Theatre listings
{ Edinburgh Dance
BRUNTON THEATRE
Ladywell Way. Musselburgh. 665 2240. IP. H. Ti". WC. WA]
Morag Alexander Tue 1 l—Thu 20 Jun (not Sun). 7pm (Sat mat 3pm). £7.50 (£5.50). The Brunton showcases this display of ballet. jazz and Scottish dancing.
CHURCH HILL THEATRE
33a Morningside Road. 220 4349. [P. H] Up Up and Away Thu 20—Sat 22 Jun. 7pm (Sat mat 1.30pm). £6.50 (£5.50). Dance Point Studio presents this evening of toe-tapping fun.
FESTIVAL THEATRE
13—29 Nicolson Street. 529 6000. IH. WC. WA]
Jaleo Fri 7 & Sat 8 Jun. 7.30pm. £9—£l4 (£6—£l I). The passion and spectacle of flamenco dance is brought to the stage by southern Spain‘s award-winning troupe. Jaleo.
KING’S THEATRE
2 Leven Street. 529 6000. IH. Tl". WC. WA]
Breaking Bounds Fri 14 & Sat 15 Jun. 7.30pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Students at Edinburgh‘s Telford College showcase contemporary. jazz and tap work choreographed by staff. and members of Scottish Dance Theatre.
Central Drama 8. Dance
Ayr
GAIETY THEATRE
Carrick Street. 01292 611222. [H. WC. WA]
Celebration of Dance L'ntil Thu 13 Jun (not Fri 7—Sun 9). 7pm. £6 (£4). Local dance troupe Dansarena present an energetic live show.
Geoffrey Durham Fri 7 Jun. 7.30pm. £10.50 (£9.50). The Great Soprendo from Cruckerjack amazes and astounds with his one-man magic show.
Cumbernauld
CUMBERNAULD THEATRE Kildrum. 01236 732887. [R H. Ti. WC. WA]
Run for your Wife Fri 7 & Sat 8 Jun. 7.45pm. £5 (£3.50). Apex Players presents Ray Cooney's farce about a bigamist cab driver.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Thu 20—Sat 22 Jun. 7.45pm. £5 (£3). Cumbernauld Youth Theatre presents Shakespeare‘s magical comedy of love potions and misplaced affections. Opium Eater Thu 20 Jun. 7.45pm. £8 (£5). Splinters Productions‘ portrait of a relationship between a flawed English man of letters and his dim-witted Scots servant.
Dundee
DUNDEE REP
Tay Square. 01382 223530. [R H. WC. WA]
Pants Fri 14 & Sat 15 Jun. Fri 7.45pm; Sat 2.30pm. £6.95—£12.95 (£4.95—£10.95). Forbes Masson follows up his previous mad offerings Srifl‘and Mint-e? with this new musical about a has- been pop star.
Mince? Mon l7—Wed 19 Jun. 7.45pm. £6.95—£12.95 (£4.95—£10.95). Forbes Masson‘s musical comedy about a successful jingle writer on the brink of madness.
Nightflights Thu 20—Sat 22 Jun. 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £6.95—£l2.95 (£4.95—£l0.95). Marcella Evaristi‘s magical multi-layered play of love. fantasy and the human soul is often very funny. but tries to cover too many bases to be wholly successful.
Dunfermline
CARNEGIE HALL
East Port. 01383 314000. [R H. WC. WA] Ahoy There! It’s the Happy Gang Fri 7 & Sat 8 Jun. See Kids listings.
64 THE LIST 6—20 Jun 2002
Sharon Maxwell’s Starlet Dancers Sat 15 Jun. 7pm. £6.50 (£4). A showcase of popular chart and West End musical hits.
Check your Coupon
Thu 20 Jun. 7.30pm. £6 (£4—£5). Fringe First-winning company Rubber Ear Productions presents a comedy about a pair of sprightly pensioners who mastermind a pools scam following their near-death experience.
East Kilbride
EAST KILBRIDE ARTS CENTRE ()ld Coach Road. 01355 261000. IP. H. WC. WA]
Royals to Rockers Fri 7 Jun. 8pm. £6 (£4). Baudrans Productions and Scottish ()pera baritone Mark Jacques collaborate in this upbeat jubilee celebration.
The Lifeboat Sat 8 Jun. See Kids listings.
Stick Granny on the Roof-rack Wed 12 Jun. 8pm. £7 (£5). The Msfits are back with a new show where family tensions reach boiling point during a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. Tickets and information for the Smith Art Gallery performance are available on 01786 467155.
A Whole New World Thu l3—Sat 15 Jun. 8pm. £6 (£4). Studio 32 Theatre Company‘s contemporary drama set to music tells the story of a young woman's quest for stardom.
