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Pugilist Specialist
- Tour.
Text - Adriano Shaplin.
Designed and Directed by - The Company.
Sound - Adriano Shaplin.
Company - The Riot Group (San Francisco USA) Website.
in association with Chantal Arts + Theatre Ltd Website
and Soho Theatre London Website.
Cast - here .
2003 Tour Dates and Times - here .
Seen to review at The Arches Glasgow on 24 February 2004 on there till
28 February at 7pm. BO 0141 565 1023. EdinburghGuide Page on the
Arches.
Run Time - 1hours 20 mins no Interval .
Reviewer - Jay Dee.
Razor sharp, funny, hypnotic and dangerous.
A stage bare but for two long, low benches and a hanging microphone,
rarely brightly lit and four actors in identical military garb with no
props. The Riot Group’s Pugilist Specialist has no need of theatrical
largesse to captivate it’s audience. It is that rarest of dramas
– a deeply political play that reaches no conclusions but constantly
questions and leaves the watcher to decide what they think it is all about.
It is also intensely topical. The story concerns four specially trained
marines who are sent to assassinate a troublesome Middle Eastern figure
in the midst of an ongoing conflict. The ensuing drama is not so much
about the mission itself but about the soldiers chosen to carry it out;
why have they in particular been chosen and what is the effect of such
a ‘black op’ on their varying psyches.
The acting and direction are impeccable, with Stephanie Viola
particularly impressive as the only woman involved, wrestling with her
wish to further her career and safeguard the image of women in the armed
forces set against her moral misgivings about the mission. The non-naturalistic
acting style used, where the actors address not each other but always
the audience is both arresting and involving. At several points during
the play I felt like I personally was being spoken to.
Adriano Shaplin's music also should be credited – a constant soundscape
of tapes being rewound and played over and over again added a real sense
of underlying danger as well as being a constant reminder of the tapes
that the ‘data retrieval’ specialist is making of the mission.
But above all it is the script that enthrals. Adriano Shaplin has surely
created a modern classic. It is razor sharp, witty, funny and almost hypnotic
in it’s rhythm and pace. It is heartening in these times to come
across a truly dangerous piece of writing, which challenges the status
quo not by questioning it, but by describing it.
© Jay Dee 24 February 2004 – published on EdinburghGuide.com
The text of the play is published by Oberon Books in UK - Website.
Cast: Lt Stubbard - Drew Friedman, Col Johns
- Paul Schnaber, Lt. Travis Freud - Adriano Shaplin and Lt Emma Stein
- Stephanie Viola.
2004 Tour Details of The Riot Group's production
of Pugilist Special.
Tour begins
11 - 14 Jan at 8pm
Belfast, Old Museum Arts Centre, 028 9023 3332.
16 - 21 Feb at 8.30pm Dublin, The Helix 01 700 7000.
24 - 28 Feb at 7pm Glasgow, The Arches 0141 565 1023.
1 March at 7.30pm Oxford Playhouse 01865 305 305.
3 March at 7.45pm Canterbury, The Gulbenkian 01227 769 075/01227 823 282.
4 March at 8pm Cambridge, The Junction 01223 511 511.
5 - 6 March at 7.30pm Southampton, Nuffield Theatre 023 80 671 771.
9 March at 7.30pm Nottingham, Bonington Theatre 0115 941 9419.
10 March at 8 pm Cardfiff, Sherman Theatre 029 2064 6900.
12 - 13 March at 8pm Liverpool, Unity Theatre 0151 709 4988.
15 - 20 March at 7.45pm Plymouth, Drum Theatre 01752 267 222.
23 - 24 March at 7.30pm Leeds, Metropolitan University Studio Theatre
0113 283 5998.
25 March at 7.30pm Bradford, Theatre in the Mill 01274 233 200.
26 March 8pm Selby Arts Centre 01757 213 758.
29 March - 3 April at 7.30pm Manchester, Contact Theatre 0161 274 0600.
20 April - Sat 8th May (Mon-Sat at 7.45pm. Mat 4pm 5 May London Riverside
Studios 020 8237 1111.
11 - 15 May at 7.30pm/2.30pm Brighton, KOMEDIA 01273 647 100.
18 - 22 May at 7.45pm/2.45pm Birmingham Repertory Theatre 0121 236 4455.
25 May at 8.00pm Swindon Arts Centre 01793 614 837 .
26 May at 7.30pm Luton Arts Centre 01582 878 100.
27 May at 7.45pm Crawley, The Hawth 01293 553 636.
28 May at 8pm Tunbridge Trinity Theatre and Arts Centre 01892 678 678.
29 May at 8pm Newbury, New Greenham Arts 01635 522 733.
and
PUGILIST SPECIALIST will open 14 Sept in New York for a month at the new
off-Broadway E59E Theatre in September
for the company's US debut.
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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