Theatre
Stage Whispers
Scottish theatre's smoking gun
I In Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, one of the conspicuous theatre successes of the last few years, currently being filmed as a major motion picture, there’s a crucial moment of narrative realisation. The erotic tension between two central characters, a teacher and student, is finally realised when they share a taboo-breaking cigarette on school grounds. The smoke envelopes the boy like the first of Salome’s seven veils, and the erotic tension is palpable. With this symbolic gesture, the audience took in a collective gulp of breath. Which no doubt did them no good at all according to the Scottish Executive, which has cut- puritannicaled all its European competitors with its moronic insistence that even stages, public or private, must exclude smoking.
Under the vast, vaulting, cavernous and airy ceiling of the Theatre Royal, with the nearest audience member sat 15 metres away, it is, apparently, ‘bad for us’ to inhale, although we might travel through more smoke on a public street, where smoking will not be banned. Whispers is happy enough to see a total ban in auditoriums, bars and foyers in theatres, but this grim Calvanist injunction to prevent the enactment of art, old, new and yet to be created is an ugly and invasive form of censorship.
This contederacy of dunces uses the same reasoning, that such a sequence in a play is ‘unhealthy', that kept Wedekind’s magnificent Lulu off British stages for nearly a century. In that case the offending image was a naked girl, but the government, against every law of reason and commonsense, claimed it ‘bad for us’. We’ve got over that. Two Festivals ago, we witnessed women shagging horses and vaginas sewed up in XXX at the Fringe. Whispers had no other objection than it was bad art - it shouldn’t be banned. In fact we could all see it again, because no-one smokes in it. Surely the Executive can't be so stupid.
Smoking with Lulu: banned
80 THE LIST .‘ ‘
CONTEMPOQARY DANCE SCOTTISH DANCE THEATRE
Dundee Rep, Thu 9—Sat 11 Feb; Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Wed 15 Feb.
When Janet Srnrth. artrstr; owe/13' Seettrsh Dance Theatre. gets r: 7' sorrreorre. she doesn't 'et gr, eas r, Smrth frrst carrre aeross ex Ran‘pert dancer. tlan rte Sell‘,f‘.k(:l. r" I400?) when she was a Judge for the Peter Da'wl Choreographrz; Award At that firms. De Schynkel was rn the process of srr.'rtctrrrtg from performance to choreography. and Srnrth knev. a burgeonrng talent when she saw or‘e. She Is As He Eats. de Sctrynkel's frrst prece for Scottrsh Dance Theatre. set the Belgran out as an rntrrgurng choreographer fascrnated wrth hurnar‘ relatronshrps and vrsual art.
Suitably rmpressed. Srnrth rnyrted hrnr hack to the company's Dundee hase rn 9002. where de Schynkel unverled the equally wonderful Daddy I'm Not Well Returnrng to Scotland for SDT's sprrng 2006 tour. de Schynkel Jokes that rt's 'thrrd trrne lucky'. as rf luck had anythrng to do Wllll rt. No Stronger Than a Flower takes its title from a Shakespeare sonnet. and rnsprratron from poet. Seamus l-leaney. parnter Patrrck Caulfreld and the music of Tom Warts. And Wrth the SDT dancers currently a real force to he reckoned wrth, thrs could well he de Schynkel's hest prece yet.
'I drdn't think Janet ever rnvrted anyone here three trmes so rt's a real honour to be back.‘ says de Schynkel. ‘And I haven't made a dance for two years so I'm hurstrng at the seams to conre out wrth a new prece. The company has moved on srnce | first worked wrth them. They're at therr best ever, so there's really something to get my teeth rnto. and | jUSl feel so at home here.’ (Kelly Apter)
NEW WORK THE MATINEE IDLE
Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 6-Sat 11 Feb
Let's fess up to rt strarght away: he's a favourrte wrth all of us here at The Lrsl Danrel Jackson. co—author of the engagrng and rnSrghtful cartoon Glasgow Fabulous. for some years a must~read among readers of the maga/Ine. as well as the cartoon from which this one-act play took rts name. rs a much loved character. But don't take my word for rt. The fact that no lesser person than Lr/ Lochhead has rnSrsted on drrectrng hrs prrze-Wrnnrng frrst play mrght attest not rust to hrs Irkeable character, but also a tormrdahle ahrlrty as a wrrter of satrrrr;al
comedy.
Thrs piece speaks of two ushers at a theatre not entirely unlrke Glasgo'.-."s Tron dOrng a job. not perhaps completely cernCrdentalIy. that Jackson hrmself once did. Jackson fills us rn on these figures. ‘One's a frustrated actor. who's reached thrrtysomethrng. Havrng had an OK start rn hrs career. thrngs have ground a hrt tc a halt. The other is a young graduate who faces that drlemma that so many people rn that spot. rncludrng myself not so long ago. enCOunter: the government rs rnsrstrng on more unrverSIty graduates. so there are more. but there's the same number of jODS for them as befOre.’ Thrs much alone mrght tell you that there's a SOCral commentary and some famrlrar drlemmas. especrally for a yoang Etufllt’fll’)’; underneath thrs affectronate satrre. (Steve Cramerr
PERFORMANCL Alli NATIONAL REVIEW OF LIVE ART Tramway, Glasgow, Wed 8-Sun 12 Feb
It’s that time of year again. The National Review of Live Art (NRLA) is back with a week-long hit of artistic adrenaline. And this time it is bigger than ever. Now 26, the NRLA is moving from its recent base at the Arches to the Tramway, which will accommodate its more generous proportions. And what should we expect in 2006? A full diary of sensory overload and the chance to engage with artists from across the globe.
Performance artist Ron Athey returns to Scotland after last year’s Judas Cradle tour, an operatic exploration of the history of torture. In commissioned piece Incorruptible Flesh (iI luminous) he revisits a collaborative meditation on his HIV-infected body and the incorruptible bodies of saints. Ten years on, Athey continues the performance without Lawrence Steger, who died in 1999. Meanwhile, Mapping the Body will bring together 13 women artists from throughout Asia to address notions of women’s art from their source: the female body.
Live art duo FrenchMottershead will be taking on the mantle of NRLA artists in residence for 2006. French and partner Andrew Mottershead have put together a series of events to engage visitors to the NRLA and help the Festival settle into its new home at the Tramway. A Daily Ritual to Capture the Presence of Everybody invites members of the public to take part in daily group photographs around the venue. As the images are collected and exhibited, the process of making art is opened up to everyone. FrenchMottershead’s work is firmly participatory. ‘We take our site as being very much the people themselves,’ explains French. ‘Our work is about being human and the rituals we take part in all the time. It is not like people who go to see art are better at being a person.’ And it is this inclusive attitude that promises to reach out to those who find the thought of live art a little intimidating. (Corrie Mills)