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| Edinburgh : A&E : Theatre : Reviews |
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Theatre listings > Part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint 2006 Autumn season at lunchtime at Òran Mòr in Glasgow and The Jam House in Edinburgh. Playwright - Daniel Jackson. Director - Liz Lochhead. Designer - Lauren Brown. Design Assistant - Andrea Valentine. Producer - David Maclennan. Company - A Play, A Pie & A Pint - Sponsored By Orange. Cast - here . Venues - In Glasgow - Òran Mòr, 731 - 735 Great Western Road nr Glasgow's Botanics at junction with Byres Rd. Tickets at door or bookable beforehand at 08700 600 100 or www.ticketweb.co.uk. In Edinburgh - The Jam House, 5 Queen Street, EH2 1JE. Ticket at the door or www.thejamhouse.com. Dates - 11 - 16 Sept 2006. Run Time - Doors open at 12.30pm, show runs from 1:10pm. Performance lasts around 40 minutes. Reviewer - Thelma Good. Not just a comic play. Ted, Grant Smeaton, is drawing a cartoon for a Scottish Executive Sexual Health campaign and kipping on his studio floor in Glasgow. Even his present cartoon alter ego has problems with erections and she's a woman. Ted's troubles don't stop there. Max, the gravel voiced Stewart Porter, his one time colleague, appears and the tension rises. He's been successfully living in L.A. turning Superman black and he's just done a big deal with a character from the past, General Strike. Problem is it's Ted's character. Then Laura, Lisa Gardner, a younger cartoonist who shares Ted's studio arrives, she's quick to spot Max's leering ways before he even thinks of practising them. With an offer on the table for another of Ted's characters, Max tries to come out winning. Daniel Jackson's second play for this lunchtime company gets quite a few laughs but could have got a few more. Jackson resisted the temptation to mix the cartoonists with their creations more, though there's a tantalising use of the comic heroes as their alter egos. The direction by Liz Lochhead largely goes for the words rather than the visual, reducing some of the script's potential. It's not just a comic play this, Jackson does have points to make about the graphic world of super heroes and our real world of flawed people. It's clear he knows there are more people who can steal a good idea than have one. And his own experience of the graphic world of comic strips means the characters speak more than mere punchlines, there are digs at art schools and politics as all the while two men fail to connect. It's good to to see a young male playwright give a woman a mind as well as a body to deploy. This week's opening performance handles the venue's acoustics well from the beginning. On a lunch food note, having sampled the meat pie this week I can report that veggie or carnivore be your particular munch, they are both delicious. ©Thelma Good 11 September 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Cast - Ted - Grant Smeaton, Max/Zultan - Stewart Porter and Laura/G.G. - Lisa Gardner. 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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