list.co.uk/theatre Previews & Reviews | THEATRE
REVIEW CLASSIC ADAPTATION A CHRISTMAS CAROL Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 4 Jan ●●●●●
Director Andrew Panton’s joyously faithful version of Dickens’ Christmas classic could be used as a definition of the word ‘timeless’. That’s sad to note, though, if the message of this show is that greed endures just as much as charity. It’s difficult to imagine those who wield financial power in the 21st century being as moved by visions of the poor Cratchit family as Ebenezer Scrooge is. Panton’s take on Neil Duffield’s adaptation is vivacious and wrapped up tight in a blanket of seasonal sentiment, which brings a sense of childlike wonder without appearing over-sentimental. Alex Lowde’s set is versatile, arranging internally lit miniature cardboard houses at its fringes and making a centrepiece of a big four-poster bed on castors. An eight-strong roll call of Scots theatre talent
(plus three young actors) do the piece proud, from the bellicose amusement of Lewis Howden playing Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Past in overblown fashion, to a repertoire of Christmas carols and standards performed in a lively choral style. Of course, the show rests on Scrooge’s shoulders, and here it’s carried wonderfully by Christopher Fairbank as a winningly human old tyrant. (David Pollock)
REVIEW PANTOMIME THE NEW MAGICAL ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, until Sun 19 Jan ●●●●●
While other pantomimes may err on the side of ironic detachment, there’s no such concern at the Pavilion. Pinocchio is all about the broad comic strokes and traditional, unpretentious – and near-the-knuckle – fun. Stephen Purdon takes the titular role and plays an
extension of his cheeky Shellsuit Bob from River City, but is overshadowed by the vaudevillian comedy styling of Johnny ‘I’m enjoying mahself’ Mac as Jiminy Cricket: Mac establishes a rapport with the audience immediately, and exploits it for belly laughs.
Joyce Falconer’s Kitty the Kat has fun with the Scots dialect, and camp villain Stromboli is a saucy hybrid of Rentaghost’s Mr Claypole and Russell Brand, played with swagger by James Mackenzie.
PREVIEW CAMP CHRISTMAS A GAY IN A MANGER The Arches, Glasgow, Thu 12–Sat 21 Dec
Laurie Brown, one of the team behind the Arches’ adult Christmas show, says A Gay in a Manger began with a serious inspiration. ‘It originally came from a desire to see something at Christmas that wasn’t a family show,’ he says. ‘Christmas is so often a time of love and giving, joy and happiness, but there’s also a darker side.’ Having challenged the seasonal stereotype,
the team found humour in this darkness. ‘Christmas really is “as camp as Christmas”, so the show has got camp fun with a dirty heart,’ he says. ‘A Gay in a Manger is a real excuse for a dirty belly laugh. Traditional pantos have innuendos that fly over the wee ones’ heads: ours don’t fly over anyone’s head. They smack you in the teeth. But at least we offer you a drink beforehand.’
Disney is tickled a little, with some of the classic Starring irrepressible lifestyle gurus Tranny and
songs aired, including a spirited ‘Give a Little Whistle’, but it’s mostly peppered with pop culture and bawdy Glasgow banter. The second half all but dispenses with the storyline in favour of zippy technicolour multimedia, massive props, pyrotechnics and frantic routines, but it hardly matters when the result is akin to the feeling of having swallowed a psychedelic sugarcube. (Lorna Irvine)
Roseannah – previously seen deconstructing gender at Glasgay! – A Gay in a Manger, like much satire, bases its humour in dark materials. ‘Christmas is a wholesome festival and this show is an antidote,’ says Brown. ‘There’s fights, there’s booze, there’s the offensive
relative. But there can be negative stuff too.’ (Gareth K Vile)
PREVIEW MONOLOGUE CIARA Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 21 Dec
‘I often think that reviewers should come back and see a show on the last night,’ laughs Blythe Duff on a break from rehearsals for Ciara’s quick return to the Traverse. ‘Of course, I know they’re bright enough to realise that plays evolve, but it can be an extraordinary change. Particularly with a solo show, because in many respects the audience are your other character, and until you know how they’re going to “perform” as a collective you don’t know what kind of piece you’ve got.’ A stalwart of the Scottish stage, Duff would have surely found such fears quickly dispelled when Ciara appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe earlier this year. Written by David Harrower and directed by the Trav’s Orla O’Loughlin, it casts her as the grown-up daughter and younger sister of a pair of dead Glasgow gangsters, now left to tend to family business on her own. Her performance is magnificent.
‘The piece is about what you take from your family, what the legacy is,’ she says. ‘What do you retain through your life? What do you cast aside? Everybody has that feeling at some point, and they have to face it. What does it mean to be a brother or a sister or a daughter or a son?’ There are layers to this apparently straightforward
gangster tale, since Ciara is a woman in a very male world. Harrower subtly merges two Glasgows, one populated by rough-edged hard men and the other of Turner Prize nominees and affluent art collectors. ‘But she isn’t a victim, which I like,’ says Duff. ‘Things have been done to her in her life, but because she isn’t aware of it she isn’t a victim, and when she receives that information it just makes her all the more powerful.’ (David Pollock)
12 Dec 2013–23 Jan 2014 THE LIST 121
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