Theatre
REVIVAL THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE Paisley Arts Centre, Wed 14-Sat 17 Feb, then touring
Judy Garland said to her daughter, ‘Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.’ The title character of Little Voice seems to have it the wrong way round; she’s unsure of herself but first rate at imitating others.
If you haven’t seen the film, shy and withdrawn Little Voice, known as LV (Denise Hoey), escapes the pain of the loss of her father and the hysteria of her alcoholic mother (Wendy Seager) through mimicking the great singers of yesteryear while holed up in her room. Her uncanny ability to impersonate the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland from her selection of old records catches the attention of her mother’s latest squeeze, small fry manager Ray Say (Stewart Porter), who thrusts her unwillingly into the spotlight.
Award winning Visible Fictions and the Scottish Touring Theatres Consortium presents Jim Cartwright’s familiar and very British classic. It’s a variation of the underdog story - a girl struggling to overcome the obstacles in her life. The play subtly combines character driven comedy and a dark analysis of the celebrity culture that we are all too familiar with. It was written specifically for actress Jane Horrocks and premiered at the National Theatre in 1992. Horrocks made a strong ‘impression’ with her performance, so a lot will be riding on Hoey’s ability to carry the character through the fraught relationships and the powerful warbling of legends past. (Greer Ogston)
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Reviews
WEST END TOUR CHARLEY’S AUNT Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Mon 12-Sat 17 Feb, then touring
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It's probably to the detriment of Brandon Thomas' Charley's Aunt that. a couple of years after its premiere in 1892. another play featuring two young men willing to engage in a bit of deception and disguise in order to gull elderly relatives into allowing them to marry their intendeds was premiered. Such was the significance of The Importance of Being Earnest that the play's immense commercial success (it was still running in the West End when Earnest began) counted for little to its critical reputation.
All the same. the tale of the Oxford toff persuaded to dress up as his pals aunt as a bogus chaperone for the amorous intentions of his mates hasn't ceased to please crowds since. This West End touring production directed by Mel Smith (who certainly knows his farce) and starring Stephen Tomlinson (you‘ll know him from Drop the dead Donkey. Brassed Off and endless television comediesl as the ultimately woebegone cross dressing central character, looks like a seat seller on classical lines. (Steve Cramerl
WEST END TOUR
THE WOMAN IN BLACK Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Mon 12—Sat 17 Feb
These days. the reckoning of the commercial sector in the theatre runs that if it isn't a musical, it won't play. Yet. the living. breathing, if at the same time undead contradiction to this
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truism still seems to have ghostly legs. wherever it goes.
Stephen Mallatratt's version of Susan Hill's novel is now in its 18th year of touring. and has never (at least on the occasions this reviewer has seen it) failed to fill a house. Perhaps the appeal of this tale of a man haunted by the ghostly presence of a much-victimised Victorian single mother lies in the traditional interpretation of horror — in witnessing the dead living. we defeat death ourselves. Whatever the appeal of this eerie banker, it does seem to locate. within its frights. a certain level of awareness that our society isn‘t entirely fair to its victims of circumstance. past and present. This is a ghost with a conscience.
(Steve Cramerl
CLASSIC
CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE
Dundee Rep, until Sat 3 Feb
We've got so wrapped up with having our own National Theatre in Scotland that we've been apt to forget of recent times that there's also a pretty formidable one south of the border. still obliged by its remit to visit us once in a while. The latest of these visits — this time in a co—production with Filter theatre company — is a pretty fleeting one to Dundee with Brecht's still relevant political classic.
In case you don't know the story. we meet a young servant girl. who at the onset of a civil war. is left with the baby of a noble woman. She raises the child on the edge of poverty. bringing him through various potentially lethal adventures and an abusive marriage. only to find that the posh biological mother wants him back when things settle down. A mighty allegow about nature. nurture and an exploitative class system. the piece is bound to pack a punch. (Steve Cramerl
THE MINISTRY OF BURLESQUE PRESENTS HIGH TEASE Classic Grand, Glasgow, Sat 3 Feb
Burlesque. a word used with some specificity by this six—year-old company. is a quite separate form from music hall or vaudeville although it has many traditions in common. Granted. many of the turns are the same — comics. singing. dancing and acrobatics — but the tone was traditionally quite different in the heyday of this term. For Burlesque. from which the striptease originated. was always the slightly seedier little sister of the more mainstream entertainment — edgier both politically and aesthetically. and much more frequently raided by the police.
Yet the camp appeal of this kind of jamboree is pretty obvious. So it is no surprise that the recent revival of burlesque has been such a success. Since its inception in 2001. this outfit have played to packed houses all over the country. Its return to its Glasgow origins. complete with fire eaters. tassel-wearing dancers. drag acts and song is sure to sell well. With acts like Kittie Klaw. Missy Malone and Ophelia Bit/ on the bill. you can be pretty certain of what you are going to get. And with a percentage of profits gorng to the restoration of the Britannia Panopticon theatre. your enjoyment is all in the name of a good cause. (Steve Cramer)