j with the contemporary-orientated Chamber Group of Scotland is g indicative of his urge to expand the range of his playing interests. and he seems certain to make a valuable contribution to Scottish music.
DAVID MACH
The use of waste products is essential
to Mach‘s artistic constructions. An
early work was a Rolls Royce built out ofthousands of old books and. in 1983. he made a Polaris Submarine from used tyres for the Hayward Gallery. Performance art plays a prominent role too: in 1992 his sculpture of Richard Demarco's head. made out of matches. was set alight in front of an enthusiastic street crowd. Mach travels around the world giving performances. happy to think of himself as a one-man mobile circus. His works cannot be bought. since they are usually dismantled after a show. ‘If it’s a good idea.‘ he says. ‘then it shouldn’t matter how long it ; lasts. five minutes or forever'. i
MICHAEL MARRA ‘Hermless. hermless. there's never nae bother fae me . . .‘ What might be singer/songwriter Michael Marra‘s theme tune is typical of his self- effacing manner. Live. his between- song banter is the sound of Spalding Gray relocated to Blairgowrie. his actual lyrical material a sparky homily to the nooks and crannies of the folk- tale tradition. Patronage by the likes of Deacon Blue and Hue & Cry took his wry. piano-based sparseness to a new audience. who can appreciate the observational keenness of his songs. the wit and perceptiveness and accessibility for all. '. . . l ging to the library and tak oot a book. and then I go hame for my tea.‘
FDRBES MASSDII
Forever remembered as the cute one out of Victor and Barry. Masson is a versatile actor. musician and writer whose talent should not be over- shadowed by the phenomenal success of his stage partner Alan Cumming. At home on stage from Havel to Heggie. radio to panto. Masson the playwright is keen to extend his repertoire beyond his witty Tron pantos and into more ‘serious' material. A firm believer in the power of the perfect rhyme, Masson is an able songwriter and pianist with a penchant for 40s~style crooning. His only black mark is for doing the electricity privatisation ads. but maybe he's atoned for that in the number of profit-shares he's done since.
{1' .L ‘- t". '48
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EDWIII MORGAN
LLong since comfortably ensconced in
14 The List 26 February—l 1 March 1993
l Scotland's poetry establishment.
Morgan ably demonstrated that he wasn't content to rest on his laurels
‘ when last year he came up with a universally acclaimed Scots translation
of Rostand’s Cyrano (1e Bergerac. a huge critical and popular hit for Communicado. Cyrano abundantly demonstrated Morgan's verbal virtuosity and love of language. also revealed in his 3()-plus volumes of poetry through a bewildering array of styles and approaches. often imbued with a playful sense of the comic. Influences include the American Modemists. as well as Scottish forerunners Dunbar. Bums and MacDiarmid; his aim. he has said. is to reflect a world ‘continually changinU.
and changing fast.‘
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BRUCE MDRTDH
Quickly distancing himself from the Funny Farm of which he was a founder member. Morton has ploughed an independent furrow in the world of stand-up comedy and was a Perrier Award also-ran on the 1992 Edinburgh Fringe. Tall. angular and rapidly thinning on top. Morton has developed his act from the linguistic surrealism of his early routines to a more narrative. personal and observational style. His strength is in the quality of his prolific output. his weakness is that he doesn‘t do enough live work to hone it into a consistent shape. Having come to prominence with his slots on Halfway to Paradise. Morton has just been back in the studio filming Sin. a comic meditation on the Seven Deadlies.
GERRY MULDREW
With Communicado. director Gerry Mulgrew has evolved an actor—based style of theatre which. at its best. produces breathtaking images and effects with the simplest of means. The summit of his work was the sublime and abstract Jock Tamson 's Bairns. a musical and visual look at the state of the nation which Ushered in Glasgow‘s 1990 celebrations and spawned the Cauld Blast Orchestra. His measured and pacey production of Cyrano dc
Bergerac was the run-away hit of the l992 Edinburgh Fringe. His ambitions can sometimes get the better of him — many felt that building an entire forest for The ('(mc (Iatltcrcrs was going too far — and as an actor. he is better directed by someone other than himself. but given the right material and the right conditions he can create magic. Later this year he will direct Moby Dick for the RSC in Stratford.
KATY MURPHY
TV and stage actress in comedy and drama who came to prominence as the scene-stealing acid-tongued secretary Miss Toner in John Byrne's Tutti Haiti and played much the same role with a
l l
C & W twang in the same writer's Your g
Cltcatin' Heart. Career took a credibility dive when she starred opposite David [Essex in an ill-advised
RICHARD MURPHY ARCHITECTS
RMA. with partners Richard Murphy and Graeme Montgomery. is a talented. young. Edinburgh-based practice formed in 1991 on the strength of winning design competition for a new restaurant at the National Trust Gardens at lnverewe. The design featured a dramatic steel and glass canopy roof which appeared to float in the air above a pattern of walled garden cafe areas. Unfortunately. we were deprived of a building which promised to be a major
and instantly forgettable sitcom. Needs to prove she is capable of more than a stream of roles as nippy but vulnerable Glaswegians.
The new Frultmarket Gallery due to be completed this summer.
contribution to Scottish architecture when the NTS lost their nerve and. in a widely criticised move. cancelled the project last year. The practice is currently working on a complete refurbishment for the Fruitmarket Gallery which will replace the blocked- up openings in the front wall with moveable glazed screens and will provide a new roof to give controlled light to the building while appearing to sail over the facade.