The bewildering number of openings over the next few weeks is leaving Whispers pretty breathless, with more new shows than our usual preview pages can cover, so he’s putting aside his usual ponderings to update you on what’s on.
Borderline are far from in the mood to take their recent snub by the SAC lying down, and look set to put their art where their mouth is with Losing Louis. The Scottish premiere of this West End hit should play nicely to the particular audiences that Borderline have established and the SAC has chosen to ignore. Simon Mendes Da Costa’s play tells a comic story of family tensions. Set in the same bedroom, but in two scenes fifty years apart, the piece explores decisions taken by the now dead father of a Jewish family which impacts on his two neurotic and frustrated sons. A bleak and insightful humour runs through this piece, which should entertain. You can catch it at the Brunton theatre from Thursday 21 to Saturday 23 September, then subsequently on tour around the country.
Meantime the new Edinburgh version of A Play, A Pie and A Pint continues to 90 great guns at the Jam House in Edinburgh. Over the next couple of weeks you can catch Lewis Hetherington’s Sea Change, a very relevant drama on climate change, fir Nan 0g 3 screwball comic musical by that multitalented stalwart of the Scottish theatre, Dave Anderson and A Fortnight in the Seychelles a tale of middle-aged holiday making by Maite Prez Larumbe. There must surely be audiences for lunchtime theatre in Edinburgh, and one wishes the Oran Mor folk well in their new endeavour.
Meanwhile over at the Traverse, there’s a chance to brush up on your Gaelic with Tosg, a double bill of work from two of Scotland’s leading writers, lain Finlay MacLeod and Iain Crichton Smith. Each deals with ideas about human rights and religious hypocrisy in a manner that goes far beyond the concerns of the Highlands. You can see them both at the Trav on 23 September.
Sea Change -
82 THE LIST 8231‘ 5031.?
memes LIVE Arches. Glasgow. Thu 21-Sun 30 Sep
T' o 1' . . ‘4 l/ r I x i I ' , ~ 1' .v : z ' o 1" ‘1"'12.: . " . - I 3'/"' ' ' ".1" (1' 3‘.:" 1 if". ' \5 . “’. (l l ‘ '° ‘ . ,uimv'u‘ Mll'. ~ .1": l>.l'%.:;"‘.' 2 "vii ': {lib-"11‘."',,:"'!.'.T’ ".1-"" l' 2.1' I k “may. .,.,.._,..~ ,. .4 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE \ n ,, “4,...de , ,, , , Royal Lyceum Theatre. Edinburgh. Fri 22 Sep—Sat 21 Oct m». ‘r mu m. ‘ : ' Shakespeare‘s great commentary on the unease between Christians and NW; i )1: w 1‘ z' t Jews has suffered, over the years, with some of the most tortured w >.‘ My; ml.” 4.11 « 'J Ma" attempts to make it conform to one thesis or another imaginable. All of ()4.th inn: ( :..:._'e awry his work, of course, has been interpreted as widely and pluralistically as untwmm um :. « ’,I}'I.’.l ~': .2' tw. .mu m The Bible and has, at times, caused nearly as much damage, yet it is the i'n'ltl‘f. .15. lez' A. Mi?» tiw- .24" 1 .1 story of Shylock and his quest for his pound of flesh that has seen such
ll (ffll 1.11,,l91. (xl'l
Mari-.- < irér'w“, / .1 «mm mltxm (if .m.’ ‘;l:;<,'!1.l!'<)'l " H
A! it m it 3'
diversity that it’s often difficult to see the same play behind different productions. From the essay in anti-Semitism that the Nazis made the play, to the plea against the same of frequent more recent productions, the vexatious feeling that the play itself has been lost is enough to make a Rabbi join the Jihad.
That’s why this Mark Thompson production seems so appealing. For Thompson, as ever, is determined to let the text do the talking. Add this to the considerable bonus of a return to the Lyceum’s stage of one of Scotland’s highest quality actors, Jimmy Chisholm, as Shylock and there seems to be plenty of promise here. ‘Mark’s not gone into the desperate box for a gimmick; this is a straight production, set in a marketplace, in modern dress,’ says Chisholm. ‘The only people who'll come out of the theatre happy would be the anti—capitalist league,‘ he adds, pointing to an often-neglected idea about money and materialism that underpins the text.
