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The Celebrated Gaslight
Gaieties.
Director - Miss Susan C Triesman.
Music Director - James Gilliland Simpson.
Lighting Designer - Chris Gillies.
Dresser (and Candle lighter) - Miss Rose Marie Fleck.
Company - Gaslight Gaieties.
Artistes and supporting performers - here
. Contact with the Gaslight Gaieties can be done tthrough the Ramshorn
Theatre.
Venue - Ramshorn Theatre, Ingram Street Glasgow. Also home of
Strathclyde Theatre Group. Note about the Group and
the Ramshorn.
Dates - 11
- 13 Dec at 8pm. And when asked to return by popular request.
Box Office - 0141 548 2558 or 0141 552 3489 email
Run Time - 2 hours 10 mins including interval.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.
Flamed with old time tinder.
Music Hall delights come back to life in Glasgow's Ramshorn every year
or so in the multifaceted flames of the Gaslight Gaieties. This year's
artistes give us a real flavour of the once much loved and much attended
entertainments, much is overblown but that's true to the form. They, even
in one amazing entry, give us the arrival and rendition from an bent horned
operatic trident carrier from The Ring. When music halls were two a penny,
performers used to rush from slot to slot haring through the streets in
costume, for there wasn't time to change.
Directed by Miss Susan C Triesman who also performs, here is a lady whose
bountiful talents have her sweeping the stage sometimes literally. She
has wisely largely left the form and the jokes alone even though the songs
go up to the just after the second world war. When more recent events
get mentioned it serves to remind laughing in an audience is far more
affirming than laughing at the TV. We partake in atmosphere of the raucous
music hall where artistes rib the audience and the audience give as good
back, there's also a song sheet so we can sing along - it's great fun
to loosen our vocal chords together. As well as the narrative songs there
are recitations too, all performances the halls loved .
Providing the musical accompaniment is Mr James Gilliland Simpson who
does them all proud with his upright, men and women alike. Keeping them
all in order is the locqucasiocous, adjectivally adroit Mr Robert Jan
Szemis with his expressions worth more than a side long glance as the
company do their turns.
Among the highlights are Mr Stewart B X Ennis's rural love song "You
are my honey, honeysuckle" and his falsetto sailor, Miss Susan C
Triesman's "Why am I always the Bridesmaid" with Edwardian dress
and flowerifirous headdress, Miss Penelope Herman-Smith's trying to be
nimble "No One loves a Fairy when she's Forty" and the dilly
dallying woman's " My old man". Also hitting the mark are Neil
Fitzgerald's "I live in Trafalgar Square" and his boy whose
family "Done things they never done before", Iain D McAleese's
rendition of Kipling's "The one eyed yellow god" where Mad Carew
finds his rash action for a girl leads to his death and Polly Brown's
poor abandoned sweetheart in "Are we to part like this Bill".
Feathered hats with period gowns for the girls while for the boys uniforms
including a voluminous smock and bare legs for Mr Stewart B X Ennis's
rural number, they all take us off into the fun, frolics and fawderals
of the fantasmigorical entertainment that was, and sometimes is courtesy
of these Gaieties, Music Hall. Look out for them in their next reprise.
© Thelma Good 12 December 2003. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Editor's note - Some of the adjectives used in this review were too recherche
for any spell checker or modern dictionaries, my apologies if they have
not be rendered correctly but they do give a flavour of the multifalarious,
lexical love of that period.
Company: Master Of Ceremonies - Mr Robert Jan
Szemis, The Orchestra - Mr James Gilliland Simpson.
The Artistes - The delicious and delightful Miss Polly Brown, The witty
and wild Mr Niel Fitzgerald, The rare and rumbustous Miss Penelope Herman-Smith,
The moody and magnificient Mr Iain David McAleese, The Belle of Balls
Pond Road - Miss Susan Caroline Triesman and The dangereous, debonair
and devine Mr Stewart Bartholomew Xavier Ennis.
Strathclyde Theatre Group are also based at the
Ramshorn Glasgow.
STG is unique in the UK - part of Strathclyde University, but it is open
to anyone over the age of 16 to join, if they are interested in theatre.
They put on some 10 major productions each year, as well as workshops
etc. and they always work to professional standards. Members range from
students to lawyers, journalists, hairdressers....and Equity and Musicians
Union members.
There's an interesting exhibition of the first 30 years of STG in the
Foyer.
If you are interested in joining, you can pick up a form from the Ramshorn
when it's open, or phone on 0141 552 3489, or email at ramshorn.theatre@strath.ac.uk
They also offer evening and weekend courses through
THEATRE AND FILM STUDIO The University of Strathclyde Drama Centre's extension
programme.
The art of acting
The art of directing
Writing for Stage and Screen
Writing for Film
Writing for Theatre
Writing for Television
Discovering your Voice
Preparing Your Audition Speech
Stand-up Comedy Workshops
For further information, there should be brochures in the Foyer, or contact
the Ramshorn, as for STG.
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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