"Blue Hen" - May 2010

Des Dillon's new comedy set in a Coatbridge housing scheme, follows two men who, finding themselves on the scrapheap of unemployment, attempt to secure a better future through breeding hens. And if that brings to mind echoes of "The Full Monty", tonewise you're not far off the mark.

Charles Lawson and Scott Kyle make an entertaining pair as John and Paddy, and there are some very funny moments. But there's also a heavy reliance on using expletives to buy cheap laughs, and that's a pity, as it overwhelms the more sombre moments of the piece. It also suffers from a lack of clarity at times - in discussing the show afterwards, Waldorf and I had very different understandings of a significant plot element.

But I'm prepared to put that down to the distraction of what I could charitably call the 'lively' audience at Cumbernauld Theatre. Less charitably I could detail the three ringing mobile phones (that rang and rang and rang), the talkers in the second row, the attempted heckle and the numerous toilet-goers (5 minutes after the interval for heaven's sake). I really can't face writing another 'badly behaved audience post', however, I do have to note that I felt the 8pm start time and the full 20 minute interval were contributing factors. We appreciate bar takings are an important element for theatres, but I'm afraid it's something that will be a factor when considering to see a show at Cumbernauld in future.

Waldorf suspects that we're being theatre snobs and that anything that gets an audience through the door is a good thing, but I really don't care. My enjoyment of the show was significantly impacted by my fellow audience members and I think I'm entitled to be annoyed by it.

I do however apologise to NLP Theatre and the cast for not providing a fuller response to the show. I've sat on this piece for a week, but in the end I've concluded that I simply can't attribute how much of my disappointment last Saturday night was due to the play and how much was due to the external factors. I think the fairest I can do is simply to note that many in the audience were clearly enjoying themselves.

Blue Hen tours Scotland until 12 June.
Image by Daniel Goganian Ania Winiarska used with permission

"The Grapes of Wrath" - May 2010

Staging a production based on John Steinbeck's classic novel of America's dispossessed in the Great Depression is ambitious for any theatre company. For the Citizens Community Company to take it on in the form of this adaptation by Tim Baker is beyond ambitious. Particularly so, when their sole professional performer, Citizens Actor Intern Mairi Phillips, is age/gender bound to play a relatively small but crucial role - leaving community cast members to carry the production squarely on their own shoulders.

A great deal of that responsibility falls on Patricia Preston as the matriarch of the Joad family and she proves to be entirely convincing as a strong, driven woman, but one who knows her existence is hanging by a thread. Equally impressive is Chris McCann as her son Tom, with a well pitched balance between naive optimism and a determination to fight those contributing to their hardship. John McNeil provides strong support as emasculated Pa Joad while John Speirs makes former preacher Casy three dimensional instead of the plot device he could easily have become. Full time performer Phillips gives the Joad's pregnant daughter a beautifully light touch in her early scenes which makes her devastating final moments all the more effective.

With an extended Joad family and an abundance of characters to encounter on the long journey from Oklahoma to California, there's plenty of opportunity for the ensemble making up a cast of almost forty to each have their moments to shine. But the acting is only half the story here, as the production makes fantastic use of song and on-stage musical accompaniment, managing to avoid scenes of vastly differing tones feeling in any way disjointed.

In keeping with our approach of considering all performances we see to a professional standard, it would be remiss not to acknowledge that there were a few lines that we struggled to hear. However, the overall impression is one of an immensely slick and well drilled production. Co-Directors Neil Packham and Elly Goodman move the show along at pace and it rarely feels anything like its two and a half hour run time - with only an extended barn dance overstaying its welcome.

Baker's adaptation makes the Joad's situation clearly relevant for both the current financial climate and the tensions that can arise from (im)migration. I did find it a little heavy handed at times in repeatedly hammering home its economics lesson but Waldorf happily accepted this as simply illustrating that the Joads just 'wouldn't be told' that California wasn't the land of milk and honey they had been cruelly lead to expect.

Once again, the Citizens Community Company has delivered a high quality and relevant piece of theatre - we look forward to seeing what they have in store for us next.

The Grapes of Wrath has now completed its run at the Citizens
Image by Tim Morozzo used with permission

"Address Unknown" - May 2010

I've taken a couple of days to mull this one over as I suspected my initial response to it had been too strong. I feared that my immediate enthusiasm for the play would quickly diminish once the 'high' of the satisfying ending began to wear off.

But two nights later, I'm more impressed than ever with the layers of subtlety displayed here and the direct questions it raised for me. As a byproduct of this, what I'm about to say here will include significant plot points that we would not normally disclose when posting our thoughts on a show. If you've stumbled across this because you are planning to see the show or read the short story on which it is based, it's probably best you read no further.

