GABARET
FRIDAY 18
l The Comedy Shop The Shelter. 7 Renfrew Court, Renfrew Chambers. Glasgow, 041 332 6231. Doors open 8.30pm for 9.30pm. £4.50 (£3.50). A strong line-up of local and national comic talent tonight compered by Alexander
‘
THEATRE LIST
Sister. Lynn Ferguson. She'll be
introducing baldy bastard Fred Macaulay.
Funny Farmers Take 2.. . 7 and
story-telling bill-topper Oscar McLennan.
I Joke Box 42 Wellmeadow Street . Paisley. ()41 889 5188. 8.30pm. Part ofan extensive run of festival pub entertainment. tonight‘s Joke Box features a packed evening of Funny Farm comedy. Social worker John Gillick throws in the odd impression in his catalogue of domestic observations, smooth-shaan David (‘osgrove keeps
busy writing material for others when he‘s
not up on stage himself. musical May McCreadie is the wittiest nurse in the
Ni l8. and Martha McBriar has been on the stand-up circuit since winning the Mavfest 50 You Think You're Funny contest two years ago.
I Theatresports Bedlam Theatre. Forrest
Road. Edinburgh. ()31 225 9893. 10pm. £1
(50p). Regular team ofstudent improvisers plays Whose Line Is It
DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS
Seen at Theatre Workshop, Edinburgh. On Tour.
Like the best oi 20th century American drama, Eugene O'Neill's play is about small people with big emotions. Borrowing lrom Greek drama, but with none ol the sell-conciousness that that may imply, O'Neill brings high tragedy to the American mid-West. A tale at a young man lalling lor his lather's new wile has all the ingredients at a compelling drama; the tension oi the threat oi discovery, the anguish over the break with morality, and the passion oi a true, but illicit love.
At the centre oi the storm is Abbie Putnam, played here with passion and conviction by Donna Orlando, who enters the all-male Cabot household to upset the lragile domestic balance. Playing the system oi lemale exploitation to her advantage, Abbie marries into money only to lind ailairs oi the heart more rewarding. And in true Greek style, tragedy enters where Dionysus usurps Apollo.
Gregg Ward’s production lor American Connexion works best in the triangle relationship at Eben (Robert Cavanah), Ephriam (Thor Nielsen) anc Abbie. While visually a periect match, Darren Souter and Lance Flynn as the brothers Simeon and Peter, iall uncomlortably between clumsy comedy and angst-ridden melodrama and they add little to the play’s thrust.
mam— ONLY AN excuse
Clyde Theatre Boquhanran Road, Clydebank. Until 26 May.
Only an Excuse at the Clyde Theatre is the stage version ol the radio shows which successlully punctured the sell-inllated pundits oi our national game. The radio voices are revealed as a genial double-act, Tony Roper and Jonathon Watson, who pick all their targets with the accuracy oi a Tom Forsyth tackle. Together with writers Philip Diller and Bob Black they have concocted a least oi epic proportions lor the iootballing connoisseur. Against a simple backdrop at live flags and an even simpler backdrop oi
Similarly Ward's decsion toaddress
many monologues and asides directly to the audience is a distracting trick that disrupts the play’s built-in naturalism.
Too many clenched lists early on in the show limit the production's ability to build up to its undeniably moving conclusion, but when dealing with the meat at the play, it iinds its pace and settles into a gripping human tragedy. Some strong and sensitive periormances do much justice to a classic American play. (Mark Fisher)
managers (Stein excluded) they retell the epic saga oi Scotland’s last lour attempts to rush the battlements ol the World Cup. From West Germany in 1974 (remembered best lor Bremner wasting valuable seconds— looking lor someone to kick-when presented with an open goal), through Argentina under the Punchinello ligure ol Ally MacLeod, right up to the present campaign under the ‘tailor’s dummy’, they manage to satirise most oi the serious, the door and the dull in the world ol Scottish lootball. It's a successiul transition lrom the radio to the theatre and a hugely entertaining ninety minutes. ‘More laughs than at Firhill', as one paying customer put it. (Ross
Parsons).
SPllllllilll [IN
THE OBLIVION BOYS MARK HURST AKA MARK MIWURDZ cums LYNAM COMPERE — s1'u WHO
GLASGOW
Thursday 24th 8 Friday 2511: May 1990
THE SHELTER (THE COMEDY SHOP) 7 RENFREW COURT, neusnswcuameens, GLASGOW. TEL: (041) 332 6231
Tickets on sale at above venue.
Thursday single snow - Doors open: 8.30pm lor 9.30pm Friday double snow - Doors open: 7.00pm ior 7.30pm & 10.30om lor 11.000111
Tickets £4.50 (£3.50 concession)
The List 18-31 May 199065