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| Edinburgh : A&E : Theatre: Reviews |
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Shining Souls
Everyone loves a wedding especially Glaswegian Ann, Kathryn Howden, she's marrying Billy today but which one? The one she slept with last night or the one who arrives in kilt and silver buttoned jacket? Rod Matthew's Billy 1, is the more together of the two. He can speak honeyed words. Matt Castello's Billy 2 is the nearest a man comes to a dumb beast and still get kisses. Daughter Mandy, the only one of Ann's children still choosing to live. Played by Isabelle Joss she's a gorgeous Goth and starting to weave her own web even though she's gone Christian now. Max, a great wee *nyaff performance by Davy McKay, is in the company of dreamer Charlie, always firing off barely fuelled fantasy rockets Paul Blair gives Charlie the heady charm of a sometimes successful con-merchant. He tells his wife Margaret Mary, Julie Wilson Nimmo, a tale to open her purse. Finding it come true, he fetches up in the ^Barras for a suit where Ann, the Billys and Mandy have gone to get a wardrobe. But Ann's a kind of male fly paper. She attracts more of them to her side as her wedding day goes on. There's Charlie who's just passing by and Prophet John, Billy McColl, a deranged evangelist. He's looked after by his gentle follower Nanette, Una McLean on top form. Director Alison Peebles has completed the copper bottomed cast with Dave
Anderson as the harassed minister up since the early hour coping with
Glasgow's gutted community separated by flyovers and motorways. This is
a cast of damned fine Scottish actors in parts which are demanding and
sometimes complex, each one rises to their challenge.
Hannan has revised script since its 1996 premiere. These changes strengthening what was already a play of layers and fascination. It's as universal as Michel Tremblay's A Solemn Mass Under A Full Moon In Summer - but orchestrated for those lost from faith. It illuminates ordinary lives full of searing tragedy. Lives where we yearn for more than a pint in the pub or a fumbled frolic after a film, yet fear to. Hannan's characters seek meanings, carrying fragments of faith, believing in intuition, their speech frequently laced with religious language used in striking ways. Spanning both realism and surrealism, aided by Paul Sorley's lighting
and Jacqui Gunn's multi-levelled set, this play reflects chaotic, very
human lives. Creating times of joyous, unrestrained laughter and profound
silence it draws us to the light of the play in this production, where
souls shimmer and actors shine.
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Shining Souls - V.amp Productions with Tron Theatre Co.
Shining Souls - V.amp Productions with Tron Theatre Co.