Theatre
■ SCOTLAND STREET SCHOOL MUSEUM 225 Scotland Street, 287 0500. FREE Alma Mater Thu 4–Sat 6 Nov. 11am–5pm. Deposit required for video handsets. A new site-specific piece of theatre created by Fish & Game (aka Eilidh MacAskill and Robert Walton) for this Mackintosh-built school space. Using video screens, audience members will encounter memories and performances linked to school and education. IETM. ■ DOGE’S PALACE Templeton Business Centre, Templeton Street, 352 4900. Private Dancer Thu 4–Sat 6 Nov. 5pm & 7.30pm; 6pm; 4.30pm & 7pm. £10 (£6). A promenade event combining dance, installation, and the art of Zen in a full-sized luminous house. IETM.
■ TRADES HALL 85 Glassford Street, 228 8000. The Tobacco Merchant’s Lawyer Fri 22 Oct. 7.30pm. £10. Iain Heggie’s satirical play on the 18th-century Glasgow tobacco trade.
■ TRAMWAY 25 Albert Drive, 0845 330 3501. Whistler Part II Fri 22 & Sat 23 Oct. 7.30pm. £8 (£5). Indepen-dance returns to the Tramway with a new piece, which includes some choreography by Tom Pritchard.
✽✽ Orlando Tue 2–Sat 6 Nov. 7.30pm. £13 (£7). Madeleine Worrall performs an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s epic novel exploring fortune, love and gender. Part of Glasgay!/IETM.
■ TRON THEATRE 63 Trongate, 552 4267.
✽✽ Sea and Land and Sky Until Sat 23 Oct. 7.30pm. £10.50–£14.50 (£6.50–£10.50). New play by Abigail Docherty about young Scottish nurses who are sent to tend to soldiers on the front line in 1916. See review, page 86. Poem in October Fri 22–Sat 30 Oct (not Sun/Mon). 7.45pm. £8.50 (£6.50). One-man play by Robert Forrest, inspired by the poetry of Dylan Thomas and treading a line between sad and hilarious. Lost in Digression Sat 23 Oct. 8.30pm. £4. An eclectic night of music, poetry and storytelling. Open.Stage Rehearsed Readings Sat 23 Oct. 2.30pm. £4 (£2.50 if booked with Sea and Land and Sky). A reading of Rob Drummond’s runner-up play, Zurich. Blood + Roses Mon 25 Oct–Sat 6 Nov. 11am–3.30pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Promenade performance combining music, soundscape, smells, visual art, photography and film. IETM. Midsummer [a play with songs] Tue 26 Oct–Sat 6 Nov (not Sun/Mon). 7.30pm. £10.50–£14.50 (£6.50–£10.50). A play about two thirty-somethings and one hot long night of bridge burning, car chases and midnight trysts. IETM.
✽✽ Chekhov Shorts: The Two Volodyas and Romance with a
Double Bass Tue 2 & Wed 3 Nov. 7.45pm (Wed mat 12.30pm). £8.50 (£5). Lung Ha’s Theatre Company presents two new plays inspired by Chekhov’s short stories. See preview, page 84. Roadkill Thu 4–Sat 13 Nov. 3pm; 7pm. £12 (£8). Off-site performance following a young girl as she travels from Nigeria to Edinburgh hoping for a new life. IETM. The Maids Thu 4–Sat 13 Nov. 7.45pm. £8.50 (£6.50). Jean Genet’s sinister tale set in the Parisian gutter. Part of Glasgay!/The IETM Biannual Plenary.
EDINBURGH
■ BEDLAM THEATRE 11b Bristo Place, 225 9893. The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) Thu 21 Oct. 7.30pm. £4. Adaptation in the style of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Dealer’s Choice Tue 26–Sat 30 Oct. 7.30pm. £5 (£4.50). Student production of Patrick Marber’s play. 88 THE LIST 21 Oct–4 Nov 2010
The Pitchfork Disney Wed 3 Nov. 2.30pm. £4. A grotesque take on the darker side of the imagination.
■ BRUNTON THEATRE Ladywell Way, Musselburgh, 665 2240. FREE Janis Claxton Dance: Human Animal Thu 21–Sat 23 Oct (not Fri). 3–7.30pm. A unique site- specific performance involving dancers and a giant perspex box. Brunton Youth Theatre Sat 23 Oct. 7.30pm. £6 (family ticket £22). A new production from BYT. Romeo and Juliet Thu 28 & Fri 29 Oct. Thu 1.30pm & 7.30pm; Fri 10.30am & 7.30pm. £11 (£9; under 18s £6). Pilot Theatre brings the star-crossed lovers to life. Hit Me! The Life and Rhymes of Ian Dury Mon 1 Nov. 7.30pm. £11 (£9; under 18s £6). A song-packed portrait of the lead singer of The Blockheads, Ian Dury. ■ KING’S THEATRE 2 Leven Street, 529 6000. Lark Rise to Candleford Until Sat 23 Oct. 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £14–£26.50. Adaptation of Flora Thompson’s novel evoking 19th-century rural life. 2 Pianos 4 Hands Thu 28 Oct–Sat 6 Nov (not Sun/Mon). 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £14–£26.50. Musical comedy about the trials and tribulations of two aspiring pianists.