But this last remark also tells us something about the text which has contributed to the idea that this is a ‘difficult‘ Shakespeare; there is often a feeling that no one emerges well from the play, so we find it difficult to identify with the characters. But for Chisholm a straightforward interpretation of the characters, even his, is an advantage. ‘He shows the other bastards how big a bastard he can be. My problem with Shylock is he takes it too far; he’s not teaching anyone a lesson by showing he can be as bad as the rest. But that‘s also what’s good about the play; it shows human nature in its worst condition. It's quite honest in that way. Shylock simply does what the other people do. He points out that the Christians have slaves, and these are commodities; all he's doing is using that pound of flesh as a commodity. No one sticks to their word in the play but Shylock.’ Expect a stylish, no-frills production.
(Steve Cramer)
fi-Huzil-Hamil-wan. .i:". (will!
wwru; iu~r~:.u'l<,w Liv. ring? I r' .m lm'wwlf ttzil HTML-(i >1mvi<;fm.l".;u ‘
film/‘- (}< H'Ilita, (Mia‘trn (>1 (l (lul‘w: in: n l.l':’..r_ m «aim! fin" (§( l'.’.'.l/’Ii’ 2' ‘v El". “K?N“;Y#tl'1t](anllnllw.AV l'xllillglilfllllfl innulrrwua. lull.'l.'l(ul.l-'"1 (nu lll\>(i(:'li sewn: ()f “it: .lpmgmpwg
llllt; Irmkt; (mu ()1 Hum. lvt-ulf, gll 1hr.
your}; jélllllxmrtr, éfSt<:\.'(: (Lmrww
NE ‘.‘. \.‘.< >er DRENCHED Tron, Glasgow, Thu 21—Sat 23 Sep, then touring
Tl‘tért'E: taur'wt'Wrtg about .1 um: «:71. 11%.; :42": ,' :.-,~"t .xw «:' '1 t'\371‘.'!"‘<r"'. Iiltl’. $.11: ti‘.‘..i‘.’il ;:'.’.’.i TL:TTt"‘Iw " " “,"v '."v:-:T'e' t5'\:-’-"’ "
at. 15". .>tt‘.a:s.'..r‘al:. what k, .av‘zi s. " »,-f " :1: My". W: 91-,- '" l
.‘Jlfi't? (1"),‘t7x‘18 Hm” '. f'zr. 'vr-‘l 7' .1 " 2’ air“! ' ’.1rst"2.:tt‘- .mtr‘. thew um ("awn w Pat. ‘i' " x «c
t'u- ""05: .'..a,:1 1M5»;- txt:'r""~‘f'.:‘,-'-': " fW-z :«.> '. ‘T' w : w .z w ' .' .v:'
m '. :‘ m».- .art; ".:‘. :; >1).
.’.)':>"."‘(>:: .r; .1 pry-.1. "mm (71:. "6.2-1 t'w 1"": "w ' 1 " 1‘ I:' : "axi'om-r: m’ .1” (my. '\ "<1 :‘Y Una: ',-n', t " :w 1 . :-\.‘-tt=s .nxmf its: t'w gum; :xz'. ' " t" v/ . 1:. .u: 4113.: ill/"V'jq (3' ,' r? i v" '2 "T'~““:}w’. zit—.138 t'r-a .13? ‘-::~.'. .zgm 4H2? ' '.‘./ v “ . CU'TO‘UHK’C" of \TOL. 3""; 5:45" 1.: : : ,.: °_' -_; :‘r-i- . :,::' . recent. more textuai. tins-3’. ".1 3.17%. 7117;5355'3‘: é; ' : '. .1' .' 3' ‘ 2005‘, FV’YKJG “1! at t'u; 73.19%»: aw: ’. U'J‘AS we tit»,- u H. ' fl . inhuman,Tus'wu Siam.- (Ewar'w’vv