extent that I've only encountered previously when played intentionally for laughs. Poor Wendy Seager and Kenny Blyth are lumbered with five roles each! Only John Kielty (primarily as Robert's brother George), Kern Falconer (as Rev Wringhim) and Rae Hendrie (in her scenes as Robert's mother and his accuser Bel) emerge with much credit.

The revolving set with its angular monoliths provides interest at first but quickly becomes tiresomely overused, often only to enable Robert to keep walking/talking. And in a production where atmosphere should play such a key role the soundscape didn't deliver and the occasional use of projection seemed like a misplaced afterthought. The pace is plodding throughout and after the interval becomes utterly interminable with a series of scenes as Robert is on the run that served almost no purpose.

In fact, the most entertaining moments of the afternoon came from listening to the audience members around us still ranting on about how much they hated "The Beggar's Opera". However, for the record, they actually seemed to really enjoy this show.

Confessions of a Justified Sinner runs at the Lyceum until 7th November
Image by Douglas McBride used with permission.

Open.Stage Playwriting competition

2009-10-29T22:05:00.004Z

We're pretty sure that most of you, like us, have on occasion sat in the stalls thinking "God, I could write better than that". Well, now the Tron Theatre are throwing down a challenge asking you to prove it. And they are going to put their money where your mouth is. In a competition open to all adults living in Scotland or of Scottish origin living elsewhere in the UK and Ireland they are betting someone out there will contribute something the public will want to see - because come Autumn 2010 the winning play will receive a full scale production on the Tron stage.

Now of course, we don't really think we could do better - so we won't be entering. But this is a fantastic opportunity for those with writing ambitions. Experienced playwrights and complete novices writing their first play will compete on equal terms as submissions will be anonymous when assessed. You don't even need to write a whole play - well not at first. They are initially only looking for outline ideas for a play and sample scenes/dialogues to give an idea of your ability.

Submissions will be passed to a reading panel who will compile a shortlist for for an illustrious judging panel to select three plays which they believe have the most to offer. Each of these three plays will receive development funding, support and mentoring to get to a first draft stage when they will have a trailer filmed for the Tron website. And then those of us whose talent (?) lies in watching rather than writing get to have our say in an online vote. The two runners up will receive rehearsed readings of their play.

The Tron are aware of potential accusations of trying to get a play 'on the cheap' and it simply isn't what the contest is about - the winning writer will receive the full commission of £6,560. So get those thoughts on paper - but don't take too long over it, the closing date is Friday 18th December.

We think it's a great idea, and look forward to seeing the winning play this time next year.

Full information on the competition at www.tron.co.uk/openstage
Image used with permission

"Arguments for Terrorism" - October 2009

2009-10-29T21:38:00.001Z

I've taken a couple of days before writing down my thoughts on this week's 'A Play, A Pie & A Pint' at Oran Mor. I'd loved David Ireland's "What the Animals Say" earlier this year so I have to admit my expectations were probably unfairly high for "Arguments for Terrorism". But on reflection, I don't think my expectations were the problem here - it just wasn't very good.

There is a great concept in the piece – what must it be like to be one of the world’s most powerful men one day, and by comparison a nobody the next? Will you indulge a Gollum-like impulse to hang on to it? Or step quietly into the background? The play gives us parodies of George W Bush in his last days in the Oval Office accompanied by his ‘close friend’ Tony Blair whose relationship is a little more explicit than their official biographies currently reveal.

Unfortunately any worthwhile consideration of the men or the issue gets immediately swamped by tired caricatures and laughs bought cheaply with profanity. It feels like watching the first production of a student drama group overindulging their new found license to swear and say rude things. George is stupid, Tony is civilised, George likes a drink, Tony has a thing for Presidents. Yawn. Don’t get me wrong, there are some genuinely funny lines in here – just nowhere near enough of them.

This is a one joke show stretched way beyond its capacity to amuse. On my way into Oran Mor I assisted a lost looking couple on the stairs who hadn’t been before and ended up sitting near to them. At the end, I was sorely tempted to tap them on the shoulder and tell them that it really is usually better than this.

Arguments for Terrorism runs at Oran Mor until Saturday 31st October
Image by Leslie Black Photography used with permission

"Memory Cells" - October 2009

2009-10-24T19:15:00.000+01:00

-----FADE TO BLACK-----

Dammit. Saturday night and I'm still nowhere on this one. Maybe I missed something important, or I'm just not bright enough to work it out. I'll have to give up and ask for people to post any better interpretations they have of the ending…

-----FADE TO BLACK-----

I’ll need to be fair and admit that I rarely enjoy endings that are open to interpretation – too much like watching The X Files, Lost or Twin Peaks where the writers don’t know where they are headed either… But even if Welsh did know what she wanted to say with the ending, it simply hasn’t been successfully conveyed to the audience.

-----FADE TO BLACK-----

Guess I’m not getting any help on this one. Right, as best as I can make out, either her ’escape’ at the end (beginning) was her deathbed delusion. Or her capture and imprisonment was his delusion after she eluded him. Or maybe it was her nightmare after her lucky escape from his clutches. I suppose those all fit, but they are also all pretty pointless and surely take away from the strength of the piece as a whole. Why would writer Louise Welsh do that when it was all working so well up to then? The strong characterisation and powerful performances were making the shifting dynamic between imprisoned Cora and her captor Barry really interesting. And it was nice watching the timeline markers fall into place.

-----FADE TO BLACK-----

Damn you Joyce McMillan! I can’t believe you let me down like that.

-----FADE TO BLACK-----

I’ll have to say that Kirstin McLean gave a very sharp performance and transformed believably from frail, infirm and broken to strong and vibrant. And that Tam Dean Burn was wonderfully creepy and managed to make Barry convincingly unhinged. Oh yes, and the set was really good.

God I wish we gave star ratings. Then I could just give it 4 stars, waffle on a bit and pretend I’d understood it. But I don’t know what I’m worrying about – Joyce McMillan’s review is due out tomorrow. Joyce will make sense of it all for me.

-----FADE TO BLACK-----

It wasn’t just me. It wasn’t just me. It wasn’t just me. I saw the looks of bewilderment on the audience when the lights went up. I heard enough scraps of conversation to know most of them didn’t have a clue about the ending (and that it had taken many until near the end to realise we were going backwards.) I even spoke with a few of them about it on the way out so I know it wasn’t just me.