■ FESTIVAL THEATRE 13/29 Nicolson Street, 529 6000. Blaze Until Sat 23 Oct. Thu 7.30pm; Fri 6pm & 8.30pm; Sat 2.30pm & 7.30pm. £11.50–£21.50. Hip hop and street dance featuring Lizzie Gough and Tommy Franzen from So You Think you Can Dance.
■ HENDERSON’S 94 Hanover Street, 225 2131. Cutting the Cord Until Sat 23 Oct. Thu 10am; Fri & Sat 7pm. £7 (£5). A comic play exploring the complexities of mother-daughter relationships. By Michael Shand. ■ PLAYHOUSE 18–22 Greenside Place, 0844 847 1660. Spamalot Until Sat 23 Oct. 7.30pm (Sat mat 2.30pm). £19–£43. Knights of the Round Table-spoof, starring Marcus Brigstocke. Oklahoma! Tue 26–Sat 30 Oct. 7.30pm (Wed & Sat mat 2.30pm). £16.75–£37. Marti Webb and Mark Evans bring the rootin’ tootin’ Western musical to Scotland.
■ THE QUEEN’S HALL 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. Rafael de Utrera’s Flamenco Sat 30 Oct. 7pm. £15 (£12). Singer Rafael de Utrera’s latest production, Flamenco Vivo, featuring the explosive dancing of his wife Carmen Lozano. Part of the Hispanic Arts Festival. Juan Martin: Virtuoso Guitar Thu 4 Nov. 8pm. £17.50 (£15.50). An exhilarating night of flamenco dance and music.
■ ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE Grindlay Street, 248 4848.
✽✽ The Importance of Being Earnest Fri 22 Oct–Sat 20 Nov
(not Sun/Mon). 7.45pm (Wed 27 & Sat 30 Oct, Wed 3, Sat 6 & Sat 13 Nov mat 2.30pm). £11–£28 (£5–£26). Mark Thomson directs Oscar Wilde’s comedy of double lives. See preview, page 84.
■ THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 28 Great King Street, 07879 581653. Dances of Universal Peace Wed 3 Nov. 7–9pm. £5. Dances inspired by global spiritual traditions.
■ TRAVERSE THEATRE Cambridge Street, 228 1404. Midsummer [a play with songs] Until Sat 23 Oct. 7.30pm (Sat mat
2.30pm). £10–£16 (£6–£12). See Glasgow, Tron Theatre. A Play, a Pie & a Pint: Good with People Until Sat 23 Oct. 1pm. £12. A new play by David Harrower.
✽✽ Chekhov Shorts: The Two Volodyas and Romance with a Double Bass Thu 28 Oct. 1pm & 8pm. £10–£14 (£6–£10). See Glasgow, Tron Theatre.
✽✽ Spring Awakening Fri 29 Oct–Sat 13 Nov (not Mon). 7.30pm
(Wed mat 2.30pm); 6pm. £10–£16 (£6–£12). Grid Iron and the Traverse Theatre Company join forces on a new adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s scandalous play. See preview, page 83.
Outside the Cities
■ DUNDEE REP Tay Square, Dundee, 01382 223530.
✽✽ A Doll’s House Until Sat 6 Nov (not Sun/Mon). 7.30pm (Thu 28 &
Sat 30 Oct mat 2.30pm). £11–£17
(£5–£11). Writer Samuel Adamson presents his new take on Ibsen’s potent drama. ■ BYRE THEATRE Abbey Street, St Andrews, 01334 475000. Hamlet Wed 27 & Thu 28 Oct. 7.30pm (Thu mat 1.30pm). £14 (£8–£12). Icarus Theatre Collective and Harrogate Theatre perform Shakespeare’s tragedy. The P Word Fri 29 & Sat 30 Oct. 7.30pm. £8. Israel Horowitz’s new play deals with the subject of teenage pregnancy.
■ MACROBERT University of Stirling, Stirling, 01786 466666. Stags and Hens Until Fri 22 Oct. 7.30pm. £7 (£5). Comic romp from Stirling University Drama Society. Stirling Gang Show Wed 27–Sat 30 Oct. 7.30pm. £10 (£6.50). Stirling Scouts and Guides present an evening of variety entertainment.
REVIEW LITERARY ADAPTATION A CLOCKWORK ORANGE Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 6 Nov ●●●●●
Jeremy Raison’s production of Anthony Burgess’s satirical fable about youthful gang violence and freedom of choice was always going to have to work hard to distance itself from the iconic source novel, not to mention Stanley Kubrick’s notorious film adaptation. In terms of its look and overall tone, Raison largely succeeds in creating a distinctive vision of the parallel reality in which teenage thugs drink ‘milk plus’, indulge in lashings of ultraviolence and talk in corrupted Russian. Jason Southgate’s sparse, industrial set, and the discomfiting soundscape underlines the sense of urban decay at the heart of the story, where Kubrick opted for a breakneck pace and a series of shocking but ultimately rather empty set pieces. Where the production falls down is largely down to the adaptation, which
features several passages of needless exposition, where the central freedom-versus-choice dichotomy comes across loud and clear from the arc of the narrative. As a result, the story drags when it should have an electrifying urgency, a problem that is further compounded by the performances. While Jay Taylor brings charisma and a certain vulnerability to the central role of Alex, the supporting cast, playing numerous minor parts, struggle to create distinctive characters and often resort to mugging and silly accents. (Allan Radcliffe)
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