Theatre

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Theatre Royal. Glasgow. Mon 2-Sat 7 Tramway‘ Glasgow Fri Jun 30 & Sat 31 May

The secret of good farce is very like a H good piece of jazz improvisation. No .\_\ t. .. . L . matter how far the music moves from : . w. . the original riff, it‘s still able to take ., .,_. I .. ._._ _ 1 us back to the base reality of the . . . H, , original piece. Michael Frayn‘s . t \ . . ' . classic modern farce, now touring in . i a new and rewritten version from the : ii '. x f' ' x '

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National Theatre, is a good example of this durable principal. The characters are grotesques. yet somehow recognisable as figures of their. and our. time. I first saw the play three years after it opened on the West End in 1985, and at the time, wondered whether the actors playing actors were based upon real actors, Farcing like troupers ' .miox . .2 .. thong” even to the point of saying of the I characters: ‘That must be . . .‘ You‘ll performer Sylvester McCoy is play a sad old alcoholic actor, who‘s :v...i.;t>ovw.vi 'rtt: feel the same, but the ‘that must be. returning to Scotland with the recognisable as any number of :‘..'.‘.".i:s "t; TW- .sa". l,.i;i'.l . .‘ will be different 18 years on. production. and feels that the secret actors over the years, so it's Ashlin. N m“ .rx: Representing a company touring a of the play‘s longevity is another potentially very sad,‘ he says. l.“m[).>".=.'. 1": atm- woebegone, sub-Brian Rix style great quality of farce - its potential All that makes this meta-narrative, i:r:,__:ti:~t:; .'."llf"‘ :l"[::):;(? farce, the play gives us an insight tragedy. ‘In the new version‘s second a story about telling stories, rather 'é?‘<"".?.s=‘;%; >"-lm"?"l. in into the backstage shenanigans of act, you see actors disintegrating earnest. but it‘s the humour that has Ilif? "42m: «9‘ iwng 'gis; the performers, who - through love under the weight of it all. It's very ensured its survival. ‘You’ll laugh so :rwti . l'.i.l‘ as, ..>.. .in affairs, drunkenness, and desperate funny, but very touching, too. It’s the much that your contact lenses steam insecurity - give us a more funny and central character Dotty's last chance. up - I've been told that actually profound farce than the one we can She's a soap star who's come back happens. So bring a spare pair of see them simultaneously performing into the theatre. and put her money knickers,‘ McCoy says. Go along and on stage. Dunoon-born former Dr into the show to make some see an old play make an old genre Who and widely respected theatre something for her retirement, and I new. (Steve Cramer)

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Installation free of charge Stem-x ‘btga. A .-z-' 2: 8.1:”. tr, :;~:;-"<; ii. Kit: . Auter 22 '31:, o .' ": ’1