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Theatre
PREVIEW NEW WORK SKIN PIEL (WITHOUT SIN)
The Arches, Glasgow, Tue 20-Thu 22 May
Morally questionable animal testing aside. in wvo research has proven its worth through centuries of scientific study. with experimentation on. or dissection of. entire systems providing valuable holistic information on the workings of the world. Drawing from a wide range of experiences and Cultures. Oceanallover's new work promises an in We examination of the human condition. using performance and
music as a dissection tool.
In seven abstract scenes. ranging from medieval morality players at an airport to the monarchy on a package holiday. director and performer Alex Rigg has diverse sowces of inspiration. ‘The idea of anatomists and artists looking in collaboration at the human body interested me. but that line of thinking runs in parallel with an investigation of the human body as a geological landscape. or maybe the skin of the earth and the skin of the human body.‘ Rigg is also keen to stress the non- representational nature of the work. ‘My approach is to try and generate specific emotions within people: what they won't see is a typical literal manifestation. hopefully what they will feel is a sense of the emotion it generates.‘
Rehearsing on a rural Galloway hillside. Rigg has deliberately worked outside the collective consciousness of the city to create a fresh vision. with a suitably lofty aim. 'When people go away and think about what they've seen and try to interpret or understand it. I hope they will get a sense of the physical scale of humanity and the balance between human frailty and the human ability to move mountains.‘
(David Laing)
PREVIEW NEW WORK
DEATH STORY
Oran Mor, Glasgow, until Sat 10 May
The thriller format that we've come to associate with Alma Cullen's film and television work in such programmes as A Touch of Frost and Inspector Morse is abandoned in her latest play for a more reflective. if entertaining style. Death Story sees a recently deceased woman engaging with aCCOUnts of her life given by both her husband and former lover. They can neither see nor hear her. but the woman‘s comments on their versions of past events are crucial.
“It's about biographies being lies.‘ Cullen explains. ‘lnformation conveyed to the public is often to do with selection. people forget the truth. embroider it. and put themselves in the picture when they weren't there to give themselves a bigger part than they deserve. I think things like jealousy. pride and shame come into play as well.‘
What emerges is a story of two relationships. neither of which is quite what they seem at the outset. Cullen is complimentary about Play. Pie and Pint‘s lunchtime theatre format. feeling that the short running time required is an advantage to a writer. not a limitation. 'I never think of a play as being a one-act play: I think of it being a play. A COuple of the plays I've done before for Play. Pie and Pint are three-act plays. fitted into the time. It's tremendously liberating to be given 45 to 50 minutes to say whatever you want.‘ (Steve Cramer)
Vincent Friel stars in Death Story
REVIEW NEW WORK NOVA SCOTIA Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 24 May 0000
Next time you’re trapped behind an oldie trying to use a cash point, quietly contemplating the benefits of euthanasia, you might want to reflect on Phil and Spanky, and buy yourself some patience. John Byrne first introduced us to this roguish pair as young wannabes at a Paisley fabric factory at the dawn of the 605 in The Slab Boys. This fourth instalment of a cycle that has stretched more than three decades sees them, having each married and remarried their youthful crush Lucille through alternate decades, living out their old age with typically charming bad grace.
Phil (Paul Morrow) is living at an ancient Highland pile, producing no longer fashionable paintings while his unfaithful Britart wife (Meg Fraser) has become the toast of the cognoscenti. l-le’s interrupted, one summer’s day, by a BBC arts journalist (Cara Kelly), intent upon writing his artistic obituary, his wife’s latest media hack lover (Nicholas Karimi) and finally, Spanky (Gerry Mulgrew) and Lucille (Gerda Stevenson) on the way to a trendy resort built precisely for the kind of former rock star Spanky is. The past is raked over,
tensions rise and a painful, funny farce on contemporary life in Scotland ensues.
Paddy Cunneen’s production keeps the tone light, allowing the painful processes of memory and the confrontation between age and existential oblivion to emerge from Byrne’s witty dialogue and the actors’ nicely timed physical comedy. This is a piece that emphasises the idea that the past is capable of changing each time you examine it, and can still bring revelations, some of them life changing. Byrne’s comedy, which includes the odd memorable rant about the contemporary arts scene, succeeds because it allows no speaker to take the moral high ground; each character presents a strong case for themselves, then is quickly undermined by their own behaviour.
Michael Taylor’s set is a wonder in itself, its leafy, slightly unkempt lawn strewn with the toys of children we never meet including the gorgeously observed detail of a football wedged in a tree. There are also some strong performances, with Paul Morrow’s acutely presented old curmudgeon a splendid turn at apparently late notice. Mulgrew, too, allows no comic opportunity to pass him by, while Kelly’s Kirsty Wark soundalike hackette is a constant treat. (Steve Cramer)
8-22 May 2008 THE LIST 97