THEATRE
■ OUT OF THE BLUE DRILL HALL 30–36 Dalmeny Street, Leith, 555 7101. FREE Forest Fringe Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, times vary. In a new venue this year, this artist-led community offers a diverse range of performances, experiences, interactive happenings, walks and installations. FREE Andy Field: Motor Vehicle Sundown Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, noon. Mixing installation, participatory performance and audio show, this is a journey in the last car in the universe. Part of Forest Fringe. FREE Brian Lobel: The Mourning Glory Trilogy Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, noon. Brian Lobel presents an installation, performance and publication, built around the death of his first boyfriend. Forest Fringe. FREE Bring the Happy Mapping Thu 22 & Fri 23 Aug, noon. Invisible Flock present their project which maps out and celebrates memories of happiness in contemporary Britain. Off-site event – meet at venue. Forest Fringe. FREE Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, noon. Intimate soundscape experiment featuring performance artist Bryony Kimmings as she sets out to create, with the help of her nine-year-old niece Taylor, a positive role model for young people. Forest Fringe. FREE Paper Birds: On the Other Hand Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, noon. Interactive art installation based on the 10-year-old stage production about stories that each pair of hands has to tell. Forest Fringe. FREE Scottee: Liam Gallagher is my Grandad Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, noon. Scottee presents an audio performance made in collaboration with his 74-year-old grandad who he recorded talking about growing up in Ireland, being sold to a farm, running away from home, addiction, religion, mental health and modern life. Forest Fringe. FREE I Wish I Was Lonely Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, 12.15pm. An interactive performance about contact, presented by Hannah Walker and Chris Thorpe, using poetry, storytelling and live intervention. Forest Fringe. FREE A Cure For Ageing Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, 2pm. Ira Brand’s one- woman performance piece about getting older, offering intimate and personal accounts woven together in celebration of life and the passing years. Forest Fringe. FREE Brian Lobel: Purge Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, 3.30pm. A performance- lecture exploring the differences between online social networks and the traditional notion of friendship. Forest Fringe. FREE Ross Sutherland: Standby for Tape Backup Thu 22–Sun 25 Aug, 5pm. In this one-man show, Ross Sutherland takes one of his grandad’s old videotapes and remixes it to create an audio-visual poem. Forest Fringe. FREE What Happens to the Hope at the End of the Evening Thu 22–Sat 24 Aug, 6.30pm. Tim Crouch and Andy Smith present a two-handed drama about friendship and betrayal. Forest Fringe. FREE Hoke’s Bluff Thu 22 & Fri 23 Aug, 9.15pm. Action Hero’s performance piece, which explores the conventions of high school movies and the portrayal of small-town America. Forest Fringe. FREE Deborah Pearson: The Future Show Mon 26 Aug, 9.15pm. A performance that plays with what is expected, what is foreseen, and what is ultimately unknowable about the future. Forest Fringe. ■ ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE Grindlay Street, 248 4848. Eh Joe Fri 23 & Tue 27 Aug, 9pm. Thu 29 Aug, 7pm. Sat 31 Aug, 5pm. £8–£20. Beckett’s first play written for television explores how one man is forced to face up to his past and the lovers he has abused and driven to destruction. Part of Edinburgh International Festival &
84 THE LIST 22 Aug–19 Sep 2013
EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE ARCHES LIVE Arches, Glasgow, Tue 17–Sat 28 Sep
The Arches Live festival has a longstanding reputation for giving some of the most exciting artists a platform to challenge themselves and their audiences. Of the current crop of successful Scottish artists, many cut their teeth at the September festival.
Jackie Wylie, artistic director of the Arches, explains how she
curates the event. ‘We were looking for artists who had something passionate to say, and the potential to subvert and surprise.’ Although this might suggest that they target emerging performers, this year’s line up includes Alison Peebles and Adrian Howells, who have both made work with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Wylie notes that the performances are engaging with bigger issues.
‘There seems to be two key strands,’ she says. ‘One of them is a sense of political responsibility.’ Picking up on recent comments in the press that there is little theatre that addresses the referendum, she continues, ‘instead, there seems to be work that looks at what social responsibility means and what is activism in a society that is so alienated and unfair.’ ‘The other theme seems to be looking at – and I don’t want to sound too hippy – at what you need to do to unleash creativity,’ she explains. Greg Sinclair’s entry, I Do, Do I has the CATS awardwinner letting children loose on avant-garde musical scores while Calum MacAskill is seeing what he can make if he sticks to Poundland to buy his props and set.
But the overall atmosphere of the festival has high ideals behind the idiosyncratic performance techniques. ‘The festival seems to be exploring issues around values,’ Wylie concludes. And in this, Arches Live captures the spirit of contemporary political theatre, which willingly brings the personal into the political and the theatrical into activism. (Gareth K Vile)
Beckett at the Festival. I’ll Go On Sun 25, Mon 26, Wed 28 & Sat 31 Aug, 9pm. £8–£20. One-man show performed by Barry McGovern bringing together three monologues unifying a trio of protagonists: Molloy, Malone and the Unnameable. Edinburgh International Festival & Beckett at the Festival. First Love Wed 28–Sat 31 Aug, 7pm (Thu & Fri 9pm only). £8–£20. Adaptation of an early Beckett novella about a man, cast out from the family home, who hooks up with a woman, with darkly comic consequences. Edinburgh International Festival & Beckett at the Festival. ■ THE ROYAL SCOTS CLUB 29–31 Abercromby Place, 556 4270. Fantoosh! Thu 22 Aug–Sun 15 Sep, 8pm (Tue, Thu & Sun only). £55 including four-course dinner (children £30; under 3s free). Lighthearted dinner show celebrating Scottish history through live music, performance and film.
