Monday, September 01, 2008

Now Booking for Autumn 2008 & beyond

With the Edinburgh Fringe now behind us we have started to make our plans for the next few months (although we've also done a Fringe Highlights post soon detailing some of our favourite shows which may be getting a run near you). In most cases we've now confirmed our plans (Google Calendar is our friend).

First up, we have the Citizens' series of "An Audience with..." evenings this coming week where we'll be seeing Tony Benn (now posted), Tommy Docherty (now posted), Dennis Taylor (now posted) and Brian Blessed(now posted), and later in the month we'll be seeing the Citizens' Theatre Company's 'radical new version' of "Don Juan" (review posted) while we're still deciding about "The Caretaker" (we've decided - the Beckett comparisons have put us off). And up in the Citz Circle Studio we hope to catch the intriguing future set "Zero" from Theatre Absolute (now posted), along with the Citz Young Company's "Reflections on the River" (now confirmed as the same performance each evening - and seen but not reviewed at TAG's request) and the Community Company's "Wicked Christmas 3" (now posted).

The National Theatre of Scotland and Catherine Wheels are touring Ray Bradbury's adaptation of his own "Something Wicked This Way Comes" around Scotland but we won't be seeing it until it reaches the Tramway at the end of its run (now posted).

The Tramway's programme has really caught our attention and we plan on seeing three other productions this season - Ankur's "Heer Ranjha" (now posted), Forced Entertainment's "Spectacular" (now posted) and Fish & Game's "Otter Pie" (now posted). We've also added in "Framed" (now posted).

Meanwhile at the Tron we'll be booking up for "Six Acts of Love" (now posted) and their double bill of Tenessee Williams featuring "Suddenly Last Summer" (Review posted) and "Like the Rain" (three short plays staged in their Changing House each night after "Suddenly Last Summer") (Review posted). We missed "The Tobacco Merchant's Lawyer" (now posted) at Oran Mor last year so it's good to see the Tron picking it up for a short run.

Of course Oran Mor has a new season of its own "A Play, A Pie & A Pint" coming up with a new play each week starting 1st September. There are too many to mention and a lot of the info is pretty vague, but with a Pie & Pint (or alternative beverage) included in the ticket prices (£10 Mon/Tues/Thurs, £7 Wed & £12.50 Fri/Sat) it's worth taking a chance. I'll be trying to get along as often as I can - preferably on a Wednesday but if it's one Waldorf is keen on seeing we'll need to wait until Saturday.

There are a number of touring shows that we'll be seeing at Cumbernauld Theatre but will also be available at venues across Scotland. These include Fin Kennedy's "Locked In" (touring throughout the UK) (review posted) and NLP's "Singing I'm No A Billy He's A Tim" ( review now posted ). We will also be catching Benchtours' "The Lesson" (review posted) but Waldorf will be on her own for "Class Enemy" (now posted) which comes as part of the 'Sharing the Festival' element of the Edinburgh International Festival, as I'm afraid I can't get past the fact it's in Bosnian with English supertitles. She's also on her own for The Arches Theatre Company's "Amada" (review posted), which has had succesful runs previously and is now touring Scotland.

And speaking of Edinburgh... The Lyceum Autumn programme didn't grab us, although I think we will try and see three of their shows next Spring ("The Man Who Had All The Luck", "Curse of the Starving Class" & "Copenhagen"). But before that, after the delightful "The Wizard of Oz" last Christmas we simply can't miss "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe".

Staying in Edinburgh we also have the Traverse to consider, which is a bit of a problem as their website is pretty sparse on detail at the moment. However, we've booked up for David Greig & Gordon McIntyre's "Midsummer" (now posted). The details on the plays in the "Four Debuts" mini-season were a little scarce at the time but we've already booked "Nobody Will Every Forgive Us", and will await more details on the others before we decide on them. (We've now booked for "Cockroach" (review posted) and "Nasty Brutish & Short"/"The Dogstone")

Looking further ahead, although there isn't anything that simply demands we make the journey to Dundee Rep this Autumn, we will be booking up to see their highly acclaimed musical,"Sunshine on Leith" when it reaches The Kings in Glasgow early next year (after a return in Dundee this November) (now posted - we went in Edinburgh).

We've also been lured back to the Theatre Royal once more and will shortly be booking up for "Cabaret" (don't ask!)

Oh yes, we also have a couple of London trips coming up - the RSC's "Hamlet" with David Tenant & Patrick Stewart in December and "Madame De Sade" with Judi Dench as part of the Donmar's West End residency next May. In addition we've managed to grab some tickets for the Donmar's production of "Twelth Night" with Derek Jacobi (now posted). It won't all be highbrow though - we are also going to "Oliver!".
As always, if there's anything we've missed that you think we should see, let us know.

6 Heckles

Anonymous said...

Pleased you're coming to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Hopefully you'll get a chance to read my blog (http://theseeingplace.blogspot.com/) as I plan to give a detailed account of my experience during the rehearsal process and in the run proper.
I'd recommend to you 'The Brothers Size' at the Traverse, an exciting play from an exciting young American writer with 3 of his plays (including this) on in London this Autumn.

Steve

Statler said...

Thanks for the suggestion Steve, but unfortunately "The Brothers Size" has a short run with dates that don't work for us.

And we'll certainly be following the posts on your blog.

Bluedog said...

That's one ambitious list!

I will definitely be catching "The Lesson" as an Ionesco fan.

Gerry Mulgrew is also directing "Mother Courage" at Dundee Rep - just opening this week, so will try to get to that.

Waldorf said...

We'd seen that "Mother Courage" was on and it looked quite interesting. However with everything else going on this autumn it didn't grab us enough to make the trip to Dundee.

I must confess that I suspected you would probably be making the trip, and hoped it would be early enough in the run that if you raved about it we could catch it later on.

Anonymous said...

Why don't TAG want the young co show reviewed? I know you can't make allowances but would you really set out to destroy young dreams and new talent? Maybe it's for the best, if you're dealin with fragile new talent, like butterflies or something. Don't want to crush 'em with what to you might be an aside, but what to them might really put them off course.

Waldorf said...

TAG asked us before the performance if we would mind not posting our thoughts on 'Reflections On A River', giving some good reasons as to why they would prefer not to have a review posted in this case. We agreed prior to having seen the show not post on it.

We have provided our thoughts privately to TAG after seeing the performance.

The lack of review (or TAG's request) shouldn't reflect on the quality of the show.

We've mentioned before that we go to the theatre for our own personal enjoyment, and what gets posted here is by-product of that. We also do try and be fair to productions and performers but also honest about what we felt. We're not involved in theatre in any way apart from going to see things that we hope we'll enjoy, and try and give our own personal audience viewpoint. I certainly hope that no-one takes what we say here so seriously that it will 'put them off course'.

There is also no right opinion about any theatrical work. Every audience member will come to things from a different place and what works for some will not work for others. The world would be a very boring place if we all agreed about everything.