The Faith Healer
Glasgow: Citizens' Theatre, until sat 20 ‘9" ‘5‘: war 3s.
teddy boy: Paul Cunnigham
Francis Hardy is a faith healer who' trawls the bleak hamlets of Scotland and Wales. laying on hands with varying results. The focus of Brian Friel's play, however, is not hrs intermittently effective gifts but the intense, destructive three-way bond he shares with his wife Grace and manager Teddy. Through a series of monologues, we glimpse three sides of each character and three versions of events, each differineg significantly from the last and so foregrounding the unreliability of memory.
It is testament to the power of Theatre In Action’s production, directed by David O’Neill, that the momentum and claustrophobic atmosphere are maintained throughout; but the play is too long, and spells out what would have been better left implied. Half an hour less talk would have made for a sharper, shapelier work. That said, the sensitive, elegant performances combat the script’s tendency to overstate.
Francis is played down by Mark Price; he is a sinister cipher, the still point around which the more dynamic personalities of Grace and Teddy circle. Lucy McLellan rather overplays Grace’s neuroticism; a small space like the Citizens' circle studio demands subtlety, and she pitches her performance at such an emotional height from the outset that she leaves herself little room to build on it. However, in stiller moments she reveals impressive range, and Grace's final moment of self- realisation rs beautifully handled. Finally, Paul Cunningham as Teddy balances the tragic and the comic wrth consummate skill, waving and drowning by turns.
Sparse staging and music create a bleak setting for this riveting, small scale melodrama in which the three characters — like the Sick and crippled who come to FranCis — look to one another not for hope, but for confirmation that there is none. (Hannah McGrll)
One Act Play Festival Fri ls) &
Sat 2() Feb. 7.30pm. £5 (£4) or £8 for both nights. Three plays each evening presented in competition. Pinter. Friel and the bard himself are among the scribes tackled by the six companies.
EAST KILBRIDE ARTS CENTRE
()ld Coach Road. liast Mains. Fast Kill)r'ltlc‘.()l355261000. [Ac‘Cc'slsi R. l'tlc'lllllc‘s: ll].
Grace Fri 26 Sun 2S Feb. 8pm. £6 (£3). .-\ri eurngelical comedy by Doug Lucie. given its Scottish premiere by the good people of Rapture Theatre.
KING'S THEATRE
Bath Street. Phone bookings. Ticket Centre.
Candleriggs. see Ticket Link details above. 'l'T [Accessr PPA. l.. Facilities: WC. WS. H. (i. C. Help: A. AA]
Happy Days Mon 22-Thtr 25 Feb. 7.30pm:
Fri 2o & Sat 27 Feb. 5.30pm & 8.30pm. £5—£2().5l). ‘The weekend comes. my cycle
hunts. ready to race to you . . . ()nly dates - outside London for the stage version of' 70s produced. 50s based TV show. Henry Winkler is ‘creative consultant.’
Martin Guerre Tue 2—Sai l3
Mar. 7.30pm; mats each Wed & Sat. 2.30pm. £7—£25.50. Lavish musical version of the French legend. from the creators of Les Mix. no less. See preview page 56.
PAISLEY ARTS CENTRE
New Street. Paisley. 887 mm. [Accessz PPA. l.. R. Facilities: WC. WS. H. G. C. Help: A. AA]
Mainstream Tue 2 at Wed 3 Feb. 7.30pm. £6 (£2). Suspect Culture return to the theatrical tray with a bold and complex new work. Fotrr actors. two characters. parallel universes. infinite possibilities. See feature page l7.
THE RAMSHORN THEATRE
()8 Ingram Street. 552 348‘). [Access: ST. Facilities: WC. WS. G. Help: AA] Carnivali Sat 27 Feb. 8pm. £8 (£4).
Benchtours‘ acclaimed surreal 8 movie thriller. See preview page 56. Mydsommer Nightes Deame TueZ—Fri 5 Mar. 7.30pm. £3 (£2). Martin Dodd adapts
one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies.
Presented by HNC Theatre Art Students.
GLASGOW DANCE
JAMES ARNOTT THEATRE
Gilmorehill Centre. 9 University Avenue.
Tickets: 287 55l l.
Nats Nus and Sol Picb Thu 4 Mar. 7.30pm.
£8 (£5 ). Two Spanish companies for the price of' one. Presented by New Moves
ARCHES THEATRE
Midland Street. 22! 400i. [Accessz L. Facilities: WC. WS. C. G. Help: A. AA] XXL Fri l9 Feb. from 10.30pm. (Part of Pressure Nite) £13. Carl Cox and Gary
[.ambei‘t merge contemporary dance with
DJ stylings.
Continued over page
listings THEATRE
On stage and all the rage
Jesus Christ Superstar Easy to see why this show changed the face of musical theatre. A succession of great songs, thrillineg performed, make this a saviour to savour. highlights include an exceptionally moving 'I Don’t Know How To Love Him’ and a suitably menacing 'This Jesus Must Dre,’ while the cruofixion rs staged so convincingly it transports the entire audience to Golgotha. 60 along and witness the miracle. Edinburgh: Playhouse. The Faith Healer Religion is an agent of despair rather than hope in Brian Friel's play. Theatre in Action create palpable tension and claustrophobia as the characters each tell their side of the same story, leaving the audience to make up its own mind who to believe. Glasgow: C r'ti'zens’ Theatre.
The Anatomist Grisly drama meets gallows humour in James Bridie’s tale of unorthodox medical experiments. Events are played out On a set to die for. Jenny Bell excels as two very different women sharing the same name: she makes both Marys worth hailing. Edinburgh: Royal Lyceum.
Thursday 25 Friday 26
This grid includes theatre and dance performances at Glasgow and Edinburgh's main theatres. More information, including events at smaller venues, can be found in the listings above and over the page. Performances shown in brackets are free or reduced price previews.
Saturday 27 Sunday 28 _ hWednes-daya-"Thursdayd
Mainstream Mainstream
Mainstream i —
l
Dance Platform
J Dance Platform -
7,
~ Arches
(iiass Menagerie (ilass Menagerie
Perfect Day s Perfect Days
(ilass Menagerie — —
New Moves
James Arnott
Perfect Days I: — _
E — Mr Pttnttla I
Mr Puntila
; Citizens' Main
Daphne lhsasier Daphne Disaster
Daphne Disasteie u _
Phaedra's [an e Plraedra's l.o\e
Phaedra's l.o\e
Citizens' Circle
Tiernan 8; Byrne 3 -
Comedy Unit
Comedy Unit
i Comedy l'nil
Comedy L‘nit
i Cottier Th
Happy Days Happy Days
Happy Days — —
Mar tin (inerre Mar tin Cruerre
Martin (iner're
King's Th
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See Classical See Classical -
— Festival Th
See ( "lassrtal See Classical See Classical Boogie Nights Boogie .\ights Boogie Nights Boogie Nights in risir~- -.- \v‘ _ _ f _ 2 l _ not to gig—s“ filial Brothers Blood Brothcrs y I g Jesus Christ Superstar Jesus Christ Super star Jesus Christ Superstar ‘
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Queen's Hall Royal Lyceum
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Family
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l8 Feb—4 Mar 1999 TIIE LIST 59