The Tron's production of Katharine Kressmann Taylor's tale is part of their Mayfesto season of what I will crudely label as political theatre and takes the form of an exchange of letters between two German friends in the early 1930s. Max and Martin jointly own an art gallery in San Francisco, but Martin has recently returned home to Germany, leaving his Jewish partner Max to run the business. Through their letters we witness the impact the rise of Nazism has on them individually and the toll it takes on their friendship.

The text used here has been edited for the theatre by Frank Dunlop and is magnificently crafted. After only the first letter is read I believed in this friendship entirely and as the exchanges develop they always ring true, remaining anchored by those first moments of affection. Of course, a large part of that credibility is due to Benny Young and James MacPherson as Max and Martin giving immensely powerful performances which downplay any moments of melodrama.

For a while I felt the ending was too self-satisfying and that neither the subject nor the audience deserved to be left on a (relatively) positive note. But actually, I think for me this is the greatest revelation and salutary lesson of the play. I'm now horrified by how content, even pleased, I was to see a man being taken, presumably to his death. And more than learning anything about the characters and their circumstances, I've gained an invaluable insight into how easily influenced I could find myself in the right (wrong) situation. I don't think I've ever been quite so personally disconcerted by a play as I was by this.

A truly powerful and memorable piece of theatre.

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.

Address Unknown runs at the Tron until Saturday 22nd May
Image by John Johnston used with permission.

Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland shortlist

Congratulations to all those on the shortlist for this year's Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) which was announced earlier this week.

Sadly it seems we missed out on seeing some of the best theatre in Scotland last year as we don't appear to have seen many of the shows nominated. But then again, we weren't wholly enthusiastic about some of the shows on the shortlist that we did manage to see.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony at Edinburgh Festival Theatre on Sunday 13th June. Tickets to the event are now on sale.

Open.Stage Voting Opens

Back in October last year we noted the Tron's new playwriting competition Open.Stage was inviting entries - with the winning play to receive a full commission and production later this year. In February a panel of judges narrowed down almost 300 entries to a shortlist of three: "Zurich" by Rob Drummond, "Sea and Land and Sky" by Abigail Doherty and "Plume" by J.C.Marshall.

Each of the these have since received further development and 'trailers' have now been created and posted on the Tron's website, where it will now be for the public to vote to determine the winner.

The contest certainly appears to have produced three interesting ideas and I think I'd quite happily go along to see any of them.

Voting is open now and closes at 5pm on 21st May.

"The Event" - May 2010

While probably not a good choice for anyone making their once a year visit to the theatre, for those who love theatre as an art form and knowingly clever theatre in particular, "The Event" is an absolute delight.

To say more would spoil much of the fun, so just trust us for once and don't read any reviews or even the blurb for the show - just clear a space in your diary before the run ends.

Written by John Clancy and performed by David Calvitto, The Event runs at the Citizens until Saturday 8th May
Image used with permission

"The Woman from the North" - May 2010

With our increasing elderly population and incidence of those suffering with dementia, Bernard MacLaverty's play is dealing with a very current issue when it introduces us to Cassie who is spending a period in residential care. But despite a hugely impressive central performance from Eileen Nicholas, it somehow feels like a piece from 20 years ago.

Back then, this would have been a window into a hidden world that wasn't spoken about, but now few people are left untouched by these conditions either in their immediate or extended family. There's little to see here that most audience members won't have experienced first hand - and Cassie's situation is very much at the gentler end of the spectrum.

I'm not advocating a sensationalist approach to a serious issue, but there are aspects that could have been focused on that would have given the piece something current to say - the financial burden of residential care, patients refusing medication, standards of care and conflicting wishes of family members among others.

But while lacking an incisive edge the play is beautifully executed and director Liz Carruthers provides some delightful touches. It's a shame much of the Oran Mor audience failed to pick up on a fantastic pre-show piece of scene setting taking place in front of their noses.

The Woman from the North runs as part of A Play, A Pie & A Pint at Oran Mor until Saturday 8th May.
Image by Leslie Black used with permission.

"Turbo Folk" - April 2010

Alan Bissett's contribution to this season of "A Play, A Pie & A Pint" at Oran Mor is a prime example of that rare theatrical beast - a comedy that makes you think. It's also one of the few pieces of theatre I've seen in recent years that can genuinely lay claim to the overused 'Black Comedy' label.

