Theatre
PREVIEW THRILLER AFTER THE END Citizens Theatre, Glasgow Tue 17 May–Sat 4 Jun; Dundee Rep, Thu 16–Sat 25 Jun
When actors Jonathan Dunn and Nicola Daley take their final curtain call in June, they will say goodbye to After the End. But fear not. After the end of that After the End, it will be time for another After the End. That’s because, in a rare moment of synchronous
planning, both the Citizens and Dundee Rep are staging Dennis Kelly’s psychological thriller. In each case, the directors are making the most of the play’s bunker setting: in Dundee, James Brining will escort his 40-strong audience to a location near the theatre for an exercise in site-specific claustrophobia; while in Glasgow, Amanda Gaughan is using the intimacy of the Circle Studio to add to the intensity of her production.
‘The Circle Studio is great for something like this,’ says Gaughan, trainee director at the Citz. ‘The design and the dialogue are very realistic – it could be a film – and so it’s very tight and claustrophobic.’
First seen at Edinburgh’s Traverse in a production by Paines Plough and the Bush, the two-hander is a post- nuclear fallout drama in which a mismatched couple believe themselves to be the only survivors of a global catastrophe. When the well-liked Louise wakes from a concussion to find herself locked in a concrete shelter, she realises her survival depends on her oddball colleague Mark.
Combining the hothouse atmosphere of Big Brother and the lawless anarchy of Lord of the Flies, the play asks troubling questions about male-female relationships – and what happens after they turn sour. ‘There’s a real power struggle between the two characters,’ says Gaughan. ‘She is very strong within it, but the rules become skewed and the morals become off-kilter. Kelly creates characters who go from plausible extremes: they can show incredible kindness but also moments of horrible behaviour.’ (Mark Fisher)
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REVIEW NEW PLAY PANDAS Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 7 May ●●●●● REVIEW CLASSIC ADAPTATION EDUCATING AGNES Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, until Sat 7 May ●●●●●
REVIEW REVIVAL SIX BLACK CANDLES Currently touring throughout Scotland. Seen at Cottier Theatre, Glasgow, Sat 9 Apr ●●●●●
Rona Munro’s new play is a strange mix of thriller and far-fetched romantic comedy that only really comes into focus as a meditation on contemporary relationships in the final moments. The piece opens with a series of two-handers
between seemingly disparate characters, all with a connection to tax-dodging businessman Andy (Keith Fleming), who imports rugs from China. When he’s shot in the backside the main suspect is his ex, entomologist Madeleine (Meg Fraser), whose neuroses passions bubble over in a hilarious police station scene with police officer James (Phil McKee), whose own wife Julie (Vicki Liddelle) has been playing away from home. Meanwhile, Andy’s inexperienced business partner Jie Hui (Siu Hun Li) struggles to explain his involvement in the incident to Lin Han (Crystal Yu), with whom he has been enjoying a blossoming internet romance. Munro does bring these threads together, though, frustratingly, the conflicts introduced in the first half are resolved rather easily, leaving the play relying too heavily on the candid humour in the script and the spotless performances. (Allan Radcliffe)
104 THE LIST 28 Apr–26 May 2011
There’s lots to enjoy in this revival of Liz Lochhead’s translation of Moliere’s L’ecole des femmes, but perhaps the greatest pleasure comes from the wit and dynamism offered by the text itself. A palpable sense of anticipation grips the audience as we await the culmination of another couplet to see what irreverent rhyme the Makar has found to make the great French comedy sing in the Scots vernacular. (‘I’m going to marry a sweet, pure, simple girl / Your intellectual types, they make my toes curl!’) Tony Cownie’s production for the Lyceum transfers the setting to Edinburgh, with panto-style references to the Evening News and local taxis. While the period hasn’t been updated, there’s still something very fresh and modern about this tale of a vain, middle-aged man, Arnolphe, who has groomed his young charge, Agnes, to become the ideal ingénue bride. In the lead role, Peter Forbes creates the perfect balance of monster and cuckold, while displaying a consummate ease with the text, and he’s ably supported by Mark Prendergast as love rival Horace and Nicola Roy as the not-so-daft eponymous heroine. (Allan Radcliffe)
First performed at Edinburgh’s Lyceum in 2004, Des Dillon’s Six Black Candles has not been back on home turf since, despite popularity further afield – and more’s the pity. Dillon, a sort of Bruce Springsteen figure of Scottish theatre, has a knack for using simple, colloquial language to tell a surreal story in a relatable way within a realistic setting.
Set in Irish-Catholic Coatbridge, where Dillon himself was brought up, the play follows three generations of women from one family as they unite in the name of a common goal: Wiccan revenge on one of their number’s cheating bastard husband. Perfectly-timed one-liners abound from a roster familiar to us from such television staples as Rab C Nesbitt and Still Game, with Vivien Grahame (better known to most of us as comedienne and performance poet Viv Gee) and River City’s Carmen Pieraccini especially standing out. Throw in a decapitated head in a freezer, a mad Irish granny (played wonderfully by Kay Gallie), a new priest and local hitman as well as impeccable performances from the female-heavy cast, and we’re onto a winner. (Lauren Mayberry)
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