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Boston Marriage - Tour & Scottish Premiere .
First performed at American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.in June 1999.
First performed in Britain at Donmar Warehouse, London, England in March 2001.

Playwright - David Mamet.
Director - Michael Emans.
Designer - Lyn McAndrew.
Lighting Designer - Grahame Coyle.
Company - Rapture Theatre Company email.
Cast - here .
2003 Tour Dates and Times - here .
Seen to review at Arches, Glasgow 8 May 2003.
Run Time - 2 hours 10 mins including 15 mins interval.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.

All is witty and fast moving.

Boston Marriage - Rapture Theatre. Anna - Bridget McCann & Claire - Lyn McAndrew. © Galen Turner 2003

A Mamet play with a difference, he's left these times and gone back a hundred years to when women had maids and men had mistresses. Dress in cream silk and wearing a splendid emerald necklace, Anna Bridget McCann, is a mistress. She has a maid, Catherine, Carmen Pieraccini, and a long term friend Claire, Lyn McAndrew, who turns up in black laced finery with peach detail asking for a favour. She's wanting to meet a young female friend at Anna's house where Anna can be the young girl's chaperon.

All sounds dandy until you listen to these two women. McCann gives Anna a visual elegance in a finely judged performance. Mamet gives her a vocabulary which contains refined phrases, "The address is correct in all particulars" spiked with words of an earthy hue. McAndrew's nearly equally matched Claire, is similarly afflicted. The two of them spar and bicker in a style which recalls Oscar Wilde and the later Noel Coward, using words as barbs, sometimes resorting to hysterical - in both senses - gestures.

Boston Marriage - Rapture Theatre. Carmen Pieraccini as Catherine. © Galen Turner 2003

And the maid? Catherine, Carmen Pieraccini, is a magnificent bent double wee gargoyle as she attempts to give tea, minister to her scathing mistress and serve, sometimes literary, the callers at the door. All the performances are full and bravura. This play could fall flat on its conceit with less skilled playing and direction but all is witty and fast moving under Michael Emans direction with these three strong actresses.

Those who have seen Rapture before will find he's employed his well deserved funding* with care. And he's taking this production to places outside the central belt that rarely get this kind of period drama. His designer has created a lavish set with paintings and flower arrangements not to mention Claire's striking costume to transport the audience to an opulent Boston, Mass. This company has created a production of sparky performances with considerable pace and style with a little bit of extra funding.

On this showing and those others I have seen, Emans and his team are well on their way to becoming Scotland's unofficial touring Rep. They do well a variety of plays including Shakespeare to contemporary English, Scottish and American plays. Each time it's different, sometimes a revival, a premiere, large or small cast. Rapture picks plays that you might expect to see only in main reps in big towns with costly lavish productions. But Scotland has people who love such variety all over our country.

Rapture clearly has a core team of two who have the drive and vision to take a variety of theatre to people who may not go to the big theatres easily because of cost or distance.

While the Arts Council gives seed funding money to experimental, avant garde theatre companies, they also need to continue to equally give seed funding to nourish and develop small theatre companies who cater for the mainstream audience. We want to go for a Good Night Out in Easdale, Dunkeld and Irvine as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh. This is one of several companies who can provide that who should receive more funding and encouragement from the SAC.
© Thelma Good 8 May 2003. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
*The production was funded partly by Awards for All administered by SAC, South Lanarkshire Council, East Kilbride Arts Centre, East Kilbride News, Kidd Property Developers and Burns Storage Facilities.
EdinburghGuide Reviews of other Rapture Theatre Productions produced in the last year 2002 - 03.
Simpatico, Boy Gets Girl, Your Turn To Clean The Stair, The Old Neighbourhood, The Sailmaker , Richard III and Double Top. 7 full productions in a year as many as the Royal Lyceum Theatre and more than most companies in Scotland manage on far larger budgets and permanent staff.

Cast: Anna - Bridget McCann, Claire - Lyn McAndrew and Catherine - Carmen Pieraccini.

2003 Tour Details of Rapture Theatre's production of Boston Marriage .
Tour begins
3 May at 7:30pm Paisley Arts Centre 0141 887 1010.
7 May - 10 May at 7:30pm Glasgow The Arches Theatre 0901 022 0300.
15 May at 7:30pm North Edinburgh Arts Centre 15a Pennywell Court 0131 315 2151.
21 May - 24 May at 7:30pm Edinburgh Netherbow Theatre 0131 556 9579.
25 May at 8pm East Kilbride Arts Centre 013552 61000.
29 May at 7:30pm Oban Corran Halls 01631 567 333.
30 May at 8pm Mull Little Theatre, Dervaig 01688 302 828.
31 May at 8 pm Easdale Island The Hall 01852 300 579.
7 June at 7:45pm Cumbernauld Theatre 01236 732887.
8 June at 8pm Dunkeld Birnam Institute 01350 727674.
11 June at 8pm Livingstone Howden Park Centre 01506 433634.
13 June at 7:30pm Stirling The Tolbooth Theatre 01786 274 000.
14 June at 7:45pm Irvine Harbour Arts Centre 01294274059.
19 - 21 June at 7:45pm & Sat Mat at 2:30pm Dundee Rep Theatre 01382 223530.
End of Tour.

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