OUTSIDE THE CITIES
■ ADAM SMITH THEATRE Bennochy Road, Kirkcaldy, 01592 583302. The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Glamorous Amorous Tue 27–Thu 5 Sep (not Fri–Mon), 7.30pm. £25 (£23). See SECC, Glasgow.
✽ Betrayal Tue 10 Sep, 7.30pm. £12.50 (£10.50). Pinter’s classic
1970s drama of an extra-marital affair told in reverse order. Derek Acorah: Eternal Spirits Wed 11 Sep, 7.30pm. £17.50. Most Haunted’s spirit medium takes his mystical show on tour. The Collection Wed 18 Sep, 7.30pm. £12 (£10). See Tron Theatre, Glasgow.
■ THE BRUNTON Ladywell Way, Musselburgh, 665 2240. Betrayal Fri 13 & Sat 14 Sep, 7.30pm. £11.75 (£9.75; under 18s £6.75). See Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy. ■ CAIRD HALL City Square, Dundee, 01382 434940. The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Glamorous Amorous Sun 1 Sep, 7.30pm. £22.50 (£20.50). See SECC, Glasgow.
■ CARNEGIE HALL East Port, Dunfermline, 01383 602302. Dance Derby Fri 30 Aug, 7.30pm. £12.50 (under 26s £10). Recreation of the jazzy dance marathon days of Depression-era America. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Wed 4 Sep, 7.30pm. £10 (£8). Isosceles present Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Victorian tale.
Roadkill Wed 11–Sat 14 Sep, 11am & 2.30pm (Sat 7pm only). £10 (£8). Cora Bissett’s award-winning production exposing the hidden world of sex- trafficking. Ages 16+.
■ DUNDEE REP Tay Square, Dundee, 01382 223530. The Berries – Twa an’ a Half Pence a Pund Thu 22–Sat 24 Aug, 7.30pm (Sat 3pm also), £12 (£10). Gary Robertson’s play about four berry pickers in 1970s Kirrie. Victoria Wed 4–Sat 21 Sep (not Sun 8 & 15, Mon 9 Sep), 7.30pm (Thu & Sat 2.30pm also), £10–£19. Scottish premiere of David Greig’s epic play. ■ FALKIRK TOWN HALL West Bridge Street, Falkirk, 01324 506850. Sing-A-Long-A Joseph Sat 31 Aug, 2.30pm. £14 (£12). The Webber / Rice world domination continues and now you can be part of the fun. Forever In Blue Jeans Sat 14 Sep, 8pm. £14. Musical journey starting in the 50s and ending in the present.
■ THE LITTLE THEATRE 58 Victoria Road, Dundee, 01382 434940. The Little Burlesque and Variety Show Sat 14 Sep, 7pm. £9 (£7.50). An evening of burlesque.
■ MACROBERT University of Stirling, Stirling, 01786 466666. The List Fri 6 Sep, 7.30pm. £13.50 (£12). See Tron Theatre, Glasgow.
✽ Betrayal Wed 11 Sep, 7.30pm. £13.50 (£12; students £7). See Adam
Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy. Educating Ronnie Sat 14 Sep, 2pm & 7.30pm. £10.50 (£9.50; seniors £9.50; students £5). Joe Douglas’ one-man show all about his friendship with a Ugandan boy.
■ PERTH CONCERT HALL Mill Street, Perth, 01738 621031. The Lady Boys of Bangkok: Glamorous Amorous Sat 31 Aug, 7.30pm. £23–£24.50 (£21.50–£23). See SECC, Glasgow. Soul Sister Mon 9–Sat 14 Sep, 7.30pm (Wed & Sat 2.30pm also). £18.50–£33. Musical telling the life stories of Ike and Tina Turner. ■ PITLOCHRY FESTIVAL THEATRE Port Na Craig, Pitlochry, 01796 484626. Two Thu 22 & Wed 28 Aug, Sat 14 Sep, 2pm & 8pm; Tue 27 Aug, Wed 4 & Mon 9 Sep, 8pm. £13.50–£30. Jim Cartwright’s tragicomic pub drama with a cast of two playing all 14 characters. Lady Windermere’s Fan Thu 22 & Sat 31 Aug, Thu 12 & Tue 17 Sep, 8pm. Thu 29 Aug & Wed 18 Sep, 2pm. £13.50–£30. Oscar Wilde’s satirical masterpiece exposing the hypocrisy of Victorian morality, family secrets and infidelities. A Chorus of Disapproval Fri 23 & Thu 29 Aug, Tue 3 Sep, Wed 11 Sep & Mon 16 Sep, 8pm. Wed 4 Sep, 2pm. £13.50–£30. Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy about life mirroring art behind the scenes at the local amateur operatic society. Single Spies Sat 24 Aug & Wed 11 Sep, 2pm. Fri 30 Aug, Thu 5, Tue 10 Sep & Wed 18 Sep, 8pm. £13.50–£30. Olivier Award-winning espionage drama from Alan Bennett in two parts: An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution. Hello Dolly! Sat 24 & Wed 28 Aug, Mon 2 & Sat 14 Sep, 8pm. Sat 7, Thu 12 & Thu 19 Sep, 2pm. £15–£32.50. Uplifting Broadway classic with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Present Laughter Mon 26 Aug, Sat 7, Fri 13 & Thu 19 Sep, 8pm. Sat 31 Aug & Thu 5 Sep, 2pm. £13.50–£30. Noel Coward’s semi-autobiographical comic play about self-obsessed matinee idol Garry Essendine.