While on tour in a Balkan-esque state, Scottish pop star Cameron (Ryan Fletcher) decides he wants to get out from his hotel room and meet some real people. His local record company escort (Simon Donaldson) duly obliges and takes him to the kind of bar tourists would avoid.

It's a beautifully simple set up and allows Bissett to make serious points in a manner that avoids any sense of superficiality or trivialisation. His targets include the Scottish belief that the world loves us; our continuing Scottish/British identity struggle; and our lack of knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the turbulent events in the recent past that formed many of the nations on our doorstep.

Bissett's wordplay with the 'local language' is genius - and I'm sure I missed picking out half of it. Fletcher plays Cameron to perfection and displays a musical talent that suggests that in the unlikely event of acting roles drying up he could quite comfortably make a move in that direction. Steven McNicoll as barman Vlad and Donaldson give magnificently steely eyed performances - and are crying out to be cast as the Evil Mastermind and his Chief Henchman respectively in a future Bond movie.

With its well pitched balance of light and dark, and snuggly fitting its 45 minute run time, "Turbo Folk" deserves to be another addition to the list of Oran Mor shows that gain a life beyond their initial run.

Turbo Folk runs at Oran Mor until Saturday 1st May
Image by Leslie Black Photography used with permission

"Huxley's Lab" - April 2010

"Huxley's Lab" proved to be a perfectly pleasant evening of theatre. I just hope Grid Iron and Lung Ha's Theatre Company are as disappointed to read that sentence as I am to be writing it.

Their tale of a genetics lab where a new generation of society is being created 'fit for purpose' with a cast including actors with learning disabilities could have been a profoundly uncomfortable, provocative and personally challenging evening for its audience. Lining the audience up in order of height to be inspected makes for an interesting start, but how much more of an impact could have been made had the cast 'inspection' involved giving each audience member a 'perfection score' based on looks, height, weight, eyesight, hair colour? Or simply divide us into Pass/Fail and treat the groups with a different tone. Sure, it may have upset a few people but what a great way to remind the audience how we all constantly judge others - especially those society considers less than perfect.

Similarly, a segment where the audience uses provided fobs to answer multiple choice questions lacks any sense of significance - apart from anything else we don't get an indication as to how we as an audience have responded. Were they even real fobs? How much more involved would it have made the audience feel had their responses had an effect on events/characters in the show?

But then, the audience role in the production is a little fuzzy. We're often treated as 'candidates' and addressed directly while at other times we're privy to clearly private interactions between characters. The fact that there is a longer time period involved also makes it difficult to hang to to the conceit of us as invited observers.

For most of us genetic manipulation/selection is, fortunately, a somewhat abstract and philosophical question and it needs something more personal to knock people out of their comfort zone. To be honest, if I hadn't been going to write about the show here I doubt I would have given it much thought after Monday evening. But having had to give the show and its issues further consideration over the last day or so, it struck me that in a world of even fairly basic genetic selection I may quickly have found my embryonic self on the 'reject' shelf. How many other short-sighted audience members would find themselves similarly disregarded? And be shocked to be confronted by that revelation had the show delivered a sufficient nudge in that direction?

But although the show left us lamenting a missed opportunity to really unsettle the audience, there remained plenty to admire. Its central cast were all very strong - particularly Sean Hay as Dr Davenport, while "the Naturals" in the rooftop garden showed great dedication in delivering their performances despite the howling wind. And of course there is an incredible level of skill in negotiating the audience groups around the building and delivering the technical elements of the show in all manner of locations.

Over three years after seeing Grid Iron's "Roam" it still spikes in my memory when I see images of civil unrest on the television news. And two years after seeing "Yarn" I still hesitate guiltily when looking at impossibly cheap pricetags on clothes. I just don't think there's anything from "Huxley's Lab" that will stay with me that long.

Huxley's Lab has now completed its run at the Edinburgh University Informatics Forum as part of the Edinburgh Science Festival.
Image by Douglas Jones used with permission.

"The Miracle Man" - March 2010

Saturday 8th November 2008. That's the last time I had as much fun in a theatre as I did last night. Not since the magnificent "Midsummer" have I seen a play deliver laughs so strongly and consistently. We drove home with Waldorf scanning the scriptbook for the lines that had amused us the most - and discovering new ones we'd missed because we were laughing too much.

Created and presented as part of the National Theatre of Scotland's 'tfd' season of 'shows for young people', Douglas Maxwell's "The Miracle Man" appeals far beyond its stated audience. While set in a school with all it's associated girl/boy issues, the core of the piece is more about PE teacher Ozzy and his ill father than the pupils. Avoiding any sense of preaching, if there's a message for the 'young people' to take away it's that life can be pretty damn hard for adults too, and that they are every bit as capable of screwing things up as you are.

