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Theatre listings >
Possible Worlds
- Scottish Premiere and Part of the Six Stages Festival
Playwright - John Mighton (This play was made into a film by Robert
Lepage and starred Tilda Swinton also called Possible Worlds).
Director - Adrian Osmond
Designer - Jan Bausor
Lighting Designer - Paul Sorley
Sound Designer - John Scott
Company - Tron Theatre Company Cast details
Venue - Tron Theatre 0141
552 4267 In converted church in Trongate Good Bar and restaurant.
Main stage and studio theatre 5/10 Minutes from Central Station/Queens
Street
Dates - 10 - 26 Oct 2002 at 8pm
Run Time 1 hrs 45 mins
Reviewer - Thelma Good
Philosophical play has flesh & blood lives
Possible Worlds - Tron Theatre Production
George - Stephen Hogan and
Joyce - Raquel Cassidy
© Kevin Low 2002
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Two detectives, the Chief Berkley, Billy Riddoch and his younger
sidekick Williams, John Kielty, find a corpse with its brain removed,
they've had a few like this recently. Somewhere else George, a banker....
a media man .....no a scientist meets, in a coffee shop, a bar or in the
bedroom, Joyce and love. Which Joyce and which George are the real ones
we don't grasp until Mighton has taken us again and again into another
reality where multiple realities spin round and back, linked by a George
or a Joyce going through a door or remaining on the edge while rooms revolve
on the spinning set.
With watery sounds and walls which let through a greenish blue light,
Jon Bausor has designed a subtle set supporting the play as does Paul
Sorley's ethereal lighting. Mighton is a playwright and a philosopher,
his fascination with what it is to be, further sparked by his recent mathematical
studies. He's also a playwright very attuned to the collaborative nature
of theatre, deliberately leaving space for everyone else to develop each
production.
With Adrian Osmond's direction, George and Joyce who could just be philosophical
ciphers with lesser actors, become flesh and blood variants of lovers,
some disturbing, one very tender and moving. Raquel Cassidy's performance
is particularly intriguing - instantly she alters each time we see her.
Well drawn too is Stephen Hogan's George, always bemused. The detectives
finely underplay their parts so we move inside their world too, laughing
at young Williams who resorts to taped visualisation exercises while Berkley
stares at a rat's brain scientist Penfield, Damien Thomas, gives
him to study.
It's not a dumbed down production in anyway and the Tron Company keep
good faith with the fragmentary nature of Mighton's script. As a exploration
of what we are and what we could be and how we might cease to be us, it
gives lots to mentally explore. But with love so much part of the exploration
it's not coldly theoretical. Every one of us has walked through doors,
or stayed rather than gone, we all know our lives and loves could be different.
And the question - if they were different would we be the same? is one
we mull over after the mystery of the missing brains is solved in Possible
Worlds.
Before ending this review I'd like to consider why Canada has become a
theatrical force and what we Scots could develop ourselves. Possible
Worlds is part of the Canadian Six Stages Festival which is presenting
Canadian Theatre and Dance in Glasgow, Berlin and Prague. It's interesting
to note that Canada decided to take steps to ensure their national indentities
didn't get lost in their Southern neighbour's. It was suggested 50% of
productions in venues receiving signficant subsidy from the Canadian Council
and provincial governments should in future be Canadian. Later a protest
meant that the alternative theatre companies also recieved funding for
Canadian work. A Survey in 1986 of 65 Canadian theatres revealed they
had produced 324 plays in one season, 30% were new Canadian plays and
29% revivals of Canadian plays.*
As a nation which is searching for its own identities Scotland's theatres'
programmes would have to change - in some cases quite markedly, if it
were to do the same. But as a move to support one's own, it has in Canada
given to Robert Wilson, Robert Lepage, Michel Trembay and many other now
well known Canadian artists opportunities to create more work and to see
others' work created in the place they live in.
The Scottish arts community should consider this approach as a vital adjunct
to the National Theatre Project. Our creators need to know the theatrical
past of Scotland and get the encouragement to create a wealth for now
and for the future. Canada has become a theatrical nation of renown (see
the selection of reviews below). With the Edinburgh Festival the world
already expects us to be ahead of the game, if we follow Canada's example
we could find our own theatrical wealth is far richer and more varied
than we encourage to come to fruition now.
This Autumn, while there has been the occasional dud, I've been struck
by the stimulating and interesting level of performance and productions
our companies are achieving. I recommend going to this Six Stages season
and seeing the wealth and variety of Canadian theatre (and dance) practitioners
and writers to realise that active encouragement of Scottish based artists
in this way could yield future delights and strengths.
© Thelma Good 12 October 2002. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
* apologies the earlier version of this review was incorrect due to a
erroneous source.
Cast -
Berkley - Billy Riddoch
Williams - John Kielty
George - Stephen Hogan
Joyce - Raquel Cassidy
Penfield - Damien Thomas
HALF LIFE by John Mighton
- REHEARSED READING in Changing House Tron Theatre Workshopped with RSAMD
students for this Public reading Part of Six Stages Festival (Canadian
Theatre Festival)
2 November at 2.30 pm £3
Reviews of recent Canadian artists and/or plays reviewed by EdinburghGuide.com
the far
side of the moon - Robert Lepage - written, created and performed
by him
The Guid Sisters
- Michel Tremblay - Preformed by Scottish Company
Lion in The
Street - Judith Thomson - Performed by a Scottish company, directed
by Adrian Osmond
Mums The Word -
A celebration of motherhood created by 6 Canadian actresses
Street
Of Blood - Ronnie Burkett - Devised and performed by him (puppets
like you never seen!)
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