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| Edinburgh : A&E : Theatre: Reviews |
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Theatre listings > Big Country.
Dog's the oldest played with an adult edge by Michael Argyle, been there done that and he's wearing the t-shirt to prove it, his younger brother Sean, base ball cap and lanky is the reason that he and fellow fourth years, Nicola Oldroyd 's well played feisty but unhappy Shelly, and Mish are allowed to hang out there at a distance. Ross Johnstone's spot on as Mish,a great character small and frail, Mish turns his natural comic wit and charm to his advantage as does his actor, flinging himself around on Dog's bike and at one point flying off the cliff! Jude and Gavin are fifth form buddies when Roslynne isn't stuck to Gavin's lips. But when the English Annie turns up Gavin begins to change into the worst of our Scottish types, the racialist. Jude, skillfully acted by Duncan Kidd, and the others up on the hill start reassessing Gavin and themselves. Annie, very intelligently played by Scot Sara Vickers, her accent's great too, is a lovely girl who wants to be friends but to stay true to what she is - an English girl in a Scottish school. A hard thing to be, we Scots rarely face how we behave to our nearest neighbour. But in this play, written to be part of the Young Europeans Festival with TAG Theatre Company and Traverse Theatre support, Primrose reveals how unthinking and crude our prejudices are. He doesn't just show the problem, in the slightly too long 2 hour play which, even post Dunblane has young Gavin brandishing his parent's weapons disturbingly, the young people try to cope with the bigot in their nest. The cast, apart from the really unnecessary narrator whose role in the group we never learn, give performances which are clear, well crafted and paced. The simple set and lighting give a feel of the big country which surrounds our towns and cities. Directed by Steve Small to give a open natural style we feel as though we're looking on from the next hill. Tim Primrose is starting to reach beyond showing the teenage years' ghastly
problems revealing he can expand and develop his craft. Given time and
more experience, perhaps he may give us in the future insightful plays
with his well drawn characters from a wider age range. In the variety
and strength of their Summer on Stage Season 2002, Lyceum Youth Theatre
have again shown their work deserves to be on the professional stages
of this country. Theatre listings >>
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