THEATRE | Previews
ANTI-CLOWN ABSURDISM HOW A MAN CRUMBLED Tron, Glasgow, Thu 25–28 Jul
Combining the anarchy of Lecoq physical theatre and the absurdist charms of Russian author Danlil Kharms, Clout’s How A Man Crumbled arrives in Glasgow after a successful run at the 2012 Fringe. Although the company have a new piece for this year’s Fringe, co-founder George Ramsay affirms that a year of touring has not diminished their passion. ‘Kharms is our first love, and although we’ve met someone else, he’ll remain in our hearts till death do us part,’ he says. Since Crumbled is full of surreal moments – it follows the flawed attempts by sinister storytellers to complete a tale – the experience of performing is suitably unpredictable.
‘Performing the show is like setting off a firework every night,’ he continues. ‘Sometimes it explodes in glorious flight, sometimes it ricochets off a wall and hits the crowd, sometimes it explodes in your face, but there’s always that exciting risk there.’ While Lecoq technique has become relatively familiar,
Kharms remains obscure: despite being a popular children’s writer, the Soviet state arrested him as a traitor. How A Man Crumbled boldly rescues his reputation. It is, Ramsay insists, a labour of love: ‘we will play it whenever invited. It’s always a delight to crumble.’ (Gareth K Vile)
BARD IN THE BOTANICS MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Botanic Gardens, Glasgow, until Sat 27 Jul
For the tenth anniversary of Gordon Barr’s reign as artistic director of Glasgow’s popular outdoor Shakespeare season Bard in the Botanics, there’s a real sense of renewed confidence in the choice of works being performed and the space in which the company feels happy to interpret their chosen plays. Alongside the just-finished Othello and Jennifer Dick’s Julius Caesar, running concurrently with this show, Barr’s Much Ado About Nothing forms part of an ‘Edge of War’ season, focusing on characters conflicted by their military involvement.
Yet another unique aspect has been fed into this version of Much Ado, a play which Barr has already produced in Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens: this time the pivotal romantic couple of Benedick and Beatrice are a modern gay couple. ‘As I read through the play again something chimed with me about these characters,’ says Barr. ‘Their resistance to falling in love, their resistance to admitting their feelings for one another, particularly publicly – what if they were a modern male gay couple?’
What Barr says he liked was the sense that the text works perfectly appropriately in this context with only the sex of the characters (now called Benedick and Bertram) altered. ‘There’s also an extra layer in that Benedick is a soldier coming from a very masculine world,’ says Barr. ‘How does he deal with this growing realisation? The Shakespearean phrase is that he ‘railed against it’, against falling in love. It all fell into place, the barriers to their love are all there in the play.’ (David Pollock)
MUSICAL 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL King’s Theatre, Glasgow, 13–17 Aug
Toe-tapping transitions from the silver screen to the theatre stage have become common practice for those writing musicals in recent years, with several popular films being revisited and revitalised for a new audience. Cultish 80s romp 9 to 5 is the latest to show its mettle, rocking up in Glasgow next month, following Broadway plaudits and a lengthy UK run.
Fans of the 1980 movie – not to mention the rather awesome title song by Dolly Parton – will unlikely forget the ballsy tale of a trio of female office workers hell-bent on revenge against their sleazy, misogynist boss.
‘I’ve always loved those great, feisty 70s and 80s
comedy women,’ explains former Hollyoaks actress Natalie Casey, who plays cheated-on wife Judy Bernly. ‘And of course you’ve got these amazing songs by Dolly Parton, who is an absolute genius. I couldn’t wait to get involved.’ Which is not to say Casey is happy with certain quarters bandying about trite terms like ‘girl power’ in relation to her
CATALONIAN STREET THEATRE SURGE Merchant City, Glasgow, Sat 27–Sun 28 Jul
This year’s Surge festival brings an exciting strand of Catalonian street theatre to Glasgow. Over the last weekend of July, five shows by acclaimed Catalan theatre groups will make their way through the Merchant City. One of them is Kamchatka, in which a group of migrants respond to the new world around them. ‘Kamchatka is a show I’ve wanted to bring here since 2010,’
says Alan Richardson, director at Surge creators Conflux. ‘They’re incredibly skilled walkabout street performers. The whole show is improvised but it’s always very good.’ Acclaimed Fadunito also present slapstick comedy The
Grand Family; Ceci 3.0, which questions attitudes towards disability by inviting onlookers to sit in a remote-controlled wheelchair; and Externet, an installation about communication devised with community volunteers. Together with a new show from The Wandering Orquestra, Richardson hopes Surge’s Catalonian programme will help introduce high quality street theatre to modern audiences and theatremakers in Scotland. ‘This wide variety of work is good for both audiences and
latest project: ‘You get people wanting to categorise it, chick lit or girl power or whatever, but to me it’s simply a great story with great tunes, about three great characters overcoming adversity. That’s as relevant today as it’s ever been.’ (Anna Millar) performers to see that street theatre isn’t just people juggling on unicycles,’ says Richardson. (Yasmin Sulaiman)
102 THE LIST 11 Jul–22 Aug 2013