THEATRE LIST T
7pm. 25p (10p). The Royston Wardieburn Christmas Show. See Panto List.
I SPRINGWELL HOUSE Ardmillan Terrace. Gorgie. 337 1971.
Springwell Youth Project Every Monday. 7pm. Calling up all young people between the ages of 14 and 18 interested in taking part in any aspect of theatre production and in becoming involved in Gorgie/ Dalry's first youth theatre. The group will meet regularly. working towards a putting on a show around Christmas. the theme of which will be ‘Young People at War‘. considering the fact that in 1914 young people of youth club age could well have been fighting in the trenches. For any further information call George Williamson on 031 337 1971 . or just go along to the meeting.
I THEATRE WORKSHOP 34 Hamilton Place. 226 5425. Box Office Mon—Sat 9.30am—5.30pm. Bar. Cafe.
The Swan With The Golden Wings Sat I9hThurs3l Dec. 1.30pm everyday: 4.30pm 22 & 23 Dec; 7.30pm 26—30 Dec. £3 (£1 .80). The Theatre Workshop Christmas show. See Panto List.
I TRAVERSE THEATRE 1 12 West Bow. Grassmarket. 226 2633. Box Office Tue—Sat 10am—8pm. Sun 6—10pm. Bar. Rest. Tickets also avail from the Ticket Centre. 22 Market Street. Seats from £2. Sundays all seats £2 (non-members £2.50). Theatre closed until January
Vesta Tilley Tue 5—Sun 1()Jan. 7.30pm. Day members £4.50; Econ. members £4: Full members £3.50; Student members £2. Starting off a series of shows performed solely by women. Tattycoram Theatre Company present a one-woman show about the life of the Victorian singer and male—impersonator. Vesta Tilley. Written by Caroline Ward and Victoria Worsley. and performed by the latter.
I TRIANGLE ARTS CENTRE West Pilton Bank. 3320877.
Rap It Up! Fri 18 Dec. 7.30pm. See Cabaret.
I WILKIE HOUSE Cowgate
flow Like An Angel Until Sat 12 Dec. 7.30pm. Fridays 9.45pm. £3 (£1). Theatre Co-op continue their bold season of new or unperformed drama. with a first staging forlohn Clifford’s play. See Review.
TOURING
I Cowboys and Indians TAG Theatre Company in a new comedy by Gurmeet Mattu. Jog Khalsi, a young unemployed graduate. tries to help his father‘s corner shop business back onto its feet through a new sales gimmick. For further details ring TAG on 041 429 2877.
Crawfurd Theatre. Jordanhill, Glasgow Sat 12 Dec. 7 . 30pm. Tickets 041 429 2877. End of Tour.
I The Incredible Brechin Beetle Bug 7 :84 Scotland begin a tour of their popular panto. written by the inimitable Matt MeGinn. in which an incredibly yucky beetle. threatens to destroy all the toys Sandy Claws has made. For further details ring 7 :84 on 031 557 2442.
Pleasance Theatre. Edinburgh Tue 8—Sat 12 Dec; Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow Wed 16
Dec-Fn' 8 Jan. Tour continues to Aberdeen.
CABARET
GLASGOW
I RUTHERGLEN UNEMPLOYED WORKERS' CENTRE Victoria Street, Rutherglen. 647 0331 .
liapltUpl Tue 15 Dee. 7.30pm. Free.The Comedy Casuals‘ Christmas tour. See PaneL
I TENANTS' HALL 166 Myerside Street. South Carntyne. 556 6421.
Rap liUpl Wed 16 Dec. 7.30pm. Free.The Comedy Casuals’ Christmas tour. See
Panel
THE KNICHTD THE moons
Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh
With its echoes of Rumpelstiltskin and its psychological curiosities, the old Scots folk tale on which David Purves’ new play is based is an extraordinary one. It tells of two half-brother princes who, forced to flee the poisonous attentions of the Queen, fall into various adventures, which one of them retells to the ‘Knicht o the Biddils’, so gaining his daughter’s hand.
Purves‘ stage adaptation, rendered in a lilting, but sometimes affectionately parodied old Scots, has fun with the tale’s curious blend of
I THIRD EYE CENTRE 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521 . Cafe' open 1 lam-2.30pm Tue-Fri and during evening performances.
Christmas in the Broch Fri 18 & Sat 19 Dec. 8.30pm. £3 (£2). The MsFits— alias Fiona Knowles and Rona Munro — who perform cabaret in a Broch (no. really) allow Christmas to sidle into their show this time. as they defend the Broch against Christmas admen. US Marines and God. amongst others. and meet Rudolph the Militant Reindeer.
Christmas McStravaganza Wed 23 Dec. 9pm. £3 (£2). The Alexander Sisters let loose on Christmas. They promise to relieve you from your worries about bubble bath and matching socks and hankies with a wee dram of Alexander Sister style humour. So stick some holly in your bagpipes and cut along there.