-----FADE TO BLACK-----

Okay, what the hell happened this evening? Nice bit of theatre, unsure it really needed the whole ‘reverse timeline’ structure but I did ‘get it’. At least I thought I did until the last five minutes – but I’ve got absolutely no idea what happened after that. Not really a problem though is it? Just forget about it - move on. But I’ve got to write a review of it…and I e-mailed The Arches for an image so they know I'm seeing it. I could always just go for the whole “more questions than answers” cliché or even not mention the end at all. I mean, most people won't have seen the show anyway so they won't know I've skipped anything. But at least I’ve bought myself a few days to work it out - I’ve stuck up a short post saying I won’t comment on the show until its run finishes to avoid spoiling it for people.

-----FADE TO BLACK-----

I can't really write about my thoughts on this show in our usual manner without revealing too many things that would spoil it for those planning to see it. So, I'll hold off on posting my reaction until after its short run finishes on Saturday. But I will say that I did enjoy the show and the performances from Kirstin McLean and Tam Dean Burn are both excellent. And for those of you who have already seen the show, well you won't find any answers here - I haven't the faintest idea what happened in the last five minutes either... Maybe I'll have worked it out by Sunday.

Memory Cells has now completed its run at The Arches
Image by Niall Walker used with permission

"A Perfect Child" - October 2009

2009-10-19T22:15:00.003+01:00

Perhaps it's because the premise of Lewis Hetherington's "A Perfect Child" intrigued me so much that I was left feeling so let down by it. Opening in a consulting room we meet Elizabeth and Victor as they are asked to choose the characteristics - physical and personality - of their yet to be conceived designer baby.

The background is sketched in quickly and effectively as we're informed that they are to be the first couple to be given such extensive options and we will be following their progress as the child grows up. We witness each meeting, years apart, with the medics unseen and unheard on the 'audience side' of the fourth wall. Pauline Lockhart and Barnaby Power do a great job of delivering their lines to the off stage listeners and even more impressively in reacting to their unheard questions without them turning into overplayed noddies.

But almost immediately we lose much of what was of interest in the set-up, and most of the issues highlighted in the 'sessions' are completely unrelated to the genetic issues and could equally be said of any 'normal' family. Of course that may be the point of the piece, but if so I'm not sure it was worth the effort.

There are several directions the piece could have headed off into - the child's response to his situation, the medics' view of the parents child rearing skills, the ethics involved - but instead it meanders towards its (un)dramatic (non)conclusion through what are largely a series of domestic tribulations only skirting on public reaction to the child. I kept waiting for a game changing revelation or punchline but it just never came.

A Perfect Child runs at Oran Mor until Saturday 24th October.
Image by Leslie Black Photography used with permission

"The Glimmering Nymph" - October 2009

2009-10-14T23:15:00.003+01:00

I've missed the first few plays in the new season of "A Play, A Pie & A Pint" at Oran Mor so I was looking forward to getting along this week. But what a disappointment was in store for me. There's no other way of putting it - this visit was a huge let down and not remotely up to the high standards set during my previous experiences. So I have to ask: Have they changed who supplies their pies or was I just unlucky that mine seemed to be half fat and gristle? It's just as well the play was fantastic!

Sandy Nelson's play is brilliantly funny and devastatingly sad in equal measures. We meet Per (played by Nelson) as he climbs onto a girder high on a Swedish bridge cursing the girlfriend and friend whose betrayal has driven him to this. As he composes himself before stepping off, he is joined by Ailsa Courtney's Dubrilla - a somewhat surreal figure of a young woman in a shimmering blue party dress. Over the next 45 minutes they share and debate their reasons for jumping - he to make others feel guilty, her through disillusionment with the political apathy of the world around her.

I don't think its possible for me to capture the essence of the exchanges between the two, but while going all out for laughs Nelson and Courtney establish a chemistry that makes the instant bond between the characters believable. Nelson's portrayal of Per's emotional breakdown is as heart-wrenching a moment as I've seen on stage this year. And the only thing preventing me from connecting with Dubrilla to the same extent was the nagging suspicion the character wasn't quite what she seemed to be. These are two performance right out of the top drawer.

Over the years I've been mildly amused on several occasions reading the extensive credits of Patrick & Rita McGurn as designers for various shows at Oran Mor as at times the sum total of the 'design' can amount to a table and chair. But here their credit is very much earned. Our characters are perched on a wide 'girder' covered in orange paint and 'rivets' in a manner reminiscent of the Forth Rail Bridge with a similarly styled vertical strut at one end. It looks fantastic and instantly establishes the location.

This is a gem of a play that makes a number of points in an intelligent and thoroughly entertaining manner and deserves a life that isn't cut short by a run that only lasts a week.

The Glimmering Nymph runs at Oran Mor until Saturday 17th October
Image by Leslie Black used with permission

"Odds and Sods" - October 2009

2009-10-14T18:20:00.004+01:00

Set in an old-school independent bookies in a declining Scottish town, "Odds and Sods" allows us to spend a day in the company of owner Sandy, ditzy cashier Janice and a number of their regulars.

Writing team Tom Brogan and Fraser Campbell have made a considerable effort to flesh out each of the characters giving them distinct personalities and their own microplays within the bigger framework. In many ways, with its running time of 2 hours (including a 15 minute interval) it's like watching four episodes of a new sitcom back to back. It would work well in that format, but as a single piece of work many of the short tangential moments that develop the characters seem indulgently overlong and too frequent. While having two or three such set pieces or subplots would add to the whole, by my count here we were into double figures and it does impact on the pace of the show.

Comedy wise I need to be up front and say that the style of humour isn't one that greatly appeals to me. I like a more subtle approach than the broad and physical comedy that generates most of the laughs here. But it was clearly well crafted and executed and was very much to the liking of many in the audience. And there were enough nice one liners to give me a fair few chuckles.

After the interval there is a noticeable change in tone and the comedy is a little less 'in-yer-face', taking a back seat to the characters and our central interest in whether long-time loser Shug's accumulator is about to break the bookies. The shift isn't seismic and sits comfortably on the foundations built in the first half but clearly shows the writers are equally at home with the 'manic' level dialled down a little.

The cast all do well, and the few stumbled lines are understandable given the wordiness of the script and the pace and energy the delivery often requires. James Keenan makes Sandy suitably obnoxious as he battles with John Love's hard done by Shug while Moira Byrne's Janice, Will Speirs' scam artist Milton and Christopher McKiddie's washed-up pop star Jordon make the most of playing up the comedy. Robert Radcliffe and Jennifer Byrne as Frank and Shelagh on the other hand play their roles pretty straight and succeed in giving the characters a real level of depth.

Brogan and Campbell also combine to provide assured direction with some nice touches in handling the commentary of the sporting events. If they can pitch this setting and these characters as a sitcom format then I’m certain there would be an audience for it – but I’m just not sure I’d be one of them.

This was my first visit to the Ramshorn Theatre and it’s a lovely building, although the legroom in the seats leaves much to be desired. The theatre is currently campaigning to safeguard its future and I’d hope there's a positive outcome. It’s a great space in a fantastic location that should be looking to expand its activities - not having to worry about its future.

