FESTIVAL THEATRE
'I‘IIIKI‘I'I‘S $13.50/$22.50 cones 14—20 August at 4.15pm VICNLI’. 28: (LIIICVFITIAIIS KIITKIII )l’SI’. written by I".(L. |.()|{(I.\ directed by (Lorry vait'ki
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THE SERIOUSLY MARGINAL THEATRE Co Ltd
SOUTHSIDE INTERNATIONAL 2 SEPTEMBER
8 00PM TICKETS £4 50/23 50
14 AUGUST
THE TRAVERSE THEATRE D | N B U ll 6 II "The Traverse continues to lead the Fringe with undiminished force and energy” (Observer)
1989 INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF NEW WORK
11am - after midnight 162 performances from 9 British and International Companies. 4 Traverse Company productions - Theatre Studio U Nikitskikh Vorot (Moscow) a Market Theatre/Mouthpeace Theatre (South Africa) -
ISIS (Canada) ' Dancer Frank McConnell & Co. (Scotland) v: Yorik Theatre (England) ‘v Ken Campbell (England) - Made in Wales Stage Co. (Cardiff) t Neil Oram (England).
Plus another series Traverse/Independent newspaper conferences, and CENSORED — readings of banned plays.
GRASSNARKETE
BOX OFFICE ° OBI-226 2633
ADULT CHILD/ \DEAD CHILD
by Claire Dow:e
JACQUELINE MACDONALD
at St Columba’s by the Castle
August 14th—19th Lunchtime, 12.30pm Tickets £3 (£2.50) at venue and Fringe Box Office
ABSORBING, POWERFUL THEATRE
Sponsored by George Mathers 8. Co
Solicitors 8. Estate Agents, Aberdeen
contemporary
KINGDOM COME
Kingdom Come tells the story of a country on the brink of political upheaval, of subversives working from within and neighbouring countries looking to extend their imperial aspirations. And all the king wants to do is be a football manager.
For those who constitute the 100% mental soccer intelligentsia, this production provides clever alternatives: to real but so often boring football matches. and to the sham crudition and anodyne commentary that passes for soccer literature in the conventional British media. The show is the ally of the fanzine movement (a network of independent publications produced by fans who have intelligent things to say about soccer) and as such should appeal to large audiences.
Whilst its political analysis might be at times superficial (especially at the end when there is a confusing advocacy for a monarchical and capitalist solution), and though the young cast sometimes struggle to save the show from sliding into pantomime, at the end of the day, all credit should be given to the lads and Iassies who generally done marvellous, Jim. (Mike Wilson)
I Kingdom Come (Fringe) Kowalski Institute, The Gilded Balloon Theatre (Venue 38), 2262151 . until 2 Sept, 3pm, £4 (£3.50).
THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD
Unlike Strange Growrhs in Vietnam which took a sharp look at Vietnam movies and lampooned them with style and wit, Donald Main‘s new play, The Wickedesr Man In The World, makes an attempt at parody, misses the mark and comes up with something altogether more curious.
This is Hammer House of Horror territory , where Eliot Woolfe (James Wallace) is waiting for a rare configuration of the planets that he hopes will give him that extra bit of knowledge to confirm his position as wickedest man in the world. He is hampered, however, by Nicholas Horos and his two side-kicks (oneof whom is really a gadfly). who shows all the signs of being much more wicked
l
than Woolfe.
The acting is mannered and amusing and the writing is fresh, but for all the play‘s loveable eccentricity, you‘ve no more idea ofwhat it‘s about at the end than you do at the beginning. Perhaps, like Nicholas Horos, Donald Main ‘writes because he wants to be misunderstood‘. (Mark Fisher).
I The Wickedest Man In The World (Fringe) Raptus Theatre, Bedlam Theatre (Venue 49) 225 9893. UntiIZSept, l().35pm.£3 (£2.50).
FEMALE WITS
Aphra Behn is havinga hard sell down at the Royal Mile Primary School. The first woman playwright to live by her trade — creator of 19 plays, plus songs, poems and translations— still apparently needs a helping hand to get her just deserts. Bill Dunlop‘s play is written in the language oprhra Behn's own times, a latter day Restoration history play with final evaluations of her life and work from Dryden to Virginia Woolf. In many short scenes we watch Aphra‘s journey through love and literature, from starvation to renown, through the Civil War to the peace of the Restoration. As counter-balances to her starry rise, are Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle , a closet writer and early prototype ofthe blue stocking, and another woman driven to write through poverty and a timely revelation from the Lord. Very much period detail sometimes gets in the way. (Tinch Minter) I Female Wits (Fringe) Mermaid‘s Leg Theatre Company, Royal Mile Primary School (Venue 58), until 26 Aug, 6pm, £5 (£4).
l — sMYARMY
Tim Barlow‘s life history is remarkable in itself. From a working class upbringing in Lancashire. he progressed to Sandhurst and became an officer; later undergoing a further metamorphosis to
In My Army, he tells his story. Episodic and meandering, patchy but never dull. the show gradually entrances and eventually delights. the more so because it is all true. Barlow‘s observation and recall are extraordinary. as is his ability to portray several characters simultaneously — to most vivid effect in the splendid Officers‘ Mess
But My A rmy‘s success is that it tells us more about Tim Barlow than it does about Her Majesty‘s Forces. It also serves to whet the appetite for the second instalment, which receives its premiere next week. (Andrew Burnet). I My Army(Fringe) Theatre de (‘omplicité, Assembly Rooms (Fringe Venue 3) 226 2428. Until 2 Sept, 6pm, £5.50 (£4.50).
FLORENCE WON’T PLAY BALL
Following on from the minor success ofGeorge Orwell‘s ‘Animal Farm‘, The Wayward Theatre company present a new and improved political allegory. Out go allof those boring pigs, sheep and horses, and in their place come the characters from ‘Watch with Mother'1Florence, Andy Pandy, Bill and Ben, Looby Loo and other such luminaries from our innocent past. Unfortunately. that. along with an endless stream of pointless and disrupting Obscenities, is about all that distinguishes this from George Orwell‘s earlier effort. The theme centres on the fate of ideals in the
face ofthe realities of
political power, and the play attempts to heighten this well-known irony by playing the drama out through the use of children‘s characters. It doesn‘t work. The acting is stilted, the script. which opens with the line ‘Looby Loo has a concrete cunt‘, more pathetic than shocking. Time for bed.
, (Philip Kingsley) ‘ I Florence Won't Play Ball
become a successful actor.
despite losing his hearing on a rifle range.
(Fringe), Wayward Theatre, Marco‘s Leisure
centre(Venue 98), until 19
26 The List 18— 24 August 1989