CONTEMPORARY ADAPTATION

Filth

Glasgow: Citizens' Theatre, Wed 15

Sep—Sat 9 Oct. The old saying, 'If you want to know

the time, ask a policeman' is one of interesting origins. It seems that Cockneys at the turn of the century were often forced by Shakedown, threat of prosecution or intimidation to hand over their pocket watches to members of the local constabulary, who frequently offered discounts on second-hand timepieces from their collection. These days, though, it isn’t just the working classes who are aware of problem police officers. Timely then, as it were, that the Citizens' should be offering an adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s tale of police corruption as an opener to its new season. Filth is the story of a

34' .gt, ’3: y g. ,

Third degree burn: Arch interogator Tam Dean Burn

policemen close to the edge. His personal life declines as his wife abandons him, and he exists in a spiral of drug abuse, violence and tawdry sex which seems to be bringing things to an ugly climax. Who better, then, to do a Scottish Harvey Keitel, a kind of Radge Lieutenant, than Tarn Dean Burn?

Burn describes the bent copper at the centre of this one-man show - which also involves taking on 32 other personas during the course of the performance - with mild sympathy. 'He's a great gameplayer, that’s what he does best, but he’s really just evolving ways to keep himself occupied so he doesn’t have to confront things deep inside himself, which we eventually learn are buried way back. There’s a lot about the kind of macho construction of the Scottish man there. I kind of understand him, even if he is a Jambo.’ (Steve Cramer)

DANCE

Memory Palace

Stirling: MacRobert Arts Centre, 15 Sep,t en touring.

For fans of the 19805 band The Associates, the idea of a celebration of the life and music of Billy MacKenzie in the form of a dance installation may be enough to pique the curiosity. Particularly so when the choreographer and performer is Andy Howitt, known for his powerful, intensely physical solo work. Both the title of the piece and the artistic installation that forms the centrepiece of the set are inspired by the song ’Stone The Memory Palace’ and a quote from Tom Doyle's biography of MacKenzie, that ’he was like a glass palace filled with his whippets and his music.’ A spartan blue metal framework provides the palace, populated by the beautifully crafted white china dogs, but also acts as a contained space for Howitt's caged animal intensity.

With involvement from MacKenzie's family, who were in Edinburgh to see a performance during the Fringe, Howitt has combined eight tracks from MacKenzie and his 19905 collaborators Paul Haig and Steve Aungle, with snippets of recorded interviews to present a message about the lead singer’s life and tragically early death in 1997. MacKenzie's curiously powerful yet vulnerable voice and Howitt's

Dog bay afternoon: Andy Howitt In Memory Palace

earthy, at times almost acrobatic movement style are not obvious partners, and the piece certainly represents a shift for the director of Scottish Youth Dance, whose recent work has tended to be more abstract. To match the emotion of tracks like 'Give Me Time’ with sensitive choreographic imagery should be an intriguing challenge for Howitt's powers of invention. (Don Morris)

THEATRE

IINGl 5

NBURGH

SAT II a. SIM I2 serr- ncxers FROM £7.00 CRAIGMOUNJ‘ESYEQISJTH THEATRE

SHOWS'I'OPPERS THE FINAL CHAPTER

FRI 17 8 SAT I8 SEPT 0 TICKETS FROM £8.00 1'" FLAMENCO DANCE COMPANY, SEVILLE

.IAI.E0

TIIE 2T T0 SAT 25 SEPT. TICKETS ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE

PRIVATE

lIVES

3v NOEL COWARD

Dirodod by Philip Franks Starring .IIIIIot Stovonson and Anton lessor

M0" 27 SEPT T0 SAT 2 0CT 0 TICKETS FROM £9.00

THE IMPORTANCE I EARNES'I'

Dora Bryan and Gooffroy Davies

TIIE 5 T0 SAT 9 OCT 0 TICKETS FROM £10.00

CARL ROSA OPERA

THE

(initiating PtRIdRMANtES

BY GILBERT & SULLIVAN

I

BOX OFFICE 013] 529 6000

GROUPS 013] 529 6005

9—23 Sep 1999 TIIELISTSI