Odds and Sods from You Owe Me Glue and Strathclyde Theatre Group runs until 17th October.
Image by Susan Triesman used with permission.

"Lend Me Your Ears" - October 2009

2009-10-10T11:47:00.002+01:00

The Citizens Young Co return with an evening of short Shakespeare extracts and their own scenes inspired by his plays. I have to confess that even as someone who has enjoyed previous Young Co productions I wasn't entirely confident I was going to enjoy this one. I shouldn't have doubted them.

Although staged in the Circle Studio, the show actually commences in the Citz foyer with a playful performance between Scott McKay's Romeo and Rehanna MacDonald's Juliet that sets the tone for much of the evening. All in there are 14 pieces that make up the 70 minute show covering most of the Bard's greatest hits.

Jack Kinross and Sampath Fernando make a play for the limelight should any mishaps befall the cast of the Citz production of Othello later this month while Claire Dyer's Lady Macbeth was played with such energy and relish that I'd have happily watched the whole play. I'm completely unfamiliar with Richard III but Chris McCann's fantastically creepy performance also left me wanting more. In fact all of the pieces worked well, but I think my favourite was the interaction between Emma Swift's Hero and Kat Lamont's Beatrice in the "Much Ado About Nothing" segment which was adapted by Emma Swift and directed by Lisa Corr.

Impressively the cast all play to the whole audience - something we've seen many others struggle with in the intimate in-the-round setting. But that level of comfort is something that I suspect comes from the atmosphere that Director Neil Packham and the Citz have fostered - there's a real sense of ownership and community about it.

An enjoyable and accessible night - even for those who don't do Shakespeare.
Lend Me Your Ears finishes its run on Saturday 10th October
Image by Helen Black used with permission.

"That Face" - October 2009

2009-10-09T23:28:00.003+01:00

It's a bit of a coup for the Tron Theatre Company to be putting on the first UK production of Polly Stenham's play since its critically acclaimed London runs. Based around a dysfunctional family - alcoholic mother, absent father, one kid opting out of family life while the other tries to keep Mum together - there's plenty of interest. But there are additional elements that for me just distracted from the impact of the central situation.

Daughter Mia has been sent home from boarding school which makes for a perfectly acceptable dramatic device to bring about the events of the play, but while the cause of her suspension and her relationship with friend Izzy make for some nice moments on stage, it's window dressing that adds little to the characters or plot. Similarly the inappropriate relationship between drunken mum Martha and son Henry feels too 'soapy' and allows the audience to dismiss the whole family set up as an aberration when what should be hitting home is how many young people have to deal with the reality of alcoholic parents on a daily basis.

Director Andy Arnold has shifted the play's setting from London to Glasgow and in some ways the changes are insignificant but in other regards they made it harder to believe in some of the characters. I'd have no difficulty in accepting Henry as a foppish English public school educated mummy's boy, but my Scottish psyche won't let me believe that a privately educated Glasgow lad would be quite so tied to the apron strings.

As Martha, Kathryn Howden's performance is perhaps a little too comfortable in the comic moments and it's at the expense of a harsher emotional edge that, when occasionally revealed, hints at how much darker the play could have been. James Young's Henry captures the character's desperate need to know he made a difference and that the five years of his life he sacrificed haven't been for nothing while Hollie Gordon gives an assured performance as Mia. But for all the fine individual performances there's rarely any sense of chemistry between the characters and even in the moments of heightened emotion and physical violence there's never any real feeling of threat or intensity.

On reading this over I feel like I've somewhat unfairly picked the production to pieces as despite these observations I really did enjoy the evening. And trying to be more positive, I think the reason it frustrated me is that there is a great play in there - it's just been smothered by the more sensationalist elements.

We received our tickets for the show through our membership of the Tron's Patrons scheme which we thoroughly recommend for anyone who is a regular attendee at the Tron.

That Face runs at the Tron until 24th October
Image by Richard Campbell Photography used with permission.

"All's Well That Ends Well" (NT Live) - October 2009

2009-10-06T01:15:00.001+01:00

We had been a little sceptical about the whole NT Live concept of broadcasting live performances on the National Theatre's London stage to cinemas around the world, but after seeing 'Phedre' back in June we were immediate converts. So we were back at Glasgow's GFT cinema on Thursday to see a broadcast of Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well".

As a 'proof of concept' Phedre had delivered technical perfection but this time we were not so lucky. It became clear at the start of the introduction with NT Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner that the sound was significantly out of synch with the video. During the fifteen minutes of behind the scenes chat, attempts were clearly being made to solve the issue and by the time the play commenced the delay between video and sound had improved - but it was still sufficiently noticeable to be an irritation. There were further attempts to eliminate the delay early on in the performance but as these were causing short drop-outs of the sound I would assume the decision was taken to 'make do' until the interval. And fortunately the second half commenced without any noticeable problems.

Perhaps it was in part due to my brain struggling to reconcile the lip-synch but despite what were undoubtedly performances of a high standard I never quite connected with any of the main characters. So much so that my abiding memory of the show will probably be the performances of Elliot Levey and Tony Jayawardena as 1st and 2nd Lord Dumaine and their mischievous kidnapping of Parolles.

Unquestionably an enjoyable evening but not one likely to linger in the memory. Next up as part of the NT Live scheme is an adaptation of Terry Pratchett's "Nation" at the end of January and I'm hoping that will make more of a lasting impression.

Image by Simon Annand used with permission.

"New Works" - September 2009

2009-09-30T23:35:00.001+01:00

This was certainly an 'interesting' evening at the theatre, and some of the entertainment started before setting foot in The Traverse. Coming through from Glasgow to Edinburgh on a week night for an 8p.m. start can be tight, depending on the traffic, and unfortunately RSAMD's collaberation with the Playwrights' Studio was at 7.30. So after haring along the M9 to get there, I then joined the rest of the audience standing outside The Traverse for 30 minutes waiting for the fire brigade to give the all clear to turn off the fire alarm and let us into the builing. At least it wasn't raining. Credit is due to the professionalism of both The Traverse staff and the performers that despite the delayed start there was no other noticeable impact.

Playwrights' Studio have delivered 3 new plays - works in progress; 2 of which are performed on any given night. Douglas Maxwell's 'The Fever Dream: Southside' was the first act of what will be a three act play, which did leave you feeling a little cheated from the start as you knew that it was likely to leave you hanging. Perhaps because of this I found it difficult to suspend disbelief, especially when things started to get a little surreal. It was at its strongest and most believable with the interaction between the young couple Demi (Amy Conway) and Peter (Matthew McVarish).

