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Theatre PREVIEWS

CLASSIC BETRAYAL Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 2–Sat 24 Mar

There were many Harold Pinters: the gruff scourge of political hypocrisy; the resourceful screenwriter; the not terribly good poet. Pinter the playwright, however, looms over them all. His output slowed in later life but for his first quarter-century he was a sorcerer. From 1957’s The Room to 1984’s One For The Road he produced a succession of haunting masterpieces. Betrayal, currently being revived by the Citz, was inspired by painful personal events. The initial spur was an extra-marital affair Pinter had with Joan Bakewell, although by the time Pinter came to write it he’d gone back to his first wife and then left her for Antonia Fraser. The ensuing personal turmoil seems to have put Pinter in a straighten-up-and-fly-right mood, in that Betrayal is lean and tersely naturalistic, with none of the surreal comic menace of his earlier plays. The real stroke of genius was to tell the story in reverse. The play opens in 1977 with former lovers Jerry and Emma reflecting on the damage, and works its way back via deceptions and admissions to the moment in 1968 when a drunk Jerry first confesses his love to her. Cal Macaninch, who plays cuckolded husband Robert, remarks that ‘knowing the outcome of a story gives delicious resonance to the choices they all make as we travel back with them.’ It’s like a whodunit where the victim is truth and the criminal turns out to be everyone; as Macaninch points out, ‘the audience is kept on their toes figuring who knows what at any given time.’ The result is one of Pinter’s most honest plays, with Emma arguably his finest female character. Dominic Hill directs, with Neve McIntosh as Emma and Hywel Simon as Jerry. (Alex Johnston)

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NEW PLAY PLUME Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 1–Sat 17 Mar

In 2010, JC Marshall’s Plume was shortlisted in the Tron’s Open Stage playwriting competition. Now the theatre’s staging a full production of the play. Doctor Who’s Sylvester McCoy plays Mr Peters, a charismatic teacher whose son dies in a terrorist attack on an aeroplane. ‘When the Lockerbie bomber was released,’

Marshall says, ‘a heated debate ensued about what mercy means and who is entitled to it. Scotland was referred to as a nation of merciful people. Since Scotland appears to be in the process of defining, redefining and remembering what kind of country it is, that certainly made me prick up my ears. ‘Having said that, Plume isn’t a political play and it

isn’t about Lockerbie. Quite frankly, I don’t have enough facts to write that particular play. Who does?’

Finn Den Hertog and Gemma McElhinney star alongside McCoy, and Plume’s serious subject is balanced against Marshall’s characteristic quirkiness. ‘I always get some raised eyebrows about my stage directions,’ she says. ‘In Plume, one reads, “She mimes hitting a chicken with a spatula.” See? It really isn’t a political play.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)

ADAPTATION ANTIGONE Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 15–Sat 17 Mar; Platform, Glasgow, Wed 21 Mar

Is standing up for your beliefs always the right thing to do? How far would you be prepared to go? Sophocles addressed these questions in Antigone in 440BC; with the Arab Spring and anti-Putin demonstrations in Russia, they are more relevant than ever right this minute.

Lung Ha’s artistic director, Maria Oller, felt the 23- strong company, all with learning disabilities, was ready to get back to the roots of drama and tackle Antigone’s choice between family honour and state punishment. ‘Also, with 23 actors, I can have a big chorus in Greek tragedy. Every director wants to do that.’

Adrian Osmond’s new version of the text keeps the stylised language and places it in a timeless yet contemporary setting. The costumes are neutral, with a hint of ancient Greek (there’s not a toga in sight). Five members of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland play a new score by Kenneth Dempster. Antigone is, says Oller, ‘the most challenging thing the company has taken on so far. I want them to be part of the bigger theatre community, go beyond their own world.’ (Anna Burnside)

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NEW PLAY THE MAN WHO LIVED TWICE Arches, Glasgow, Wed 7–Sat 10 Mar then touring

Writer, actor and director Garry Robson loves a challenge, and as the pen behind Birds of Paradise’s upcoming production The Man Who Lived Twice he’s given himself just that. In dramatising the meeting between legendary American playwright Edward Sheldon and a youthful John Gielgud, Robson was inspired by the great stage actor’s letters.

‘I was just so interested in these two men,’ he explains. ‘Sheldon was hugely appealing to explore a disabled man who couldn’t leave his bed, yet an oracle for all these Hollywood greats; while Gielgud was personally battling his own problems as a closeted homosexual. Both men were hiding in some way and I found that bond between them fascinating.’

Alison Peebles will direct and Kenny Miller will design what Robson promises will be a piece with a ‘slightly surreal edge’, and a few Noel Coward- inspired musical numbers thrown in. He’s happy, too, to be returning to the Birds of Paradise fold: ‘They are so ambitious [as a company] about producing new integrated theatre; it’s exciting to be part of that with a great story to tell.’ (Anna Millar)

1–29 Mar 2012 THE LIST 111