Sunday 30 April 2017

Voices in her Ear, A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Traverse

Betty's on stage and pleasing her audience.  Siobhan's voice is in her earpiece, guiding her through the audience members this very controlling assistant's done the research on.  In the first ten minutes we're treated to the tricks of the trade, the con behind the sincerity.  But Betty's not letting Siobhan run her life, she's still the boss, and thinks of retirement.  She's made her money, she's had enough now.

But Siobhan has arranged for one final, desperate punter to see Betty after the show, looking for comfort and reassurance after the death of his young son, and she reluctantly agrees.  However Mark turns out to be more than Betty had been led to expect, and she finds herself being challenged to defend her profession.  Who comes out on top?

Very funny, very Scottish, this is glorious entertainment.  There may not be a lot of depth to the script, but it does test out the assumption that these fortune teller acts are nothing more than harmless fun.  It certainly manages to introduce a few twists in a flying fifty minutes, and there's a surprise question mark residing in the ending.

Good performances from all three actors, with Neshla Caplan the standout as the wheedling, bullying, pushy Siobhan.  An interesting set too.  Voices maintains the high standards we've come to expect from the PPP series.






Sunday 23 April 2017

His Final Bow, A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Traverse

It's April 1865 and the US Civil War is drawing to a close, with a decisive victory for the abolitionist North.  Twelve days after murdering President Lincoln, we find John Wilkes Booth, and his companion Davey, hiding in a barn in Virginia, hunted by the blue-coats.

Infamous now, Booth was then already famous as an actor.  This dramatised account of his finals hours paints a portrait of an egotistical, melodramatic narcissist, a white supremacist desperate to cling on to privilege, considering himself a hero of the people.  Faced with the unsympathetic reality of the newspapers he descends into fantasy and accusations of betrayal.  His ego is unable to accept being described as a murderer.

He and Davey play out an alternative reality in which he becomes the hero of the tale, but when the soldiers have surrounded them the young acolyte swiftly surrenders, leaving Booth to die alone.

James MacKenzie gives an excellent performance as the deluded, hate-filled assassin, a persona of outward charm and civilised values giving way to the angry racist when the pressure tells.  For the most part Davey, played by Alex Fthenakis, is his willing sidekick, allowing Booth's ego full rein, but there were some confusing contradictions in the character towards the end, and a sense that the script had lost it's way a little.  That's a minor criticism of a riveting and thought provoking piece of drama.

An there are plenty of contemporary resonances too.  One would hope, one hundred and fifty years on, that the ideas espoused by Booth and his kind would have been utterly discredited and long ignored.  Yet here we are with Booth's narcissism evident in the President of the US, and his white supremacist bigotry alive and kicking  in Steve Bannon, one of Trump's closest colleagues.  The fight to rid the world of Booths, and Farages and Le Pens, is still with us.

Saturday 15 April 2017

Eddi Reader, Festival Theatre

Opening the evening was local folk star Adam Holmes, accompanied by bassist Alex Hunter.  One of this city's best singer-songwriters, Holmes possesses a fine, distinctive voice and excellent guitar technique.  His songs cover a variety of subjects, personal and political, and there's plenty of variety in both lyrics and melodies.  He's also developed some nicely deadpan humour during his introductions between numbers  Hunter's bass playing provided an excellent foil.  Sparse and atmospheric, but lush when taking the lead on the melody.  An enjoyable opening set.

For the main course of the evening Eddi was joined on stage by the guitars of husband John Douglas and long time collaborator, and songwriter extraordinaire, Boo Hewerdine, the rock solid Kevin McGuire on double bass, Steve Hamilton on piano, and a last minute replacement accordionist for the indisposed Alan Kelly.  The latter did extremely well to take on the numerous solos required, but without the understanding that Kelly has developed with Reader over the years.

The setlist was enjoyably mixed.  Jazzy, folky, poppy.  Some Reader standards, some new songs, a bit of Amy Winehouse and several from Burns' pen.  No Perfect tonight, but there was a snotty airline response set to music.  Which is in line with the comic aspects of Eddi's act, and her rambling anecdotes are a big part of the charm of her performance, whilst her dancing and arm movements and trance-like moments add to the impact of a live performance..