As a one act play 'Reminded of Beauty' by Linda Mclean is a more complete work as we're told interweaving tales of loss and its aftermath. Well directed by Marc Silberschatz, there's a suprisingly successful blend of playfulness, grief, loss and despair. Lucy Goldie's performance as the young girl in the middle section was particularly striking, in which a horrible tale is told with almost dance like grace.

An interesting concept from RSAMD, which will be worth keeping an eye out for if it returns.

'New Works' has now completed its run.
Image used with permission.

"The Beggar's Opera" - September 2009

2009-09-28T20:10:00.001+01:00

Mark Thomson, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Lyceum in Edinburgh has quite clearly lost his mind. If he had actively tried to alienate the majority of his theatre's regular attendees I doubt he could have come up with a better way of doing it than this co-production with Vanishing Point and the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry which re-imagines John Gay's original. But perhaps, just perhaps, Mark Thomson is a genius.

You see, we reckon that as theatregoers in our mid thirties we are approaching the top end of the age range of those who will enjoy this show. Of course that's a sweeping generalisation, but we're pretty sure that for every 5 years over the age of 40 you are, the chances of this being your kind of show diminish significantly. And the Lyceum audience isn't exactly known for it's youthfulness. The problem isn't the expletives or the sex, it's the music that forms such an integral part of the show. It's loud, grungy, poppy and you frequently can't make out the lyrics. Exactly the kind of stuff the 'grown ups' will hate.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that a younger audience will love it - provided of course that Thomson can get them through the doors in the first place. So the question then becomes - is this show strong enough to pull in a whole new generation to the theatre and keep them coming back? I'm not sure - but if any show can, it might just be this one.

The show opens with a barrage of sound and visuals quite unlike anything I've seen onstage before - it's rather like watching the opening title sequence of a superhero movie based on a comic book. It's fast and slick as it introduces MacHeath and sets the tone for the rest of the show. The integration between the live on stage action, the video elements and the on stage presence of "A Band Called Quinn" combine pretty much seamlessly. Although there were times in the first half of the show where the levels were off to the extent that the lyrics were almost impossible to catch in some of the numbers 'shared' between cast and band.

Some of the characters are pretty two dimensional, particularly Lockit and Mr & Mrs Peachum, but as I've said, we're firmly in comic book territory here so we don't need complex characterisations. Victoria Bavister and Elspeth Brodie as Polly Peachum and Lucy Lockit are suitably convincing as a pair who have fallen for MacHeath's good looks, glamourous lifestyle and patter. But the show is all about MacHeath and Sandy Grierson has produced the most charismatic and captivating performance I've seen on stage since Alan Cumming in "The Bacchae". It certainly left the female contingent of our party drooling.

Eve Lambert's costumes are phenomenal - from MacHeath's gas-masked crew to the faceless inhabitants of the world above. And Kai Fischer's set works brilliantly to bring the elements of the show together and we never question the fact that the same set is used for several distinct locations. And of course we have Alasdair Macrae and A Band Called Quinn's perfectly pitched soundtrack to the show made up of specially written tracks along with short riffs of recogniseable songs. (you can hear a few tracks on the band's Myspace page)

I'm a little bemused by the frequency the charge of 'style over substance' has been thrown at the show. We don't generally go into any depth on the themes and issues that shows provoke - we'd rather leave it for people to decide for themselves what a show has meant to them. But in this case I think it's appropriate to go down that road - at least a little. For me, the whole show was about style over substance. MacHeath isn't a Robin Hood character robbing the rich and giving to the poor, there's no doubt he's an out and out criminal. As I believe the lyrics put it - 'He's a Dog'. He treats Polly and Lucy dreadfully, and yet they are seduced by his looks, his charisma, the glamour and fame that goes with him to the extent they'll give up everything for him. And in the end even our narrator Sandra Sanderson (and by extension the audience) is enthralled by him to the extent that she/we won't see him hang. We choose to associate ourselves with the glamour, image and style of this rogue rather than see justice be done. To me, it's as scorching a critique of our celebrity and image obsessed society as I've seen.

This show is certainly not for everyone, and the Lyceum is a surprising home for it. But do have a look at the trailer for the show on the Lyceum website as it gives a fair idea of what you can expect. I'm not sure that the trade-off of risking upsetting an existing audience in the hope of gaining a new one will pay off entirely, but it's definitely changed the way we think about the Lyceum. Oh yes, we also liked the marketing department's ingenious use of the wide range of reviews the show has received:

The Beggar's Opera runs at the Lyceum until 3rd October, and then goes to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry and Tramway in Glasgow.
Production image by Tim Morozzo used with permission

"The House of Bernarda Alba" - September 2009

2009-09-27T20:16:00.000+01:00

The National Theatre of Scotland and writer Rona Munro have relocated Lorca's Spanish set play to present day gangland Glasgow where gangsters moll Bernie rules over her five daughters as they mourn the gunned down of head of the family, Tony. But Tony's death has brought added pressures to the family including media attention and the necessity to cement an alliance with another underworld family. And of course the sibling rivalry that erupts as several of the sisters chase the one man. WARNING - the rest of this post will contain spoilers for the show.

There's a lot of chatter about how well the update and relocation work, but to be blunt I have zero interest in that. Along with what I suspect was the vast majority of the audience I haven't seen any other version of the play, so all that matters to me is how well this version works. Are these characters and this situation believable - both as individuals and as a family unit? And sadly the answer is frequently "No".

Munro's dialogue rarely creates a dynamic between the sisters that corresponds with their situation, and I never really felt that these characters had any long term bonds or history amongst them - certainly not the intensity one would expect from being cooped up against their will. Yes, there are some verbal barbs exchanged but they rarely hit home to any great effect. These characters should be much more capable of pressing each other's buttons.

We also felt that the performances were a bit of a mixed bag. I liked Siobhan Redmond as Bernie and Louise Ludgate as Marty but Waldorf wasn't convinced by either, while Jo Freer and Carmen Pieraccini as Maggie and Melly were underused to the extent that they may as well not have been there. I initially hated the performance of Vanessa Johnson as youngest sister Adie but as the show progressed I grew to appreciate the echoes of Redmond's Bernie in Johnson's tones and movement. Oldest sister Agnes suffers badly from a combination of Munro's writing, John Tiffany's direction and Julie Wilson Nimmo's performance that renders her little more than a caricature. Similarly, Myra McFadyen as Bernie's friend Penny seems to exist largely to fill the audience in on the family background.

Munro and Tiffany also bewilderingly bring about the situation whereby Bernie concludes a furious gunpoint argument with Adie by casually placing the gun on a sideboard inches from Adie and then walking away. A mistake there had been little to suggest Bernie would make.

