THEATRE PREVIEW
PAISLEY
ARTS can-rue
'I' II If x‘ 'l' R If
Fri 4 c Sat 5 Oct 7.30pm Tag Theatre and Dundee Rep
Men Should Weep
Ena Lamont Stewart's rich and powerful study of working class women in the l930's.
Wed 9 Oct 7.30pm
Entertaining Angels
LookOut Theatre's follow up Easy and Laundry with this Liverpudlian comedy drama
Communicado Tue lst 8: Wed 2nd October
Louise Rennison's
SEX about family squabbles and A Girl’s Kit living-in the 90's. This play "staggering/y rude” contains strong language. Thu 3rd October m 1° 0“ ,8” ln the studio Move Over Morriaty Fm" M9" and a 009 Lip Service One of Ireland's most exciting “ er; I m, 3, Sat traditional bands with country, blues, nth October salsa. bluegrass and their trademark scorching fiddle and banjo.
Sun 26 Oct 83:11 in the studio
The pete eest sand
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“The energy is astounding just to watch “ - The Independent
22 Oct - 2 Nov
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Pyramid tales
Dark and decidedly cool, with vast walls resembling ancient stone pylons, the stage oi Tramway 1, save ior the overhead lighting, could well be an ancient Egyptian temple. All ' very iitting for director Kenneth Davidson. lle’s sitting in the temple- like theatre and cruising with conversational defines the labyrinthine world oi Egyptian
mythology. ‘
Egypt’s ancient myths are the subject
oi Davidson’s latest work, The
Aretology 0! Kyme. Filled with tales oi revenge, death, rebirth and incestuous
coupling, the goings-on at the llile
Valley make the antics oi the modern soap opera seem positively
pedestrian. In The Areiology 0f Kyme (the name at a Hellenistic text tound in the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis) Davidson iocuses on the cult oi the powerful and sharp mover
mother goddess, Isis, and her brother-
cum-husband, Osiris. Davidson calls the work ‘an opera tor the new millennium’, an amalgam of opera, video and perionnance art made in collaboration with composer Cluny Strachan and video artist Timothy Copsey oi Zoe Alambicurn - the company under whose banner the production sails. ‘It takes the mythology of ancient culture and
places it beside technology,’ explains
Davidson. ‘In a sense, it’s two
liyme traveller: Emily Sheard
civilisations.’ And this coming irorn the man who,
with actor Tam Dean Burn, presented a series at wordless periormances based on Joyce’s giit to the linguistically under-challenged, Finnegans Wake. The Areiology 0f Kyme will be no evening oi operatic orthodoxy. ‘This is taking opera term and exploding it,’ says Davidson who - as part oi his research into the intricacies oi the lite oi Isis — spent a day in the British Museum with the
leader at The Fellowship oi Isis from County Donegal. lnterweaving three narratives, Davidson’s libretto, to be sung by mezzo-soprano Emily Sheard, is a rich sequence oi words composed from ancient religious and ritual texts. Again Davidson’s reading is iar from standard: ‘[lt’s] a language that is not about being specific but can be read in as many diiierent ways as eyes watching it.’ (Susanna Beaumont)
The Areiology 0! Kyme, Zoe Alambicum, Tramway 1, Glasgow Thurs 2-Sat 5 act.
CONTEMPORARY DANCE
P.J. Tips
Mark Bruce makes dances to songs by PJ. Harvey. And Nirvana. And most recently cult indie/country/blues crossover singer Will Oldham. aka. the Palace Brothers. Bruce (whose father is Ramben director Christopher Bruce) could be the first indie/grunge
choreographer. Or he could just be one
of the newer. usually younger dance generation whose CD collections
matter more than honouring some long-
dead composer. As one of three choreographers involved in A Border Crossing — the
CCA's regular series of dating-agency-
style dance projects matching local dancers to choreographers - London- based Bruce is currently working through his Palace Brothers obsession with help from three Scottish-based
Palatlel settlng: Mark Bruce's lloree
KENNYBEAN
dancers. Horse — which opens in Glasgow before embarking on a mini- tour of Scotland — is a piece which Bruce (who like all good indie boys plays in his own band) hopes will take the essence of Oldham's bourbon- soaked sound. and re-invent it as dance.
‘I only make dance to music I feel really strongly about,’ Bruce says. ‘The Palace Brothers' music is so simple, almost obscure. yet it's really strong stuff— l'm trying to do something that's "obscure" in the same way. but also touching.’
Despite having worked with much- revered Belgian dancemaker Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and a host of other Euro-dance hotshots. Bruce still cites the Palace Brothers and PJ. Harveys of this world as chief inspiration for the dance he makes both for his own Mark Bruce Dance Company and elsewhere.
’The way she [P.J. Harvey] structures things is really similar to what I‘ve been doing with dance.’ he explains. ‘l’ve learnt a hell ofa lot from that kind of music.’
The next big thing for Bruce is pursuing plans to put his own band on stage with his dancers. And in what would be a Jim Fixed lt scenario for any PJ. fan, he's due to stage a gig/dance-show with the singer this year. But for now, it's back to the studio to seek that essential Palace Brothers sensation. Bring on the bourbon Chasers. (Ellie Carr)
A Border C rossing (a triple-bill of work by Mark Bruce. Arlene George and Incognito). CCA. Glasgow. Fri 20/30! 2/ Sept; then touring.
u The List 20 Sept-3 Oct 1996