There's only one element left to consider, but it's the one that draws in the crowds.  The instrumentation and the comedy and charm are all subsidiary to that remarkable voice.  A wide vocal range and soaring high notes enhanced by the inimitable Eddi embellishments.  Some might dismiss these as affectations, but they are an integral part of her appeal and a demonstration of powerful aesthetic instincts.

Wonderful entertainment from one of Scotland's great voices.

Tuesday 11 April 2017

Channelling Javez, A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Traverse

A bit of an oddity this week.  The pint and the pie as per usual, but less a play and more a kind of dramatic lecture.

Written and performed by Giles Croft, this is the story of Javez Wolffe, to whom Croft was distantly related.  In the early part of the twentieth century Wolffe achieved fame as the man who made many attempts to swim the English Channel, but never quite made it.  Although he did later achieve some vicarious success in the challenge as a coach.

Croft fills us in on the trials and tribulations of the Javez career, which includes some amazing successes alongside his more prominent failures.  He's a fascinating subject, and there are a few laughs along the way.

But some efforts to make the performance more 'interesting' only served to detract. The frequent switching between microphone and natural voice was an unnecessary distraction, and what exactly was the point of demonstrating what a poor guitarist he is?  Croft is an entertaining, if a touch smug, narrator and shouldn't need such cheap devices.

No, not a play in the usual sense, but there's enough entertainment and drama to justify it's place in the series.

Tuesday 4 April 2017

Ding-Dong (A Bit of a Farce), A Play, a Pie and a Pint,Traverse

Just because you share a boundary wall with your neighbors doesn't mean you must share much else.

Susie has her hands full keeping her, and her family's, life together.  Work pressures, an awareness of how she and her husband are ageing, a house to manage, a teenage son and an incontinent dog.  Next door lives Jennifer, with the time, and the money, to stay fit, send her daughters to private school and raise pickiness to a middle class art form.  A Morningside Leadsom, and Susie's neighbour from hell.

Then there's Chrissie, Susie's younger sister, a new age devotee of the spiritual for whom everything can be solved if you master the art of breathing.  And Mikey, Susie's fifteen year old, sullen, uncommunicative, a hormonal turmoil.

When Jennifer comes through to complain forcefully to Susie about - well, nothing much really - the differences between them are put in sharp focus and the disagreement swiftly escalates.  Chrissie's intervention might help, but then again, it's not very likely.  Mikey doesn't need to be drawn in, but maybe he has something to say that will change things?

Ding-Dong (the doorbell rings a lot throughout) is laugh out loud hilarious from beginning to end with a regular sprinkling of excellent lines.  There's a clever introductory sequence with the four characters interweaving monologues to establish character, and cartoonish elements to some of the action - the 'search the house' sequence is like something from Tom and Jerry.  But mostly this is the dialogue of difference, of clashes between worldviews and generations, and of getting along with one another.

Hilary Lyons, who also wrote the piece, is a real world, down to earth Susie who provides the (sometimes) sensible centre.  Gail Watson clearly has a great time playing the uberbitch from next door, with one particularly memorable rant about her neighbour's perceived failings.  Buchan Lennon's teenager, and Clare Waugh's hippy, provide strongt support.  Waugh also delivers a cameo role that provides one of the funniest moments of the play.

Fifty minutes flew by watching one of the funniest contributions to the P, P & P series that I've seen.  With a reminder that getting on with the people around us may just be the most important thing we ever manage to do.

Highly recommended.

Southern Tenant Folk Union, Traverse

One of this reviewer's favourite bands, and one I've already reported on four times in the last couple of years.  A small change to the line up, with a new man on double bass, but otherwise this was more of the (highly enjoyable) same.

With seven albums to fall back on, and several changes of style along the way, there's a good mix of songs throughout, with additional variety coming through sets of tunes from the exciting fiddling of Katherine Stewart.  Rory Butler's vocals seem to improve each time I hear him, and the song arrangements are tight, displaying a variety of influences.  But the highlight for me was Butler's guitar solo on the lovely ballad Let Me Wipe the Tears From Your Eyes

As ever the band ended the night coming out into the audience an leading them in a gospel number, a rousing encore to finish off the evening on a high.