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Cuttin' a Rug
- The Traverse Theatre's Revival of The Slab Boys Trilogy as part of their
40th Anniversary Season. Slab
Boys and Still
Life are the other two plays.
This play was premiered at The Traverse on 19 May 1979 at Traverse Edinburgh
in version called The Loveliest Night of The Year then rewritten
as Threads at the Hampstead Club on 13 March 1980 and as Cuttin'
A Rug on 19 November 1982 at the Royal Court London.
Playwright - John Byrne.
Director - Philip Howard.
Designer - Neil Warmington.
Lighting Designer - Rick Fisher.
Sound Designer - Neil Alexander.
Movement Director - Struan Leslie
Assistant Director - Lorne Campbell.
Voice Coach - Ros Steen.
Company - Traverse Theatre Company Edinburgh.
Cast - here .
Venue - Traverse Theatre 0131 228 1404
In Cambridge St near the Usher Hall
Online booking and lot of info at www.traverse.co.uk
and Virtual Traverse Site.
Dates -Preview Fri 12 - Sun 14 Dec (8pm)
Wed 17 - Sun 21 Dec (8pm) (post show discussion Thu 18 Dec), Wed
7 Jan (8pm), Fri 9 Jan (8pm), Wed 14 Jan (8pm), Fri 16 Jan (8pm), Wed
21 Jan (8pm) Fri 23 Jan (8pm) and with other 2 plays on Sat 10, 17 and
24 Jan Cuttin' The Rug performances at 4pm. And then rotation with
other Slab boys trilogy plays then tours Details
of rotation at Traverse and Scottish Tour.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.
Piles up with performance treats.
Cuttin' A Rug - Traverse Theatre Production.
Miss Walkingshaw - Anne Maire Timoney, Bernadette - Dawn Steele
and Lucille - Molly Innes.
© Douglas Robertson 2003.
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The first part of this trilogy revival may have worn a bit in the 30
years since it was laid first on stage but Cuttin' A Rug wears its 20+
years well and is piled deep with performances to keep the bounce always
on stage.
It's the evening after the Slab Boys play's working day and we're at the
annual staff dance at Paisley Town Hall, Molly Innes' is here as Lucille's
and her glamour has a rival in her chum the stunning Bernadette Dawn
Steele, a temp working in dispatch. Steele plays the bright young
woman with deft, delighting skill well matched by Innes. Bernadette's
beau is Terry, a man who can tremble his legs in that Elvis pelvic thrust
way and John Kazek (in a new role from the earlier Slab Boys) plays
him as an attractive but underlying shady customer. Oh yes there's lots
of music and atmosphere of those days when the guys tried to avoid the
real Heartbreak Hotel and the girls tried to find the a guy who'll they
could "lead anywhere."
The lads from the Slab Room are all there including the just got his cards
but not at a lost for words or courage is Phil - Paul Thomas Hickey
on top form like all the cast - they make it look easy but it's not. Ian
Robertson's Spanky has all the fizz and underlying youth of a nineteen
year old who's still having fun. Almost swamped in his Dad's DJ is the
clean scrubbed well observed Grant O'Rourke 'varsity boy Alan,
full of manners and the increasing rousing realisation he may have a chance.
And there's a gem in Alan Tripney's runt of the litter Hector.
The older generation are also up for a bit of a jig in the shape of duffer
Willie Curry, the sterling Michael Mackenzie and the two rivals
for his hand in the dance. Miss Walkingshaw, Anne Maire Timoney,
in a variation of a role she does well but perhaps too often - a unmarried
woman whose become hard and sour but still gets the hormones going. The
lady with the soft real heart is Sadie casting off her baffies for platforms
to strain her bunions - a Una MacLean special to treasure.
The staging cleverly allows for a musical transformation of the stage
from the Gent and Ladies set into the balcony one in the second act. The
direction also skillfully accomplishes the feeling that this could be
an animated graphic novel with acting styles which enable the thought
bubble lines of the cast to come across along with the subtle surreality
of the script. Word of advice - I'd get into your seats early - as the
production is arranged a bit back from the audience, and the side walls
of the set mean the seats at the side have a rather restricted view.
Cuttin' a Rug convinces that these plays gain from being staged together,
seeing Scots who needed to dream at work and then escaped into at play,
even at a staff dance. Still Life takes us twenty years on from the 1957,
where we catch up on what happened next. In another few years we could
find this trilogy in the repertoire of the National Theatre of Scotland.
They reflect back to us what urban Scotland has come from and how strong
the love affair with American culture was already back then, when food
parcels at Christmas from those who had gone over there contain glamour,
even in the newspapers they came protected in.
© Thelma Good 16 December 2003. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Cast: Bernadette - Dawn Steele, Terry John Kazek,
Lucille - Molly Innes, Alan - Grant O'Rourke, Hector - Alan Tripney, Miss
Walkingshaw - Anne Maire Timoney, Phil - Paul Thomas Hickey, Spanky -
Iain Robertson, Sadie - Una Maclean and Willie Curry - Michael Mackenzie.
Reviews of The
Slab Boys, Still
Life the other plays in the trilogy.
Full Slab Boy trilogy rotations at Traverse
and Scottish Tour dates:
Tue 6 Jan 8pm The Slab Boys
Wed 7 Jan 8pm Cuttin' A Rug
Thu 8 Jan 8pm Still Life
Sat 10 Jan 11.30am The Slab Boys
Sat 10 Jan 4pm Cuttin' A Rug
Sat 10 Jan 8.30pm Still Life
Sun 11 Jan 8pm Still Life
Tue 13 Jan 8pm The Slab Boys
Wed 14 Jan 8pm Cuttin' A Rug
Thu 15 Jan 8pm Still Life
Sat 17 Jan 11.30am The Slab Boys
Sat 17 Jan 4pm Cuttin' A Rug
Sat 17 Jan 8.30pm Still Life
Sun 18 Jan 8pm Still Life
Tue 20 Jan 8pm The Slab Boys
Wed 21 Jan 8pm Cuttin' A Rug
Thu 22 Jan 8pm Still Life
Sat 24 Jan 11.30am The Slab Boys
Sat 24 Jan 4pm Cuttin' A Rug
Sat 24 Jan 8.30pm Still Life.
Sun 25 Jan 8pm Still Life.
Tour After openng at the Traverse the Trilogy
tours to Glasgow's King's Theatre (3 - 7 Feb), Inverness's
Eden Court Theatre (10 - 14 Feb) and Kirkcaldy's Adam Smith Theatre
(17 - 24 Feb, at each venue you can see all three Plays on the Saturday.
Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is
thelma@edinburghguide.com
Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted
for any errors or omissions.
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