Maxwell throws plenty of issues into the mix - religion, race, death, loneliness, purity rings, body image and the weight of parental expectation. Some are treated with more depth than others and on occasion it does feel an issue is there to serve the comedy rather than vice versa but they all feel integral to the play. Maxwell also delivers some truly heartbreaking moments as he drip feeds us fragments of Ozzy's story.

Keith Fleming gives a wonderfully quiet and subtle performance as Ozzy, in sharp contrast to a riotously comedic portrayal of the school's headmaster by Jimmy Chisholm. Charlene Boyd, Shabana Bakhsh & Ross Allan are uniformly excellent as the students while Sally Reid shows here that she's capable of producing an impressive performance in a more serious, adult role than we're used to seeing her in.

With a run time of 2 hours 30 minutes (including interval) it amazed me how short this felt. It's beautfully paced, both in Maxwell's writing and Vicky Featherstone's direction and complemented by Georgia McGuinness' fabulous set and Natasha Chivers' lighting design. (And special thanks to those responsible for the revelation that there's more to "The Go! Team" album on our iPods than 'Ladyflash'.)

An outstanding piece of theatre for teenagers - and anyone who used to be one.

The Miracle Man has completed its run at the Tron and now tours to Musselburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen.
Image by Eamonn McGoldrick used with permission.

"Empty" - March 2010

'Empty' by Cathy Forde, National Theatre of Scotland 'tfd' season.
Draft Review v1.0
Epic Fail.

'Empty' by Cathy Forde, National Theatre of Scotland 'tfd' season.
Draft Review v2.0
tfd? OMG WTF? POS!

'Empty' by Cathy Forde, National Theatre of Scotland 'tfd' season.
Draft Review v6.0
Yes, there are plenty of reasons why it's our fault we didn't enjoy this show. What with us being 30 plus, having seen it all before and having a developed sense of humour. But we don't buy that - we reckon it's much more to do with it being a pointless, cliched, unfunny and unsympathetic portrayal of a teenage house party gone wrong with heavy handed emotional trauma shoehorned into the mix.

The characters are completely unbelievable as a group of friends (with the exception of Lilly & Fiona) and there was more amusing teenage banter being exchanged in the Tron foyer pre-show than there was on stage. The cast do their best but the plot and dialogue is beyond redemption.

Vicky Featherstone's direction adds to the production's woes by having the cast visible in the wings providing sound effects when not featuring in the action. It's a decision that serves only to distract the audience and highlight the distinct lack of any genuine party atmosphere. The show is also in desperate need of a jumping soundtrack and the 75 minute runtime seems more like two hours.

Really, just go watch the DVDs of "Gregory's Girl", any John Hughes bratpack film, or "Dawson's Creek". Alternatively wait for a revival of DC Jackson's plays "The Wall" and "The Ducky" or go see the next show from the Citizens Young Company who have shown that when given the right support the best people to write 'for young people' can often be themselves.

Of course, maybe our little blog will shortly be filled with 'heckles' from hundreds of young adults telling us just how wrong we are...

Empty has completed its run at the Tron but shortly tours to Musselburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen.
Image by Eamonn McGoldrick used with permission.

"Battery Farm" - March 2010

A shorter than usual comment on Gregory Burke's contribution to this season's 'A Play, A Pie & A Pint' as I think giving too much away would be to the detriment of anyone planning to see the show.

Set in a futuristic care facility for the elderly, Alan Bissett and Denise Hoey play up the comic elements beautifully as care assistants James and Kate, while Andy Gray is in his element as one of the residents.

As well as generating plenty of laughs, Burke has several targets in his sights for more serious points, and more often than not he hits the mark. But with so many issues to pick off we've quickly moved on to the next one without following up the initial hit with a killer blow. David MacLennan's direction keeps things moving along at a pace and provides two delightful moments as Hoey and Bissett get a little closer to the audience.

An entertaining piece of theatre from a writer with something to say, performed by an impressive cast at the top of their game.

"Battery Farm" is a co-production between Oran Mor and the Traverse. It runs until Saturday 20th at Oran Mor and then at the Traverse from 23rd to 27th March.
Image by Leslie Black Photography used with permission.

"Backbeat" - March 2010

Despite anything you read to the contrary, "Backbeat" is not about the Beatles. Set mainly in Hamburg, and pre-Beatlemania, it is about the relationships between John Lennon (Andrew Knott), reluctant bandmember and promising artist Stuart Sutcliffe (Alex Robertson), and Stuart's German girlfriend Astrid (Isabella Calthorpe). Everything else is pretty much incidental.

