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PLAYWRIGHTS LIVE
- staged readings of new work for the theatre in the form of short plays
and monologues.
Part of Gaelforce 2003, region wide arts festival in Dumfries and Galloway.
Playwrights - Written by members of Crichton Playwrights - Jim
Baillie, Alison Reid, Chris Carruthers, Jackie Galley, Vivien Jones and
Mary Smith. Contact Mary Smith on mary@stewartry.co.uk .
Director - Cally Phillips ( SAC/ Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association
Dramatist in Residence) Her company is Bamboo
Grove Theatre Company.
Cast - here .
2003 Tour Dates and Times -
20 Sept 7.30pm at Dumfries Brigend Theatre, Contact Stuart Cameron 01387
264005
21 Sept 2.30pm at Whithorn Swallow Theatre Moss Park
Contact David Sumner 01988 850386 www.swallowtheatre.com
Reviewer - Maureen Sangster.
Wide ranging and challenging.
An exciting weekend of new writing for the theatre by Crichton Playwrights,
formed in 2002 and now supported keenly by the region's dramatist in residence
Cally Phillips! Four new ten minute plays and four new ten minute monologues.
What one would expect in a region with an enviable record of developing
the arts*.
But it was much more. A chance for 6 fledgling playwrights to sit in on
rehearsals and participate in the transformation of their playscript on
to the stage and also to see their play performed in two different venues
- all on the one weekend. Equally a learning experience for the two tireless
RSAMD students Joe Johnstone (a nearly local lad from nearby Annan) and
Lisa Gardner to explore subtext and stage moves with the writers present!
And for another RSAMD student of stage management Gillian Marchbank to
practice her craft.
The eight new pieces are all concentrated in form. At the cosy Brigend
on Saturday the programme would have benefited from a short interval.
By the Sunday in the intimate Swallow theatre, so much had the two actors
got in their stride, that I didn't want them to stop.
Four plays are two handers. The contrast between the manipulative broadcaster
(Forget the locals! she says) set on recording a Sunday shinty game and
the local minister in For the Sake of Big George by Jim Baillie
is written with bold comic strokes which the actors ensured got the laughs.
Dead Men Tell by Alison Reid if not an entirely comprehensible
piece of theatre is fascinating with its shifts in dialogue and perspective.
A series of tantalising variations on the theme of reincarnation it seems
straitjacketed by its 10 minute length. But it has wonderful moments as
the female character, movingly portrayed by Lisa Gardner, describes cheating
death on a train.
The Box by Chris Carruthers occupies similar strange territory
but its coherence is in no doubt. It has tension from the moment we see
the mysterious box on the stage, that one character is attached to and
the other enquires about. It offers conflict, a range of emotions, a satisfactorily
sad ending and catharsis.
Written by Jackie Galley, Memories' strength lies in how conflict
is implied through seemingly ordinary exchanges between a couple in a
long term relationship. Well structured apart from its abrupt ending,
each stage of the characters' arguments leading to the next. The philosophical
denouement about the value of trying to capture a "now" through
an image is vivid with precise phrases, "Photos are like movie trailers"
and was delivered sensitively by Joe Johnstone.
Of Vivien Jones' two monologues my favourite was One Hand Clapping.
A dark piece, its insight into the psychology of a woman who has a monstrously
deformed hand is superb . Its structure is poetic as it tells the tale
of how she meets a man facially disfigured and falls in love. But at its
core is the image of lovers repositioning themselves in bed ( at the man's
request) so that only their perfect side is on view. The precision of
the language pinpoints the agony of disablement - the lovers meet when
'both of us (were) retreating from hope." Her other monologue, Sister,
is a funny reassessment of shoplifting.
Mary Smith's Trouble with Socks enjoyably plays with language.
At the mercy of institutionalised life, George who is blind, is consistently
patronised, not called by his name, his perceptions questioned and often
repudiated. Its acute observations about power dynamics in institutions
went down very well with the audience. Though as these were staged readings
we lost the initial impact of meeting a blind character.
Clowning Around by Jackie Baldwin saw a clown on his last day of
employment. A mixture of pathos and humour, it revealed a character convincingly
coming to grips with life's difficult decisions. It offered a wry disillusionment
with the world of children's parties.
Playwrights Live was a wide ranging and challenging weekend and most enjoyable
too, the students all remarked on how much they'd learnt an astonishing
amount this weekend about lifting words off the page.
© Maureen Sangster 23 September 2003. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
*Editor's Note - Though very far from the Central
Belt and not blest with easy internal communications, Dumfries and Galloway
is fortunate to have excellent, supportive and varied Arts organisations,
organizers and resident artists from all medias. These make up for the
small number of visiting Arts events particularily theatre, this region
have learnt to develop and promote their own. And a thriving artistic
community now enriches the area for local and visitor.
Cast: Performers - RSAMD students Joe Johnstone
& Lisa Gardner.
Stage Management - Gillian Marchbank (RSMAD Student).
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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