h I www.|ist.co.uk/theatre
REVIEW CLASSIC
MACBETH 00
Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 11 Oct
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PREV‘EW ‘ " ' - Pierrepoint and Ellis inhabit the same area in the As "e;‘:<:"‘ : an", Waco-397's (reati': FOLLOW ME . , . . ,. .. ,. Citizens. Theatre. GIaSgOW' Tue 30 Sepsm 4 Oct prison, but don t meet until the final moment when he . surge". e. ,l. r, sets '. . ' kills her.’ "vlaebet'i aso aeoebts " 5: 'ate. he re Drawing a dazzling trail of four and five—star reviews It was the idea of getting inside the heads of these e". 31"."{if}f;"1(}‘.'.'l‘£if ""r: "car'rat or: of since its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival two notorious figures that drew him to the story, a t"e bray. be"-:;-"t of t"(: " g" Teas or that Fringe last year, Follow Me is a sparsely staged story which has proved to be powerful and moving to shear make 1 so erg '.::;:;*";,. a .1 a emotive tale about Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged audiences over the last year. ‘What drives me to make :: SSEil)l)()l"'. rig surf to the l;,<:-:;-.;r"'s in Britain, which has arrived on stage via the canny theatre is the drama of the moment. How would I feel? sease'r. Vasnv‘ Saiavhaw hand of Fringe hitmeister, Guy Masterson. ‘lt’s lovely What would I do in that situation?’ says Masterson. when things like that happen, but we didn’t bet for ‘With Follow Me, we know what’s going to happen, but commercial success,’ says Masterson of the we wonder how that final moment will be played out.’ overwhelmingly positive response. ‘We just developed Ellis, 28 and a mother of three, was sentenced to a dramatic piece with a real solid core.‘ death after being convicted of murdering her lover, Composed of two monologues, written by Ross David Blakely. She famously sealed her fate at trial Gurney-Randall and Dave Mounfield and spliced when she said, ‘lt’s obvious when I shot him I intended together by Masterson, Follow Me dramatises the last to kill him,’ but the sentence was always controversial moments of Ellis (Beth Fitzgerald) as she awaits her and hastened the end of capital punishment in this fate at the hands of leading executioner Albert country. Pierrepoint (Ross Gurney-Randall) in Holloway Prison ‘There's no way she would have been executed on July 13, 1955. nowadays,’ says Masterson. ‘At the time, she was ‘lt’s an enthralling story,’ says Masterson. “These two made an example of. Today, the case would have been killers eventually meet at the end of this 80-minute thrown out of court on grounds of diminished piece of theatre and it’s played out in real time. responsibility.’ (Susan Wright)
REVIEW '1 2'. ASSN: MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN Dundee Rep, until Sat 27 Sep 000
r '1; ar‘ austere ‘arizisoabt: th"<>trgl‘ '.'.rh.::h Arir‘. l otrrse Ross (lrags her (raft.
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the (ielttr'riarrzs'g effer:ts of r'iorre‘,. Mother (Ioerage's relentless guest ‘or a geotl (leal arm: a. "aw: hargah s lit-lll'ld exerx, <:atas’.r‘or>he that besets her. T'rors her first sort sg". "t; up to the arrrr, to her daughter's (leath. 'lt's (List a (lt1(}f§.i(>l‘. of rrrorreyf she says. ‘a.l;rtg eper t<> see hox'.’ <lestru<‘tr.e the br‘ofrt .".l(>'.".(i- (tart be.
(Eerr‘, Mrr'gr't rvorltretvori ‘.'./r‘.h a large [)trrtoee er‘serr‘ble ‘rb‘, beohie tam:- a l:;>‘.'.'. "of :rr<:;tr<l.r‘g llltlf§l<fi£lllf1 rrrakes thrs bolrtroal posrtzoe (:rear, shoxnir‘g that base eeorrortrrtt lt(%(i(?f;tlf 'riearis “the '.'.'ar \'.’Ill always frirl arr oetret." Ir: a our, ‘.‘."l" a 'erratatrorr tor rts Lrvrrer'rrttrrrg lerigtlr hovxexer. there .1; too trttre \rg‘r'atror‘r :" to'ie. Ht ss captures the harri brtte'i rrattrre of Mother (Zoerage (L‘Xii(‘l".. :‘at he' :;e":;e of lltlllltHl r:; so tl'\.. her brtter x'xorlrl‘aex'.’ so bleak. that oar j()lill‘(?\, tiiroagh the ‘.'.‘ar seevr‘rs as lhariki Efifl at; hers.
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