PREVIEW THEATRE
MORE IRVINE WELSH
Nightmare
scenario
Adapting Trainspotting! for the stage was easy. says Harry (iihson. Mum/mu Stork Nig/itmmcs gave him a lot more trouble. but makes for more satisfying theatre. he tells
Andrew Burncl.
l'nlcss _\ou‘\c itist .ii'i'i\ctl ll'tllll .\lars. you'll ll;l\ c iioticctl a lot of talk rccciill} alioul 'I'i'uriii/io/Ii'ug' and its crcator |r\'inc \Vclsh. Scotland‘s bookshops curi'ciill} hax c llii'cc l'L‘lls’tllls to lic chccrl'ul about that thc olhcrs licing :lm/ Hmm antl .lltlru/mu Shirk .\iclllnltuv'i‘. ll;ii'i'_\ (iihson has Illhl raisctl his total to l\\o. 'l‘hc man \\ ho sci'iplctl lint/tsp:ill/Hg lhc play. and tlii‘cclctl all but lhc first of its incarnations. lias shrcmlly lurnctl his altciilioii lo \\'clsh's sccontl
iio\ cl. .\Itlm/mu Slur/c .\iu/I/murm.
‘ll was much morc difficult to do than 'l'rtlint/militia hut. oncc \\c \xorkcrl it through. it's liccoiiic iuucli niot‘c ol‘ :1 piccc of thcali‘c.’ sa_\'s (Silison. who is also tlii'cclillil lhc ncw show for llic (‘ili/cns‘ 'l'hcali'c. “litii/is/Ml/i/id is to sonic c\lcnt a onc-iiian sliov. with inlcrlcrcncc l‘rom olhci's. 'l'hcrc arc no hugc sl‘ccchcs in this -- it's much iiiorc of an cnsciiihlc
[TiL‘L‘Lfi' .\ l‘ragiiiciilctl. suri'cal .sltll‘}. .llrim/mn Stork Rig/Hummis is scl among lhc iiiciiioi'ics aiitl l‘k‘s‘illl‘k' .‘"” 9”” ‘ NMI‘W "\l'h‘k “li‘li'lV‘lL
hallucinations of Roy Slrang. a i‘cl‘ornictl loolhall casual in a coma. 'l'lic iualcrial poscs oli\ ious l
l'c‘silllchN Ulv lll'c‘ \lilfilk‘
so llis llkc ;i palllo .\lsl
ci'calcs a gootl analog} '
important thing: is: lio} \xas .ll‘li\c'tl. lic lhcn .ilitiscs‘
lllillgjs politics.
l
Something nasty in the boy‘s head: Harry Gibson contemplates the Marabou Stork
pi'olilcnis loan atlaploi. hut (ill‘silll i'cckoiis lic can liantllc ll ‘\\'c’ic lllllllslllf.‘ ol' ll as llic paiito from
hcll. hc c‘splains. ‘\\'c‘i‘c using' 'lll llic t‘l;t\\l\’
lhc traps. lhc ll} in): lllltl so on l. of coin sc. xxoic looking at an aliusc scciiaiio in liicli inno.‘ciicc is i'uiiictl li_\ gzuill} c\pcricncc. so taking: panlo st} lc an.l ruining: ll
.'\tlilllllll_‘._' an} no\ :l ictiuiro sll!l]‘-llllc.‘.ll-‘ll antl rctluclion. pai'liciil;ii'l_\ xxhcn soii'ic l‘lai‘illlllt.’ to tour a two-hour sho‘.\ \\ illi li‘v c aclois
simplc coi'c.‘ ;ii';'tics ( also”
(ioiic. lhci’clorc. .uc llic alltl lic «lilln'l lac cnt;:iii.is mhicli \\'c|sh oi:l_\ lcsol\cs l'iiial l'cv. paycs ol' tltc no‘. cl (ionc loo ls litllcil ol' llic iio\cl's \‘.c.lkcsl slialitl. llic li'o s ()t'. 1; st} lc jungilc
tick \xliitli cs lhc hook its tillc. and contains .l \cilctl satirc ol litlinliin‘gli l'ootliall
"l'hc niaralioii sloik iclci'cnccs arc \cif. iiiclaplioi'icalf sa} s ( ill‘stlll. "l lic; \‘.\‘l‘k in a hook
llaiiiinuos and so on Now \\ c can‘t ha\. c iiiaraliou
alttl llallilligos on llic slagx'; so ‘s‘. c tl“ll.l _t.'cl ili'~.ol\ctl
\ci') much lll that s_\ mholism: \\c'\c just skclchctl it ill. .\s ‘.\ c scc it. llici'c \\as onc pci‘s'oii that lx’o} i‘cally \\.cm on safari \i. illi and that \\asl nclc (iortloii. antl '\ll’ll.'llllll}l liui‘i'ililc lizipt‘cncJ. ‘
.\ initiilicr ol' lli‘llll'lt‘ lhinj's liappcn lli lli ' noxcl. ail-.1 ( ill‘si‘ll is ticlctiiunctl that ll‘.c_\ \\ il! lt'lll;llll hoiizlil; (liic sccnc ot st'\ti;t| .iliusc lists cig-lil ll;llli\'~.‘. lira: lninutcs. lic saf. and although .in in .\tllll" tacc \ci'sion \\;ls almiitloiictl in llic inlcicsts ot‘laslc. no aiiihigiiiil} has liccn pcrmittctl. .-\skctl h} front-ol- housc slall' to i'ccoinnicntl an agc limit for autlicnccs. (ill‘silll \ll_‘._'f._'k'\lt'tl si\tccn. ‘( lncc )ou'i'c owl" lhc a}_'c ol'coiisciil it's as “ch )‘ou'rc anarc of this part of lilc. You can‘t lic pi'olcclctl an} inorc liccausc you ha\ c to prolch _\otirscll.'