Despite all the negatives I found it a pleasant enough evening at the theatre - Waldorf on the other hand was left cold by it. To be entirely fair, sections of the audience at the Citz clearly enjoyed it significantly more than we did and gave the cast a strong reception at the curtain call.

The House of Bernarda Alba continues at the Citizens until 3rd October and then visits Dundee Rep, the Alhambra in Dunfermline and the Kings in Edinburgh.
Image by Manuel Harlan used with permission.

Three years of View From The Stalls

2009-09-20T22:50:00.001+01:00

Three years? Really? It doesn't seem like we've been doing this for that long... although thinking about it, there were one or two nights in the theatre when it certainly felt like we'd been sitting there for a couple of months. But yes, this week marks the start of our fourth year of running the site, and by coincidence we'll also reach the milestone of commenting on our 250th show. So it seems a good moment to take a look back... and maybe answer a few questions.

Why do you bother?
Our reasons for posting our thoughts on the shows we see remain pretty much the same as they were when we started back in 2006. Even major theatrical productions in Scotland can find themselves receiving only two or three press reviews, and many of the smaller scale shows we see can be lucky to get one. While we have great respect for Scotland's community of professional critics, we felt this left room for other, and possibly different, voices.

Does anyone really care what you think?
Well, over the last three years we've only upset a handful of people to the extent that they responded on the blog or contacted us by e-mail. We never set out to be mean, but we have to be honest in our responses and every so often we do see shows that leave us feeling less than charitable. On the up-side, we get a fair amount of positive feedback from those involved in shows who appreciate our posts and take them in the spirit they are intended - even the unfavourable ones.

Why should anyone value your opinion?
Good question... but with a fairly simple answer. We're the paying audience. Remember that bit at the top about us having seen 250 shows over three years? Well, that adds up to a rather tidy sum in ticket sales - much more than we like to think about. If that's not enough and you'd rather read the thoughts of a critic who'll academically dissect a production then you can find that elsewhere. But if you're looking to see what enthusiastic theatregoers, with no ties to the industry, make of a show we'll do our best to oblige. And as we've been doing this for some time now, regular readers should have a feel for how our tastes match with their own - even if only to the extent of thinking that if we hated it it must be good.

You pay for tickets? Isn't the whole point of running a theatre review blog to get free tickets?
We decided from Day One that in the unlikely event of us being offered free/press tickets we would always decline. View From The Stalls is intended to be about us giving back something to the people that give us so much pleasure - not taking from them. Paying for our tickets with our own hard earned cash also focuses our thoughts on what we have seen and acts as a threshold ensuring that we only see shows we want to see - and not anything that's on just because it hasn't cost us anything. We do regularly get offered complimentary tickets, and companies are often surprised when we decline - but they also recognise it as a sign of our good faith.

Why didn't you see XXXXX? Everyone is talking about it. Will you come and see my show?
Despite seeing so much theatre we are actually rather picky about what we see - there are plenty of productions that I'm confident are absolutely brilliant but just not our kind of thing. There are times when we've been persuaded to add something to our plans at the last minute because it's been getting wider attention, but more often than not we end up wishing we'd gone with our initial instincts. We're always happy to consider requests/recommendations, particularly if they include a bit more info on a show than we would have got from a flyer/poster etc. but we do still need to be convinced that it's something we'll have good prospects of enjoying.

Who are you? Why don't you use your names?
When we started out this was partly a safeguard in case anyone took serious exception to our comments. That's something that over time we've come to realise isn't a concern, but anonymity has other advantages that we are keen to maintain. Being able to slip in and out of shows without drawing attention to ourselves means we never build up any real relationships with the theatrical community, so we are saved any attacks of conscience when we have to be critical about someone we've come to know.

Don't you ever get fed up with it all?
Not really. We do this because we choose to, and know we could stop any time - this lack of pressure keeps things fun. There's still plenty of theatre out there we want to see, and we hope to be here commenting on it for years to come.

But blogs are so last year - when are you switching to Twitter?
Not happening. Not now, not ever.

"The Cherry Orchard" - September 2009

2009-09-13T18:00:00.002+01:00

It can be a real struggle to crystallise our thoughts when we haven't enjoyed a piece, and 24 hours later I'm still unsure if the problem was Chekov's play itself, Stuart Paterson's adaptation or Dundee Rep's production of it. In truth probably 'D - all of the above'. What I do know is that it completely failed to engage or connect with us on any level, and left us entirely disinterested. Not to mention desperately wishing they would ditch the 'noises off' of small hatchets impacting on tree trunks and instead fire up the chain saws and get it over with.

You would think a play about a family in financial strife on the verge of losing their house would have a resonance in the current climate, but somehow it all feels far removed from any modern relevance. It's a thoroughly traditional staging, not just in terms of costumes but in terms of direction. It has a dreadfully old fashioned by-the-numbers feel to it. Like watching a TV period drama from the 60s or 70s - all very slow and static. If the intention was to evoke a feeling of inertia it's brilliantly effective - but it makes for an interminable experience for the audience.

I get the feeling that the tragedy/comedy of the play should come from the fact that the characters desperately want to save the cherry orchard but are too proud and set in their ways to take the necessary steps to do so. But here we never really get the feeling that it actually matters greatly to anyone. It's certainly an inconvenience that they would rather not have to face, but at the end of the day, shrug, they move on without any real sense of loss.

I'm reluctant to comment on the performances of the actors as it's too difficult to isolate them from the decisions presumably made by director Vladimir Bouchler.

The Saturday matinee audience may not be typical, and there were clearly some who were enjoying it, but as a whole I don't think there was a great deal of enthusiasm in the auditorium (and we suspect a few escaped at the interval). We don't regret making the trip to Dundee as we learned two valuable lessons - (1) We can add Chekov to our list of well regarded playwrights whose work we will think twice before booking up for. (2) Dundee Rep's restaurant is well worth a visit.

The Cherry Orchard runs at Dundee Rep until 19 September.

"Twelfth Night" - September 2009

2009-09-11T21:42:00.001+01:00

When we responded to director Michael Emans' e-mail suggesting we might be interested in seeing Good Night Out Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night we teasingly warned him that it had been less than a year since we had seen the Donmar West End production of the play featuring Derek Jacobi as Malvolio. But what do you know, both Waldorf and I thought Mike Tibbetts as Malvolio outshone anything Jacobi produced - and the rest of the production was pretty impressive too…

Emans has brought a number of playful elements to the piece – a tartan clad fool, a rogueish Fabian played brilliantly by Lee Dunnachie as a Glasgow ned, a delightfully staged boxing match and an amusingly inserted ‘Big Brother' reference. But other aspects nudge towards being heavy handed – two lip synched songs and a rock’n’roll finish seeming particularly out of place. The pace is kept high and the show doesn’t feel its run time, but there remain moments in the text that wouldn’t have been missed had they been cut.

