www.list.co.uk/theatre

THEATRE ROYAL 282 Hope Street, 0870 060 6647. Sing-a-Long-a Hairspray Thu 10 Sep. 7.30pm. £6.90–£16.25. Don your happiest of fancy dress get-ups and prepare to dance in the aisles at this sing-a-long screening of John Travolta’s fat suit extravaganza, Hairspray. Scottish Opera: The Elixir of Love Wed 23 Sep. 7.15pm. £10–£49 (£7–£43). A revival of Giles Havergal’s massively successful 1994 production of Donizetti’s charming opera buffa. The comedy of errors follows the peasant Nemorino’s misguided attempts to win the love of the haughty Adina with a love potion, and features some of Donizetti’s most sparkling and moving music. Francesco Corti conducts and soloists include Elena Xanthoudakis and Edgaras Montvidas.

TRON THEATRE 63 Trongate, 552 4267. Little Johnny’s Big Gay Musical ●●●●● Until Sat 12 Sep. 7.30pm. £10.50–£14.50 (£6.50–£10.50). Confessional theatre, stand-up comedy and the golden age of the Hollywood musical are combined in this glittering celebration of one man’s glorious failure. No Obvious Trauma Until Sat 12 Sep. 7.45pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Visual storytelling, dance and acting are combined to tell a story of desire and delusion as a silent woman appears at a mental hospital for treatment. The Manifesto Sun 13 Sep. 8pm. £5 (£3). Politikal kabaret night hosted by Tam Dean Burn, featuring everything from live music to short theatre performances.

✽✽ White Tea ●●●●● Tue 15–Sat 26 Sep (not Sun/Mon). 7.45pm. £8 (£6).

17–Sat 19 Sep. 7.30pm. Fresh from its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe comes a multi-layered and sumptuous piece of visual theatre. Co- presented by Fire Exit and the Tron Theatre Company, the show invites the audience to drink Japanese tea in a forest of origami and projections as Naomi journeys to Kyoto in an absurd, eccentric drama of love and loss. ✽✽ Confined Human Condition Thu £10.50–£14.50 (£6.50–£10.50). A music theatre double-bill presented by award- winning Cryptic, exploring the minds and emotions of two women one crippled with grief, the other with love. Includes world premieres of Phillip Neil Martin’s The Terror of Love and of Alejandro Vinao’s The Baghdad Monologue, both for voice and electronics. See preview, page 82. Gong Show Sun 20 Sep. 8pm. £5. Heat one of the talent competition where contestants try to entertain the crowd and beat the dreaded gong. Motherland Tue 22–Sat 26 Sep. 7.30pm. £10.50–£14.50 (£6.50–£10.50). A powerful dramatisation based on interviews conducted with the wives and mothers of servicemen. Presented by Live Theatre and the Empty Space.

Edinburgh

BEDLAM THEATRE 11b Bristo Place, 225 9893. Freshers’ Week Mon 14–Sun 20 Sep. Times vary. Prices vary. Bedlam shows what it can do with a whole week of performances, workshops and sign-up events, with productions including Wormwood, Pillowman and Adoring April. BRUNTON THEATRE Ladywell Way, Musselburgh, 665 2240. The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Changed My Life Forever Sat 12 Sep. 6pm. £20.50 (£18.50 inc supper). The story of two tribute band wannabes, Bob and Eric, and their tumultuous relationship with the fickle beast that is rock’n’roll. The hits of the 60s power the story along, including ‘Urban Spaceman’, ‘Spirit in the Sky’ and ‘San Francisco’.

Cock and Bull Story Sat 12 Sep. 7.30pm. £10.50 (£8.50). 6VT and emeraldBLUE tell the story of an up- and-coming amateur boxer. Hare and Tortoise Sat 12 Sep. See Kids listings. Wonderful Day Mon 14 Sep. 7.30pm. £14.50 (£12.50). Cabaret celebrating the life and music of Doris Day. The Beauty Queen of Leenane Fri 18 & Sat 19 Sep. 7.30pm. £10.50 (£8.50; under 18s £6). London Classic Theatre presents Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s darkly comic play about a feuding mother and daughter. Stuck in each other’s pockets in their run-down cottage on the west coast of Ireland, the two women struggle for domination, until a potential boyfriend comes calling and a tragic ending beckons. Recommended for ages 14+ only. FESTIVAL THEATRE 13/29 Nicolson Street, 529 6000. Milkshake! Live in my First Concert Fri 11–Sun 13 Sep. See Kids listings.