I TRON THEATRE 63 Trongate . 552 4267/8. Box Office Tue-Sat Noon-8pm; Sun
The , cofibsh Ballet
PETER DARRELL: AN APPRECIATION
With the death, last week, of Peter Darrell, notiust Scottish Ballet, but Scotland itself, has suffered a sad loss. Typically reluctant to sustain a high personal profile (he would never take a curtain call, even for one of his own ballets), Peter always deprecated any suggestion that he alone was responsible for the outstanding success of the company which grew to become, in all but name, the national ballet of Scotland. But in all that really matters, such was the fact. It was the warmth and humour of his personality, plus a unique blend of creative gifts that, above all, gave rise to the ‘family’ atmosphere within the company which has never ceased to exist, even through
earthiness and fantasy and its fairy-tale edge of nastiness. saved by humour. He sets it beyond the mists of time in the Kingdom of Alba, and Charles Nowosielski‘s chirpy pantomime-like production matches his style. The result is engaging, but a little frustrating, since neither play nor production achieve the fascinating comic character creation of Purves‘ fine ‘Puddok an’ the Princess’. (S.H.)
HOW LIKE AN ANGEL
Wilkie House, Edinburgh
‘What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! inform, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel!’ 80 runs Hamlet’s speech from which John Clifford takes the title for his first play (now staged for the first time by Theatre Co-Op) - an ironically understood backdrop for his own exploration of madness.
Clifford’s play, set in a psychiatric hospital, focuses mainly on two young men trapped into its routine - Peter, an imaginative, vulnerable patient, who
12.30—1 1pm. Bar (with hot meals and snacks).
The Five Past Eleven Show Fri 1 1 Dec. 11.05pm. £4 non—members; £3 members; £2 concessions (members only). The first in a new series of late-night cabaret shows at the Tron. harking back a little to the old Five Past Eight shows and featuring delightfully eclectic line-ups. This one has stand-up dictator Bing Hitler; comic mime Les Hubb; singer and pianist Bill Clement; Phil McCall and Tony Roper; singer and guitarist Iona Craig. Jack Milroy (Francie of the famous Five Past Eight Show) and Mary Lee.
The Five Past Eleven Show Fri 18 Dec. 11.05pm. Prices as above. Tonight the comedy comes from 1987 Perrier Award Winner. Arnold Brown; Wildcat writer Dave Anderson; comic actress Dorothy Paul and daughter; young accordionist Ian Muir and comic poet and songwriter Adam McNaughton.
recent difficult times resulting from serious underfunding.
The story of how, in 1969, the peripatetic Western Theatre ballet came to settle in Glasgow as Scottish Theatre Ballet, sharing the then new facilities of the Scottish Opera Centre in Elmbank Crescent, is too familiar to need retelling. What is more important is to remember Peter Darrell’s lasting legacy in the development of an internationally known ballet company based in Scotland and in the creation of a country-wide audience for ballet in all its aspects from the full-length 19th-century classics. intelligently rethought, and Darrell's own ‘Cinderella' and ‘Tales of Hoffman’, to the rich and varied repertoire of one-act pieces suitable for everyone, from Glasgow’s Theatre Royal, to village balls as far away as Wester Ross. Darrell's legacy also includes the Scottish Dance School, a miracle of diplomatic co-operation with Strathclyde Education Department which is unique in these islands. Young Scottish dancers of promise no longer need to go South for professional training. Indeed, Peter Darrell will be greatly missed. (Cordelia Oliver).
I Subsidised by the Scottish Arts Council
111 s e is an angel, and a disillusioned nurse, an ‘angel of mercy’. As the latter is forced to wrench Peter out of his entirely logical response to reality by using ECT, the play raises questions about how society deals with those who don’t conform, about the point at which extreme individuality becomes ‘insanity’.
Allan Sharpe’s production is immensely sympathetic and imaginative, though rather slow. Using the auditorium promenade-style, he dots the audience on chairs amongst the actors, effectively making them co-inmates. So he plays down the play's weakest points - its rather pedestrian, documentary structure — and focuses on its finest ones: its compassionate intimacy and its humour. The audience are pulled into relationships and decisions, close witness to the halting efforts at contact between the two ‘sides’. The cast live up to this proximity admirably: disarmineg cheeky at times, distressineg moving at others. (8.11.)
EDINBURGH
I ASSEMBLY ROOMS 54 George Street. 225 3614.
Benefit for the National Union of Mineworkers, Scottish Area Thurs 10 Dec. 7.30pm (Doors open 7pm). Tickets £5 avail from Virgin. Ripping Records, Students Unions and the NUM. 5 Hillside Cresc. Arthur Scargill won‘t be appearing. but the bands Horse. We Free Kings.
THE BUG IS BACK
‘A Smash Hit!’ ‘Delightfu/ Family Entertainment' .
BOOK NOW
784
THEATRE COMPANY SCOTLAND
THE INCREDIBLE BRECHIN BEETLE BUG
The Songs and Humour of MATT McGINN starring ALASTAIR MCDONALD as ‘Dame’.
PLEASANCE THEATRE, EDINBURGH 8—1 2 DEC TICKETS TEL 031 557 3090 and 031 2281155
MITCHELL THEATRE, GLASGOW 1 5 DEC—9 JAN TICKETS TEL 041 227 5511
Morning, afternoon and evening performances. Concessions for party bookings.
The List 11 Dec 1987-7Jan 1988 27