Falkirk
FALKIRK TOWN HALL
West Bridge Street. 01324 506850. [R WC. WA]
Ahoy There! It’s the Happy Gang Fri 14 Jun. See Kids listings.
Down Paradise Row Sat 15 Jun. 2.30pm & 7.30pm. £6 (£5). Fiona Harrison stars in this musical that incorporates great show tunes from the 1900s and 1950s.
Glenrothes
ROTHES HALLS
Rothes Square. 01592 61 1 101. IP. H. WC. WA]
Fife Golden Jubilee Grand Charity Gala Thu 13 Jun. 7.30pm. £5 (£3—£4). A celebration of arts and creativity in Fife through dance and music. theatre and storytelling.
IrVIne
MAGNUM THEATRE
Harbourside. 01294 27838]. [P. WC. WA] Ahoy There! It’s the Happy Gang Tue ll—Thu 13 Jun. See Kids listings. Showtime 2002 Sat l5—Mon 17 Jun. Sat & Sun 2pm; Mon 7pm. Annual production from the Julie Carson School of Dance.
Centre Stage Thu 20—Sun 23 Jun. Thu & Fri 7pm; Sat 1.30pm & 7pm; Sun 1.30pm. £6.50 (£4.50). Young dancers from the Janice Marshall School of Dance present their annual production.
Kirkcaldy
ADAM SMITH THEATRE
Bennochy Road. 01592 412929. [R H. WC. WA]
Geoffrey Durham Sat 8 Jun. 7.30pm. £8.50 (£7.50). See Ayr.
Largs
VIKINGAR THEATRE
Greenock Road. 01475 689777. Summertime Sensation Sat 15 Jun. 7pm. £2.50 from 01475 686458. Performance from pupils of Largs Modern Dance Club. to the music of Kylie. Madonna and S Club 7.
LIVIngston
HOWDEN PARK CENTRE
Howden. 01506 433634. [R WC. WA] Blood, Sweat 8: Shopping and once Fri 14 Jun. 8pm. £5 (£3). A dance double bill. Blood. Sweat & Shopping. set in the changing room of a gym. is choreographed by Kally Lloyd-Jones. and Rachel Morrow's (mr'r' is an arresting solo inspired by the work of Pablo Neruda.
omdy 7
comedy@list.co.uk
STAND-UP BRENDON BURNS Jongleurs, Glasgow, Thu 20 Jun-Sat 22 Jun
Burns bridges with abandon
Some Australians become expatriates, others have it thrust upon them. I can’t help but reflect that my compatriot Brendon Burns falls into the latter category. An exile for eight years now, his returns to Australia are not remembered with affection. ‘I was at the Melbourne Comedy Festival last year, but I just re-burned the bridges I burned before,’ he says. ‘The audiences are quite conservative there. Anyway, I finished up turning into a cunt and started abusing everyone.’
It all sounds very Brendon, but he feels much misunderstood, and perhaps with justice. Here for a couple of gigs in the run up to his Fringe show later this year, Brendon Burns: The Thinking Man ’5 Idiot, Burns feels that the idea that you have to leave your PC credentials at the door to see him arises from a misconstruction of his intentions. ‘I don’t set out to offend,’ he says, ‘but it seems to be a by-product of my performance. I think people walk out for the wrong reasons; they misunderstand me a great deal.’
His Fringe show of two years ago, where he was accused of homophobia, among other misdemeanours? ‘People were yelling “cunt” at me in the street, and saying to my PR guy: “How can you represent him, he’s a pig?” It was actually pretty upsetting. I got into a lot of trouble over talking about sexuality, and all I was saying was that your sexuality didn’t necessarily make you a good or a bad person, which is fair enough, I think. Unfortunately, when audiences walk out, they’d only hear the first half of what I said.’
All the same, you can’t expect an hour of quiet and gentle observation from Burns. His routines are pretty high on the Jerry Sadowitz in-yer-face scale, so know that now. He reckons, though, that he’s toning his act down a bit, partially for medical reasons. ‘l’ve just had my hearing checked, and it turns out I’m partially deaf. After I got treated, I realised how loud I was. I won’t be shouting as much this year; I could be damaging my own ears. Also I won’t be swearing as much. Every time I swear, I’m going to put money in a box for people with Tourette’s syndrome.’
I can’t help but suspect that they’ll be the wealthiest charity on the Fringe by the end of it.
Burns doesn’t play up to his nationality in his act, but isn’t in denial, either. ‘I only do one piece about Aboriginal cell deaths in the act, but people have a lot of stereotypes about Australians. I suppose I do fall into a couple of them, but that’s fair enough. I think. I mean stereotypes don’t come from nowhere.’ Fair dinkum. (Steve Cramer)