As Viola/Cesario, Karen Bartke gives an excellent performance displaying some beautiful comic timing – notably in a wonderfully expressive moment as we see the penny drop that Olivia has fallen for her/him. Olivia is played very much in light tones with no real examination of her purported grief or rebuffing of Orsino, but thanks to Laura McPherson’s adept performance the character remains charmingly amusing rather than self-absorbed and irritating. The treatment of Malvolio is remarkably sympathetic and the dour Scot persona fits the character perfectly. Tibbetts makes him equally believable as trusted steward, pompous ass and deluded fool.

There’s plenty of strong support in the form of Anne Marie Feeney’s Maria and Donald Munro’s Sir Toby. Lorenzo Novani did well with the wordy Orsino but there seemed a lack of spark between him and Cesario/Viola. I certainly can’t fault Glynis Poole's performance as Feste the fool, but in making the character quite so clownish it did start to grow old for me before the end (several honks on the horn too many!). The rest of the cast all acquit themselves well – especially Andy Williams’ touching portrayal of Antonio.

On the whole an enjoyable and accessible production of that rare thing - a genuinely funny Shakespeare play.

Twelfth Night runs at the Village Theatre, East Kilbride until Saturday 12th September.

Now Booking / Coming Soon - Autumn 2009

2009-09-08T23:10:00.003+01:00

Despite it seeming like only yesterday that the theatre world was consumed by The Fringe, we’ve suddenly found ourselves at the start of a hectic period of shows as the Autumn/Winter season is up and running. So, here’s a quick run through of what we’ll be seeing over the next couple of months…

We’re starting off with a trip to Dundee Rep for “The Cherry Orchard” this week and we might be tempted to make another trip at the end of October for "The Elephant Man".

Only slightly closer to home, through in Edinburgh the Lyceum has a very strong start to their season where Vanishing Point stage their futuristic version of “The Beggar's Opera” (also at Tramway in October) followed by The Lyceum’s production of “Confessions of a Justified Sinner” in October. James Hogg’s book fascinated me when I studied it at school so I’m really looking forward to this one. And more than likely we’ll make our now traditional trip to their Christmas show – this year it’s “Peter Pan”.

But the Lyceum have a surprising competitor to their Christmas show this time round – although not exactly festive sounding, the Traverse and Visible Fiction's production of “Zorro” sounds in tone and date range (4-24 Dec) very much like a family show filled with swashbuckling adventure aimed as an alternative to panto. Before that we’ll be through for "The Dark Things" in October and next week we'll be catching one of a series of "New Works" presented by the RSAMD & Playwrights' Studio which we missed at the Tron last week. On each of three evenings a double bill is staged of 2 from 3 new plays from Douglas Maxwell, David Harrower and Linda Mclean - but disappointingly this means that unless you’re prepared to sit through one twice you can only see two out of the three plays.

Speaking of the Tron, its attention grabbing production this Autumn is a new production of “That Face” – Polly Stenham's play which was first produced in London last year to great acclaim and much attention. It will be interesting to see how a new production of it is received and should certainly be one to get people talking. There are a lot of short-run touring shows at the Tron this season including many in their Changing House studio space. We’ve not really had the chance to check into them sufficiently to see if we plan to see any but we do recommend David Leddy’s “White Tea” which we saw in Edinburgh when it takes up residence for a time in September.

Across the river at the Citizens we’ve booked up to see the National Theatre of Scotland’s “House of Bernarda Alba” in a version by Rona Munro set in Glasgow. For me it’s the cast here that is the big draw – Siobhan Redmond and Carmen Pieraccini in particular. The show also tours to Dundee, Edinburgh & Dunfermline. The Citizens' own major production of the season is “Othello” and I’ll confess my first reaction was to yawn. I guess getting in the school trips makes for good attendances but it just feels dreadfully safe and uninspiring. And although we enjoyed his Hamlet in 2007, the casting of Andrew Clark as Iago seemed equally unadventurous. But sometimes marketing can make a huge difference to a piece and the image used to promote the show of Clark in the shadows with a raised eyebrow and enigmatic grin really convinced me that he could bring something memorable to the role. We’re holding fire at the moment on the Citz Christmas show – Cinderella as it sounds a little too traditional for our taste but we will definitely be booking up for the Citz Community Company's Wicked Christmas.

Finally, the Play, Pie & Pint season at Oran Mor started last week. We didn’t make it along last week due to being out of the country but I'll be trying to catch as many as I can between now and the end of the year.

Do let us know if there's anything else we should be seeing...

"Kursk" - Edinburgh Fringe 2009

2009-08-27T23:25:00.003+01:00

It takes something a bit special to get us on the road to Edinburgh after 8pm on a weeknight - and something even more special for us to be arriving home in Glasgow several hours later without grudging the journey. But at 1am, we stumbled through our front door glad we had made the effort to see "Kursk".

I'd loved the concept of this show since reading reviews of its London run - long before I knew it would be appearing at Edinburgh. Staged in a partially mocked up submarine the audience are invited to take a wide view from a raised metal gangway or find a place to stand or perch at ground level and be right in amongst the action.

Despite the title, the focus of the play isn't really the Russian submarine which sank in 2000 with the loss of all 118 souls on board. In fact it's 60 minutes into the 90 minute runtime before the Kursk gets more than a passing reference. Instead the submarine we are find ourselves on is a British vessel - with a mission to monitor Russian navy wargames and the Kursk in particular. And while we witness the events that befell the Kursk at a distance, and there is a short consideration of whether our sub could offer assistance (but thereby revealing its presence in the area), our only real connection with those on board the Kursk is the knowledge that its crew is almost certainly little different from ours. A fact the British crew are all too well aware of.

But it isn't the staging or the true life horror that makes "Kursk" noteworthy. It's the characters that Sound&Fury and Bryony Lavery have created. Yes they fall into convenient stereotypes: the jack-the-lad, the prankster with his own worries at home, the inexperienced young captain, the aspiring poet and the proud new father, but it's the relationships between these broadly sketched characters that works so well. There is a genuine sense that these guys have spent time with each other and while they throw around the banter, this is very much a brotherhood.

Of course, a large part of that success is down to the performances from the five strong cast. It must be a difficult space to perform in, as the acting needs to be able to withstand close scrutiny from the audience in the immediate proximity while remaining sufficiently broad for those viewing from across the room (or even without a direct sightline).

"Kursk" is a truly immersive piece of theatre - both physically and emotionally. Best show we saw at the Fringe this year.