Adapted from the film of the same name, "Backbeat" is a large scale production with clear ambitions for a life beyond this run in Glasgow. And while it certainly deserves to have one there's still a fair bit of room for tweaking. Much of the banter amongst the band just isn't sharp or funny enough and the selection of tracks played by the band could be improved.

There is a huge amount of energy and vibrancy on the stage, but somehow in that two foot gap before the front row of the stalls it dissipates almost entirely for much of the show. Despite the powerful delivery of the band and having the dancers mere inches away, the audience remained very obviously static - with barely a foot tapping or head nodding in time to the beat. I suspect this may vary on a daily basis, but on the Thursday night I attended it didn't bring the audience to life until the show was all but concluded.

Of course, the other factor acting to restrain the audience is the knowledge of the fates in store for these young lads. But what also didn't appear to help was the decision to play an applause/crowd track through the theatre speakers at the end of each number by the band. Rather than adding to the atmosphere this seemed to me to have the opposite effect and in fact discouraged the live audience from adding their own applause.

To be fair, it's a very fine line to tread as 'pumping up' the audience would risk lessening the impact of the quieter scenes that form the emotional core of the show. And these are so beautifully performed by Calthorpe, Robertson and Knott that it would be unforgivable to allow them to be overpowered. While the music may not have elicited much of a response, the final scenes between Stuart and Astrid certainly did - provoking audible sobs.

It's fitting given Sutcliffe's passion for art that the show is as much about its visual style as its musical one. Writer/Director Iain Softley captures the essence of coolness, and makes one of the best uses of video elements I've seen on a stage.

The final band medley where the audience are encouraged/allowed to cut loose feels a bit of a cheat to provide a much needed upbeat ending. And it raises a serious question mark over whether it is possible to make a 'feel good' show when so many of the endings are unhappy ones.

I've struggled to get a handle on this show and my response to it, but I think I've finally got it. I saw two great shows last Thursday night - one an upbeat tale of a hungry young band on the verge of worldwide fame, and the other a tragic tale of love won and lost. I did enjoy the evening but I'm left feeling that the whole was somehow less than the sum of the parts.

Backbeat is a co-production between the Citizens Theatre and Karl Sydow and has now completed its run at the Citizens.
Image by Richard Campbell used with permission

"The Lieutenant of Inishmore" - February 2010

XLC Theatre Company have followed last year's successful production of Martin McDonagh's "The Pillowman" with another of his plays - the Irish paramilitary set "The Lieutenant of Inishmore". But this is no serious political drama - think 'Pulp Fiction' crossed with 'Father Ted' and you'll have a fair idea of the tone here. It makes for a production that people may well have very different reactions to - Waldorf was largely unimpressed and felt it played up the slapstick too much. But for me this really hit a sweet spot with some magnificent performances.

Yes, on occasion, the relationship between Donny (Richard Rankin) and Davey (Iain De Caestecker) strays a little too close to Ted/Dougal but their comic delivery is flawless - at times reducing me to tears. As Mad Padraig, left devastated by the death of his pet cat, Kevin Mains balances perfectly the character's over-the-top moments with a deadpan performance. Daniella Ritchie gives a fine performance as Mairead while Steve Grant, Ian Cameron, Colin McGowan and James Forrest complete an ensemble I doubt I'll see surpassed this year.

Artistic Director David Lee-Michael and Technical Director David Winter contribute much to the production in terms of some beautifully put together set pieces, effective lighting and some well executed gunplay.

And finally a word about the level of 'commitment' shown by the cast. In truth I'm not sure I should be encouraging this, but in the Citizens Circle studio there are no hiding places and in order to make the violence believable these guys really appear to go for it. I'm sure they must be absolutely battered and blue by the end of the run, but it certainly has the desired effect in having an impact on the audience.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore completes its run at the Citizens on Saturday 27th February (today) with a matinee and evening performance.

"The City" - February 2010

Okay, Martin Crimp, we get it. Writing characters is difficult. If you're not careful the dialogue sounds stilted and unnatural, leaving conversations between characters feeling like they are addressed to the audience rather than to each other. And we appreciate it's hard to avoid creating the same character again and again. Their stories and experiences, even their clothes, seem to bleed into one another. But could you not have just told us that in an interview or programme note rather than prove it by writing a play that delivers a masterclass in bad writing? Was there really any need to waste the time of a talented cast by having them perform it - and worse still, our time in watching it?


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.

The City runs at the Tron until 6th March
Image by Jacek Hubner used with permission