THUMBS DOWN
Re: Play time (453)
I think the Game On exhibition is a great idea; however. as a fellow Glasgow gamer I ask: why have the Glasgow gamers been neglected?
Can Glasgow not hold one of its own at one of its fine museums? I have nothing against Edinburgh or its gamers. but I feel the Glasgow gamers deserve an exhibition of their own.
Michael Ryan. via email
OUT AND ABOUT
Re: politics in the dark (453) 7:84 Theatre company is involved in a theatre project called Out There. which
involves some of our members.
This project directly addresses the stigma which people with mental health problems experience in their daily lives.
7:84 recently gave a performance of Out There to the Scottish Parliament on 10 October, Mental Health Day.
This was particularly relevant. in light of the Mental Health Bill currently being discussed by the Scottish Parliament. Many MSPs were very impressed with the performance. and stated that they had not realised just what people with mental health problems face every day.
I therefore think that Mary McKay's criticism of 7:84 is totally unjustified.
Robbie Campbell Scotia Clubhouse member via email
GLOOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Re: politics in the dark (453) Thank you Mary McKay for your gloomy and depressing view on 7:84. Already we have recently lost fine companies such as Raindog and LookOut and now you want to sound the death knell on yet another one.
I found your article frustratingly vague and confusing. I‘m curious to know where the recent survey in a
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large theatre was done, which rural areas were surveyed. what background the respondents were from etc.
I‘m also surprised at the narrow margin you put current political issues in. You say that Factory Girls and Can't Pay? Won't Pay! are hardly tackling these. Yet both are about poverty and capitalism. issues that a huge amount of people are struggling with and living with. day in. day out.
You also say that mental health and domestic abuse are only social issues when this isn’t the case at all. And wasn't the company's last production. Cave Dwellers about asylum seekers?
7:84 is a potential employer to many of us in the arts. one that offers long contracts and above minimum wage and. in a climate that is already unstable and vulnerable enough, I feel we should be offering words of encouragement and support instead of predicting its demise.
Kate Dickie Glasgow
KEEP ON KEEPING ON
Re: politics in the dark (453) The fact that some other theatre companies have folded recently is not a reason to keep 7:84 going. Neither is the fact that they employ a lot of ‘creative personnel'. There are plenty of other young theatre companies around who'd only too willingly get a first foot on the professional funding ladder and fill any vacuum with their own creative personnel.
Surely the only reason to keep a company going is if it has a reason to exist. When John McGrath was with 7:84 that reason was clear and organic (whether the plays were good or bad). Ever since then. the company has always been a few steps away from an identity crisis. not least because the rest of the world has caught up with the progress it once made.
A case in point: Chris Bartter
says they're doing Can't Pay? Won't Pay! next year. I'm sure I remember that being done at the Lyceum over ten years ago (and if I'm wrong. it's definitely been done in other mainstream rep theatres). But who knows. maybe he's got some new vision that will make the play seem radical again. Let's hope so. because otherwise 7:84 is a self-proclaimed ‘political' theatre company doing exactly the same kind of work as all the other theatre companies who don't bother shouting about it.
I'm not saying it should close. but I don't see why it should keep going just because it's always kept going before.
Jim Fields via email
BLINKING MAD
Re: Driving force
If we're in the mood for driver- bashing. can I complain about all those motorists who don't bother indicating just because there are no other cars about? Meanwhile all of us pedestrians trying to cross side roads have to play a guessing game about whether the vehicle is coming our way or not.
Julie McArthur
via email
THE HOME SERVICE
Re: The Osbournes (454)
I like noisy music. my flat
mates like swearing and we
are prepared to buy a pet dog.
Would any TV company out
there like to make a fly on the
wall documentary about us? No? Thought not.
Ryan ‘Ozzy’ George
via email
TOLKIEN ’BOUT A REVOLUTION
The Lord of the Rings
I know there's nothing I can do about it. but can I make one lone plea for some sense to prevail over the inevitable forthcoming wave of Lord of the Rings nonsense? In any rational universe. folk would have noticed that the first
instalment was several hours longer than any boy's own adventure needed to be. And if that fact had passed them by. they'd surely have twigged by the time the DVD came out with even more of the swashbuckling hoo-hah.
But no. we are clearly living in insane times and. as far as I can tell. everyone is looking forward to not just three more hours of the tedious twaddle. but another three hours after that next year (plus. no doubt. various DVD editions with even more of the stuff stuck on).
Do these people not know that a good v bad tale of whiter than white goblins against darker than dark wizards is best told simply and swiftly — and just the once? I believe they call it pantomime in these parts and the kids love it. But no. the first movie was like an endless tape-loop of the same story over and over again. Goodies see baddies. run away. see baddies again. run away again. see baddies. etc.
Can nobody see this? Is everyone dazzled by the special effects? Please, will no one declare an amnesty?
Gill Banbury Via email
PHOTO FINISH
Pictures wanted
Can anyone help me? I'm a fourth year art student and I'm looking for people to donate to me photographs (and their thoughts on them) from anywhere in the world that they have been to.
I'm looking to create a photographic map of the world and exhibit it early next year. If you have any photographs you can donate. you can send them to the address below. Vikki Baird Map of the World c/o flat 2x2. 38 Seafie/ol Road Dundee DDl 4NP
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