Kursk runs at the University of Edinburgh Drill Hall until Saturday 29th August.
Image used with permission

"White Tea" - Edinburgh Fringe 2009

2009-08-24T22:25:00.002+01:00

"White Tea" by David Leddy and Fire Exit/Tron Theatre at the Assembly Rooms featured high up on our list of Fringe shows early on, as "Sub Rosa" remains not just a highlight of 2009 but one of our favourite shows of all time. And as we'd just returned from Japan and visited many of the same places, this Japanese influenced and based tale had a particular resonance.

Probably due to that recent trip I felt incredibly rude walking into the white clad room with its floor covered in tatami mats wearing my shoes - I had to actually check if they wanted our shoes off. However the audience participation was limited to donning paper kimonos and drinking the tea we were served at the start.

Set in a small intimate stark white space at the Assembly Rooms the performances of Gabriel Quigley as Naomi and Alisa Anderson as Tomoko are supplemented by projections of Japan onto the four walls as we follow the 2 women who despite their different cultures and backgrounds end up sharing a very intimate and personal journey. Naomi, the adopted Scottish daughter of a Hibakusha is summonsed reluctantly to her mother's bedside by Tomoko, her mother's nurse. Visiting her mother's homeland for the first time the three women involved in this tale are fleshed out in front of us. Although the history and culture of Japan are the framework on which this tale hangs, it's very much a story about mothers and daughters; of family expectations and secrets.

Like "Sub Rosa" we're treated to a production that is beautifully lit and devised, and memorable in many ways. However it lacked the magical quality that made "Sub Rosa" so wonderful. Perhaps it's because Naomi, for all her sadness and confusion, is difficult to like and any sympathy you feel for her story has to overcome that. I felt that only at the end was I actually getting to know the real people behind their facades.

"White Tea" continues at the Assembly Rooms until August 31st then tours.

Image used with permission.

"The Last Witch" - Edinburgh International Festival 2009

2009-08-24T00:50:00.001+01:00

This first bit is confusing so please pay attention at the back... "The Last Witch" by Rona Munro is being staged by the Traverse Theatre Company and directed by Traverse Artistic Director Dominic Hill - but isn't being staged at (major Fringe venue) the Traverse Theatre. Instead it's part of the Edinburgh International Festival and is being staged just round the corner at the Royal Lyceum. Everyone got that? As a result of this combination it's very much a flagship piece for both the EIF and the Traverse so there's a lot of interest in this one...

Next, a bit of housekeeping. While it usually falls to me write up our thoughts on the shows we see, it's only after Waldorf and I have compared notes. And we've always had the policy that if she's enjoyed a show considerably more than I have, she'll be the one to put pen to paper. Now, "The Last Witch" has caused a significant division of opinion this evening, but as Waldorf prefers to take her time over things, we might have to wait a while for her thoughts ("White Tea" comments now one week and counting). But given the short run and likely interest in the production we'd rather not keep you waiting - so I'll do my best to fairly reflect her thoughts on the show.

I'd avoided reading much about the play in advance but Rona Munro has cleverly taken things down a less obvious route than I expected. Set in northern Scotland in 1727 it focuses on Janet Horne who finds herself accused of witchcraft, but this isn't a familiar tale of hysteria and paranoia. Here Horne is a self proclaimed witch who boasts of her abilities to her daughter and neighbours. Being essentially a wee wifey with a big mouth she quickly had Waldorf very much on side, but for me it killed any sympathy I had for the character there and then - in my book if you talk yourself up like that with a load of nonsense you have to be prepared for the consequences if you run into someone daft enough to believe you (or use your ramblings against you). My liberal sentiments were pricking my conscience that this could be an allegory for those in the present day who talk themselves up as extremists and then find themselves at the sharp end of terrorism charges, but I still felt nothing as she burned.

Waldorf liked Munro's biting dialogue, but it didn't always work for me. I thought the sparks flew in the scenes between Janet (Kathryn Howden) and local Sheriff (Andy Clark) and also in the moments between daughter Helen (Hannah Donaldson) and Nick (Ryan Fletcher) but for much of the rest of the time I found the dialogue seemed to drag on - with too much standing around waiting for characters to finish. Waldorf didn't feel this was a problem and particularly liked the dynamic created between the three female characters - Janet, Helen and neighbour Elspeth (Vicki Liddelle)

For a production that has clearly had a lot of time and effort thrown at it, I didn't think it was particularly put to good use on stage. In fact I reckoned that it could have been staged just as effectively in the Traverse's small studio theatre (albeit without the same size of audience). The on-stage musical accompaniment seemed out of place and the video elements and soundscape were unimpressive. And don't get me started on the use of the fluorescent strip lights!

In Waldorf's book this was an enjoyable evening but for me it was decent at best - certainly not deserving of its flagship status.

The Last Witch runs at the Royal Lyceum until 29th August and their website indicates all performances are currently sold out.
Image by Robbie Jack used with permission

"Love But Her" - August 2009

2009-08-20T21:50:00.001+01:00

It’s easy for us to rattle on now and again that we treat all performances equally and that we make no allowance for youth or inexperience, but sticking to this policy must make for posts that are at times unpleasant to read – they can certainly be unpleasant to write. And despite strong performances, so it may be here I’m afraid. SYT Production's revival of Lara Jane Bunting's “Love But Her” will certainly get pleasing rounds of applause and comments about what ‘these young people have achieved’, and it would make for a perfectly passable church hall show at the Edinburgh Fringe but no one is going to rave about it...

My heart sank during the opening moments of the show as the cast paired up for an awkward shuffle straight out of ‘social dance’ classes at school. From Scottish Youth Theatre's “high profile, high quality performance group" I was expecting something either safe but brilliantly done or something with a real edge to it. This was neither, and comes across as a conflicted piece of theatre – unable to throw off a seeming need to incorporate Burns’ work, despite its inclusion damaging what could have been a powerfully dark examination of our national poet. And it’s such a pity because the show definitely has its moments.

Katrina Innes as Burns' long suffering wife Jean brings the tragedies of her life, including loss of several children, sharply into focus, while convincing the audience why she still loves her wayward husband. It’s a stirring performance with some beautiful vocals. Phil Napier as Burns is a brooding presence and his interactions with Innes are where the real interest lies. His moments of tenderness are rare and the contempt and frustration directed at Jean would meet many people’s definition of domestic abuse. And with Napier’s intense performance he really gives the impression he might well send Jean flying across the room with the back of his hand. But not to worry, we’ll soon a have another song or bit of humorous banter with the neighbours.

On their own the moments of humour work well too – particularly from Anna Schneider and Craig Steele. Kirstie Steele does well as daughter Betty and provides much of the show’s vocal accompaniment while Nathan Byrne as Davie Wilson provides an interesting dynamic with his unrequited love for Jean. The show has several set pieces that really hit the mark – Jean’s fears for her dead children’s plight in hell is a real tug on the heartstrings and the moments when Jean and later Burns are haunted by voices from the past make for striking theatre. But the play never gels as a whole.