PLAYHOUSE 18–22 Greenside Place, 0844 847 1660. Halfway to Paradise: The Billy Fury Story Mon 14 Sep. 7.30pm. £17.50 (£16). Did you know 60s pop icon Billy Fury sold more singles for label Decca than The Rolling Stones? This rock’n’rolling musical charting his rise to fame features his original band, Fury’s Tornados. Mrs Brown Rides Again Tue 15–Sat 19 Sep. 7.30pm. £13.50–£22.50. Brendan O’Carroll dons the girdle again as the outrageous Mrs Brown for the final part of his ‘Mrs Brown’ trilogy. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Wed 23 Sep–Thu 1 Oct. 7.30pm (Thu & Sat mat 2.30pm). £10.50–£28. Hum along with singing candlesticks, boorish suitors and pitchfork wielding provincialities as the West End stage adaptation of Disney’s Oscar-winning feature film comes to Scotland. THE QUEEN’S HALL 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. Dangerously yours . . . Wed 23 & Thu 24 Sep. Wed 7.30pm; Thu 1.30pm. £10 (£5–£7). Lung Ha’s Theatre Company, which gives opportunities for people with learning disabilities, busts out the jaded detectives and dames in distress for a film noir classic.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE Grindlay Street, 248 4848.

✽✽ The Beggar’s Opera Sat 12 Sep–Sat 3 Oct (not Sun/Mon).

7.45pm (Wed 16 Sep, Sat 19 Sep, Wed 23 Sep, Sat 26 Sep & Sat 3 Oct mat 2.30pm). £9–£27. A new version by Vanishing Point of John Gay’s 1728 comic opera. See preview, page 84.

TRAVERSE THEATRE Cambridge Street, 228 1404.

✽✽ Bright Black Tue 15–Sat 19 Sep. 8pm. £5–£16. Brand New physical

theatre from Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds, with commissioned music by Michael John McCarthy of Zoey Van Goey fame, brought into being by Glasgow company Vox Motus. The production tells the tale of a young woman’s journey into a dark underworld to find and bring back her dead lover. See preview, page 82. One Academy: New Works Thu 17–Sat 19 Sep. 7.30pm. £6 (£4). Three works in progress by Scottish playwrights on consecutive nights Fever Dream: Southside by Douglas Maxwell, Reminded of Beauty by Linda McLean and Ashes Blood by David Harrower in this collaboration between the RSAMD and Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland. The Sun, the Moon and a Boy Called River Wed 23–Sat 26 Sep. See Kids listings.

Outside the Cities

DUNDEE REP Tay Square, Dundee, 01382 223530.

✽✽ The Cherry Orchard ●●●●● Until Sat 19 Sep (not Sun/Mon).

7.30pm (Sat 12 Sep mat 2.30pm). £10–£17 (£7–£13). The Rep Ensemble takes on Chekhov’s emotionally turbulent final play, the tale of Madame Ranyevskaya and the pride which may cost her family its most important possession the orchard of blossoming cherry trees. See review, page 84. The Silver Darlings ●●●●● Tue 22–Sat 26 Sep. 7.30pm (Thu & Sat mat 2.30pm). £14–£18. See Glasgow, King’s Theatre.

THE LITTLE THEATRE 58 Victoria Road, Dundee, 01382 434940. The Cemetery Club Sat 12–Sat 19 Sep (not Sun). 7.30pm (Sat 19 Sep mat 2.30pm). £8. Dundee Dramatic Society’s production of the Ivan Menchell’s play about three widows who meet once a year at their husbands’ graves.

FALKIRK TOWN HALL West Bridge Street, Falkirk, 01324 506850. Fur Coat and Magic Knickers Fri 11 Sep. 7.30pm. £9 (£8). MsFits comedy duo returns with a play about a shopaholic, her charity shop counterpart and a personal shopper. The Red Room Thu 24 Sep. 7.30pm. £10 (£9). The David Hughes Company and Al Seed have collaborated to create a contemporary and visually shocking interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale The Masque of the Red Death. Promising pestilence, decadence, grotesquery and true horror, this is probably not one for the faint hearted.

Theatre

PERTH THEATRE 185 High Street, Perth, 07838 621031. The Steamie Thu 10–Sat 26 Sep (not Sun & Mon). 7.45pm; Sat 2.30pm & 7.45pm (also Wed 23 Sep 1pm). £10–£17.50. Tony Roper’s washhouse comedy about the relationships between a group of working women as they rush to finish their work before the New Year bells.

BYRE THEATRE Abbey Street, St Andrews, 01334 475000. On the Black Hill Fri 18 Sep. 7.30pm. £14 (£12). This stage adaptation of Bruce Chatwin’s award-winning novel, set on the border of England and Wales, tells of a strong familial bond tested to the limits and the harsh realities of farming life. Rupert Brooke Wed 23 Sep. 7.30pm. £14 (£8–£12). Uncovering the truth beneath the iconic image of the young hero cut down in his prime, this play charts the life of war poet Rupert Brooke from his studies at Cambridge to his death in the early stages of World War One and reveals his turbulent personal life and brave poetic sensibilities. MACROBERT University of Stirling, Stirling, 01786 466666. From Where I Am Standing Sat 12 Sep. 8pm. £6 (£4). Junction 25, Tramway’s youth performance company, presents an original show about the dynamics of family life, performed alongside their own parents and grandparents. The Beauty Queen of Leenane Wed 16 Sep. 8pm. £12 (£6–£9). See Edinburgh, Brunton Theatre. The Red Room Fri 18 Sep. 8pm. £12 (£6–£9). See Outside the Cities, Falkirk Town Hall.

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10–24 Sep 2009 THE LIST 87