Theatre
PREVIEW ADAPTATION AMADA The Arches, Glasgow, Thu 4-Sat 6 Sep
Stories about prostitutes in the theatre are generally tales of suffering and abuse. yet this piece, adapted by Cora Bisset from a shOrt stOry by Isabel Allende. takes an unorthodox approach to familiar subject matter. There‘s a transformative beauty to Bisset's production, which sweeps through the long life of a woman who comes from Spain to an unnamed South American country and endures many travails but winds up leading a joyous life.
‘For me, it’s a beautiful story about a prostitute for once.‘ says Bisset. were used to so many sordid stories with old hags sitting talking about getting horrible things done to them. That. of course, is a side of prostitution, and I'm not trying to gloss over that. but in the stOry she manages to give every man the feeling of being loved. and there's something great about that. It's a celebration of a woman who's bloody good at her craft.‘
If the approach to content seems unorthodox, Bisset‘s play also features a different approach in form. ‘lt‘s very stylised. but it's very clear storytelling,‘ she says. ‘Music has always been big to me; I started out in bands myself. so that's important here. There’s a very immediate connection you get when you're playing live. it's much more of a shortcut connection between you and the audience — the music goes straight to the gut.’
That and a cast from as far afield as Chile, Lebanon. the Basque country and Greece look like making Amada a good night out. (Steve Cramer)
PREVIEW CLASSIC MAC Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 12 Sep-Sat 11 Oct
The last time Liam Brennan starred as Macbeth it was in a modern- day interpretation in Musselburgh in which the soldiers wore khaki, news was conveyed by TV screen, and when the thane of Cawdor heard bells it was the sound of his mobile. Ten years later, he’s back in the title role in a production that couldn’t be more different.
‘I’ve been in the play a few times and I’ve never been in one like this,’ he says of Lucy Pitman-Wallace’s production. ‘lt’s medieval Scotland and it’s broad swords. I’ve done gangster ones and machine-gun ones, but this is in the world of the writer’s head. He imagined blasted heaths, banqueting halls, rain, cold and not a great degree of physical comfort.’
The prospect of Brennan in a Lyceum Shakespeare is a sign of quality. The actor has been quietly working his way through some of the chunkiest parts in the classical canon, including Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice and an Iago in Othello that earned him a nomination in the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland in 2005 (he won the following year for his performance in Tales from Hollywood at Perth Theatre).
In addition to these recent portrayals, Brennan has also had several encounters with the Scottish play. The actor starred as Macduff at Shakespeare’s Globe, played Banquo in a Radio 3 version and gave his interpretation of the ‘real’ Macbeth in a Radio 4 series. All of this is good grounding as he gets his teeth into the part of the tragically ambitious hero, the more so having first marked out the territory under the direction of Mark Thomson at the Brunton.
‘There’s just a degree of spadework that you’ve done; you know what everything means,’ he says. ‘You feel like you’ve already got your feet in a seedbed and you can start to play and experiment that little bit more quickly. The thing I find fascinating is that, however much we despise him, he consistently turns to us and tells us how it feels to have become what he has become. Although we are appalled by him, we are also fascinated because he is incredibly articulate about his own mindset.’ (Mark Fisher)
88 THE LIST 4—18 Sep 2008
PREVIEW MUSICAL SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS Playhouse, Edinburgh, Tue 9-Sat 13 Sep
It‘s been 54 years since Seven Brides for Seven Brothers set a new bar for Hollywood big screen productions. but, as a new national tour of the musical suggests, it's still undergoing numerous theatrical reincarnations. What exactly is it about this simple story — in which Adam Pontipee marries Milly, only for the heroine to find that she has to take care of his six rustic brothers too — that captivates audiences?
Steven Houghton, a regular West End star. who has also appeared on TV's Bugs and Holby City. steps into the role of Adam, played memorably on the silver screen by Howard Keel. Houghton puts the musicals success down to its feel- good nature: ‘A woman changes seven men from cavemen into gentlemen: it's that journey that makes this such an endearing. warm and happy story. Especially at a time like this. when there's the credit crunch happening and people are a bit down, it provides a really uplifting experience.‘
Houghton co-stars with Susan McFadden. winner of lTV's Grease is the Word. and is effusive about the production's ‘fantastic atmosphere‘. Indeed. the vibrant numbers, including 'Bless her Beautiful Hide' and ‘Goin‘ Courtin“. fuse seamlessly with the dazzling choreography, in which men swing axes like batons, to create a riotous flurry of musical energy. Houghton is optimistic that this energy has been well translated: ‘lt‘s been studied and cast really well — obvioust stage musicals are never anything like the film versions, but we've very playfully and cleverly brought this to life.‘ (Yasmin Sulaiman)