I try to avoid comparing shows but having seen Nonsense Room’s brilliant (if slightly red, red rose tinted) tale of the life of Burns and his women only last week at the Fringe it’s impossible not to. “Ae Fond Kiss” created a wonderful feeling of charm while not ignoring the harmful impact Burns had on many of those around him. It incorporated some of his work in a manner that felt cohesive rather than here where it’s often interrupting the narrative flow. I’d urge all those involved in “Love But Her” (and anyone else who wants to see a great show) to get across to see “Ae Fond Kiss” before it ends its run. I suspect it’s exactly the ‘safe but brilliantly done’ show the SYT were aiming for – and if not, it should be. But if they are aiming for the edgy, and there’s enough in “Love But Her” to suggest this, they need to commit to it wholeheartedly. Not merely hints at the darkness, tempered with light. The cast have shown they are capable of delivering in challenging roles – it’s up to the SYT to select higher quality material for them to work with.

"Love But Her" is on at the Brian Cox Studio in the SYT's Glasgow building on Friday 21st August, and then has dates in Irvine and Stirling the following week.

Thoughts on the Fringe

2009-08-19T23:20:00.000+01:00

Some of you may have noticed that we haven’t quite thrown ourselves into the spirit of the Fringe as much as we have in previous years. There are a number of reasons why this is the case. Some are circumstances particular to us in 2009 while others are potentially of wider interest...

Returning from a two week trip to Japan at the start of August was energy sapping and it’s taken a bit of time to shake off the jetlag. And with another trip planned for September it’s left us limited in taking leave from our day jobs and conscious of the cost of our Fringe trips. Despite receiving Fringe Press Accreditation we’ve stuck to our year round policy of paying for all tickets – although as anyone attending Edinburgh knows, the ticket costs are just a small part of the overall expense.

But costs aren’t what has limited our trips – at least not directly. The trouble is we just haven’t found enough shows to really 'grab' us this year and frustratingly many of the ones that did pique our interest seemed to take place at the same time. In previous years we’ve happily filled days with four shows booked in advance and if time permits picked another one or two on the day. But this year we would have been coming through for two shows we really wanted to see and having to take chances on another three or four. Or we could have wasted time and money by coming through day after day for a single show in the afternoon or evening but that isn’t really a viable option especially as the T***works and parking problems make an after-work drive through a risk for any show starting before 8.30.

And I’ll be honest, I’m a bit tentative about putting this next bit in writing but I’m going to say it. I found Edinburgh rather unpleasant this year. Perhaps it’s the contrast from spending time in the restrained atmosphere of Tokyo but the drunkenness of Edinburgh on Saturday night at 9pm was troubling – it felt more like Glasgow at closing time. Walking around the Cowgate there was a feeling that areas of the city were a powderkeg that could go off – and the frequency of passing police vehicles with their blue lights flashing and sirens wailing did little to suggest otherwise. Depressingly I felt the need to advise a work colleague that if she was thinking about heading through for a show or two it might be best to go midweek.

It certainly felt more drunken than previously but perhaps it’s down to a change in the balance of those wandering the streets that has made the less welcoming elements more visible. Despite talk of increased ticket sales, on the days I’ve been in Edinburgh this year venues have felt quiet. Underbelly on Saturday night is the only time I’ve felt a place to be busy in the way that it has in previous years. There aren’t the same numbers of groups handing out flyers – even the Royal Mile and the drag outside the Pleasance haven’t been their usual nightmare to walk through.

And though I’ve seen some brilliant shows (Ae Fond Kiss, Certain Dark Things and The Unravelling) I’m really struggling to build enthusiasm for our next trip through on Sunday. So is it just me or are things different in Edinburgh this year?

"Mark Thomas: The Manifesto" - Edinburgh Fringe 2009

2009-08-17T19:02:00.003+01:00

We always enjoyed Mark Thomas' brand of comedy activism when he was a regular feature on Channel 4 so we were delighted to get the chance to see him live in Edinburgh. But this isn't just an Edinburgh Fringe show - Mark is touring it nationally with a 2 week stop in Edinburgh. At each performance the audience is asked to submit policy idea and the most popular suggestion each night will be added to a manifesto which Mark will campaign to have implemented. Doesn't exactly sound like great material for generating laughs - but you'd be surprised what people come up with...

And to prevent any possibility of a poor audience resulting in a poor evening's show we also get a run through the highlights of suggestions from earlier shows on the tour and tales from some of Mark's other campaigns. He fizzes with energy and engages with the audience - both as a group and as individuals and benefits from an understanding of a Scottish audience and in particular the Glasgow/Edinburgh dynamic.

When we start running through our audience's suggestions it's surprising how varied they are. From old school political/class war stuff (the abolition of private & grammar schools) to the bizarre (a compulsory curry once per week). In the end we settled on a proposal that we should hold a national bring & buy/bake sale every Tuesday with a future expansion to include global trade.

To some extent how much you enjoy the show will depend on how you are disposed to Mark's brand of politics, but even if you are only partly convinced by the politics his slick comedy style will carry you along a fair distance.

Mark Thomas: The Manifesto runs at the Stand until Tuesday 18th (£12) and stages a meeting with MSPs to discuss The Manifesto proposals at the Pleasance on Wednesday 19th (free but ticketed)

Image used with permission.

"The Unravelling" - Edinburgh Fringe 2009

2009-08-16T14:20:00.002+01:00

That Mulberry School for Girls and playwright Fin Kennedy have received a Fringe First award for "The Unravelling" is an extraordinary achievement but it came as no surprise to us. For the last two years they have produced charming pieces of theatre full of energy and humour and we told you weeks ago this one would be worth seeing - so no excuses for those of you who missed out on tickets in the rush once the award was announced.

Set in a fantastical fabric shop located near their East London home we meet three daughters challenged by their mother to weave enchanting tales to determine which of them should inherit the shop. The cast command the space brilliantly and the audience are instantly captivated by their tales. The whole cast are hugely impressive appearing completely comfortable on stage, but a special mention for Rabia Begum as the eldest daughter who brought a particular sparkle to the role. Each tale is stylishly performed with the help of some wonderfully creative props and costumes, but the tales are not as slight as they may at first seem. In the best tradition of fairy tales there are lessons to be learned. An absolute joy to watch.

Sadly the company won't be performing at next year's Fringe but "The Unravelling" is a fitting way to finish for the time being. It's been a privilege to watch their three shows and we look forward to them returning to Edinburgh before too long.

The Unravelling has completed its run at The Space @ Venue 45
Image used with permission