liiipi'cssionalilc tcciiagcrs ma) lllltl llic tlrugs issuc morc inlci'csling. \Vhilc 'I'rll/ils/iurliliu culogziscs lhc lici'oiii hit in ll}[‘L‘l‘ti|'§.'il\llllc‘ lcrms. it could hartll) lic accusctl ol' ;_'|ainourisiii:.'. iuiikic cullurc. But in .l/trm/n-zi Shirk .\lfi/l/llltil't'fl. c‘c‘sl;is}‘ rccciics what coultl lic i'catl as a glow in}: upon. \\'itli l.cah liclls' still licin iii c\ci'_\onc's lllilltl. tlocs (iilison lccl t'i‘ll§.Cll to lakc a moral slancc.’
No. iiol a moral slaiiccf hc i'cplics. ‘\\'c itisl think that in tlic conlc\t ol' l<o_\"s lilc. taking ccslas}
lilici'atcs him. lcls him l'ccl. but at thc ciitl ol‘lhc tla}
Non h.i\c lo lia\ a ‘\\'~ .lcchlul lll‘.il lll'.’
ralhci' intitltiil}. iii lhc xta} ‘
anion: ollicr
that's lllsl a pill. \Vc rclcr to it. iiol sa_\ mg ccs’las}~ is llic path. l‘lll sa_\ins: il'}ou ncctl to find a \\ai‘iiici lilc. ccslas} can hpr )t‘ll hricll}. hut tlici'c arc surcl} licllci' a a} s to do it. 'l'akinj.’ ccslas}. is ls’tl} opening his licai'l. .llltl \\ c l'iiitl that lhc i'ccoiicilialion sccnc
\\ llll his liiolhcr licriiartl opcns his hcarl in a natural
licstas} iiiigjhl not lic llic \\a_\ forward. hill l‘oi' (illison [xx/(Hr 'l/rrt (‘ ('/ir'/i//l'u/ lt’rUIltl/it't'x iusl might lic \Vclsli‘s lalcst hook isn't tluc for publication until .\la}. hut (iihson is hustling tor a
~ prc i'clcasc cop}. atlapling pciicil slial'pclicil. 'l‘hc
lllffllllllill'L's of Mark ls’cnlon and Roy Sli'ang lia\ c. al'lci' all. liccn his tli'cam lickcl.
.\Itli'tl/wzl .\‘Iui'k .\'/_L'/1/mttrt'\p CHIEF/IV. 'liln'tI/rr'. (ihixgou. l'irr / Nut 3.? .\lm: i/‘i‘ui'nslut/1mg. /\’o_\‘u/ l /.'\‘t 111m. lat/tii/ilu'g/t. Mini 25 Sul 30 .llrti:
innumnnumemnll The party’s over
- ’7» i '
Misery guts: Roger Blin as Hamm in the first production of Fin de Partie
Main stage productions of Samuel Beckett are still rare in Scotland. despite its obvious affinity with music hall, which tends to be cloaked by a po-faced, over-academic approach. Last year’s Lyceum production of Waiting For Godot, which emphasised Beckett’s sheer hilarity, redressed the .ialance somewhat, and proved to be a .iit. Now at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre :omes Endgame, Beckett’s second performed play, originally written in French under the title Fin de Parfie. Set in a wasteland (natch), it features a blind cripple named Hamm, his legless parents Nell and Nagg — who pop up from the dustbins they call home ~ and a lame slave called Clov who has to tend to them all.
Late night television addicts may have come across an Open University production featuring, of all people, pint-sized comic Charlie Drake. Fine if you can’t sleep at night, but the play might seem an odd choice for director Michael Boyd’s own curtain call as artistic director of the Tron, before he
heads south to become an associate director at the RSC. Boyd though sees it as the latest in a line of theatrical preoccupations which began with his dramatisation of Ted Hugties’s poem Crow.
‘They’re both a kind of tiny dance on a pinhead of nothingness,’ says Boyd. 0h aye? ‘There’s a ghastly kind of show-must-go-on-ness in Crow, and Endgame too has an intense theatricality. The people on stage are very much aware of the audience, and the characters will only survive as long as they keep their conversation going.’
Boyd sees connections too with the soon-to-be-revived Tron mega-smash The Trick Is To Keep Breathing. ‘They’re both dramatising the fight to keep going, and what it’s like to be alive, just to put one foot in front of the other. Once you fall out of normality you have problems, and they have to be thought through and looked at through new eyes. They’re not necessarily gloomy eyes either.’ To
this end, Boyd describes Endgame as ‘horribly hilarious’, a phrase which makes Charlie Drake seem like quite a goodidea.
Charges of the whole Absurdist movement being dated or irrelevant are dismissed by Boyd, who sees Beckett’s plays as pertinentto any age. ‘So much British theatre is discursive and rational, but I believe we need to rediscover non- naturalistic, poetic drama,’ he argues. ‘We in the theatre have to realise our strengths. Naturalism works best in films, and theatre’s not going to rival that. By the same token, when TV and film plays with its medium it feels pretentious, but that’s theatre’s lifeblood. We know we’re pretending, and we need to enjoy that artifice more. For an audience, the experience of going to the theatre doesn’t have to be a familiar one. Rather, it should make them feel things they’ve never felt before.’ (Neil Cooper)
Endgame, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 1—5’at 23 March.
The List 33 l'ch-T Mar 1900 57