Theatre
SHOWSOFTHEYEAR
Theatre editor Steve Cramer selects his theatre highlights for 2004.
The Wonderful World of Dissocia (pictured), Anthony Neilson's dark, funny and deeply compelling examination of both the interiority and exterior of a woman suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder was the best of a strong season for the International Festival. The fact that it was local product was the icing on the cake. We can only hope to see more of Neilson's work as writer and director in the near future.
Dominic Hill's production of Scenes From An Execution. a magnificent Howard Barker piece that examined the complex business of hegemony and the production of art. was a spellbinding and very adventurous piece of programming. Deservedly garnering a batch of Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland. this piece proved that thinking entertainment with a political edge is far from an impossible challenge for Scottish theatre.
A visitor to Scotland from the United States. Thom Paine was as accomplished a piece of writing and performance as you'd see in any year. Will Eno's splendid monoiogue was explored to its full and mighty potential by actor James Urbaniak in this Fringe highlight. Exploring love. relationships and a world where dysfunctionality is created by both society and happenstance. this was both funny and tearfully moving theatre.
Mark Thomson's production of his own play, A Madman Sings To The Moon. first performed at the Brunton. was certainly the revival of the year. An outstanding performance by Tony Cownie in the lead set off this tale of a disturbed man who holds a cafe full of folk hostage in contemporary Edinburgh. Combining a crisply intelligent liberal message and some humorous tension. this was certainly a highlight of the year.
Meanwhile. The Ruffian on the Stair and 4:48 Psychosis. an unlikely double bill of Joe Orton and Sarah Kane, produced for lunch money at the Citizens' Theatre. showed off its talents in a manner that reflected enormous credit on the Citz. Actors Vivian Reid and Julie Austin proved more than capable as first time directors, while the performances of Candida Benson, Andrew Clark and Lorna McDevitt, among others were splendid. The Whole Little Bit of Ruff studio season was indeed a tremendous achievement on limited resources.
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Review
MAMMA MIA Playhouse, Edinburgh. until Sat 29 Jan 000.
I‘m not sure Sir Bob Geldof would approve. There are some distinctly dodgy gender politics in the celebrated ABBA musical. which, in case you hadn’t heard, has nothing to do with the band, only its music. In it. the role of fathers in families is questioned, then, after a little bleating from the young, dadless daughter about to be married, pretty well dismissed.
Yet the play isn’t really about the girl, Sophie (Emily Dykes) but her mother Donna (Helen Hobson), who declares rather charmlessly: ‘I won‘t be muscled out by an ejaculation,’ when she discovers that her daughter has invited her three potential fathers (there‘d been a pretty sweaty summer two decades before) to her wedding. They‘ve been muscled out by ovaries, but don’t seem to mind as much as you'd think, moving from mild concern to a kind of affectionate indifference by the end, when — it won't astonish you to hear - there’s a wedding and a knees up. Meanwhile, love, in various ways, blooms on the idyllic Greek island of the setting and an architect called Sam (Cameron Blakely) and an ex-stockbroker called Sky (Michael Xavier) display the contentments of middle-class role models, and even the fat bird (Joanna Munro) gets a lumber at the climax.
This is an astonishingly slick and manipulative piece of theatre, borrowing the fairytale, where characters and events occur in threes, as a vehicle to create emotional response. And it works. The audience lapped up the songs, which by and large are well delivered, thrilled in the dance routines, and were content to ignore some contrivances in the plot. The structural mechanics are as complex and complete as a box girder bridge. and the piece will please CSs everywhere, with a set (Mark Thompson) and, indeed, cast that looked pretty well identical to the London production I saw recently. It was in fact very like watching telly, but with much colour and some diabolically well delivered singing and dancing. There‘s a kind of contempt for the emotional complexity for men at the heart, so it'll please almost any woman brought to the show. There’s also a certain puzzlement about, and final endorsement of, the conservatism of the young. Well presented, but with a plasticity that alarms. To paraphrase ABBA, Fuck You for the Music. (Steve Cramer)