Citizens Theatre, Glasgow 4 stars There’s something a little bit special going on in this latest collaboration between the Citizens Theatre Community Company and Scottish Opera. Inspired by and in part sourced from Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, this pocket-sized version may put its twenty-strong cast in period dress, but the references and themes are as twenty-first century as it gets. Tam is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy about to get hitched to Ann, but who is led astray into the Glasgow flesh-pots by a mysterious stranger with a gold credit card. From Byres Road to Sauchiehall Street, the full social mix of a city in motion is observed in all its glory, with Tam falling prey to hedonistic excess, rampant consumerism and the shallow narcissism of celebrity. This comes in the form of a bearded pop starlet called Lady Baba, while there’s nods too to Hello magazine, west end institution Oran Mor and a top flight emporium revelling in the name of Pradamark. The result of all this in Elly Goodman and Neil Packham’s production, devised with the company, and with a new score composed for a live quartet by Matthew Brown, is a playful mash-up of old and new material. While on one hand the company rise gamely to the complexities of Brown’s material, under conductor Chris Gray’s guidance they prove equally adept at tackling the chorus numbers from Stravinsky’s original via its libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman. While there is much acting talent on offer, it is Jonathan Collins as Tam who anchors the show, although Annette Stewart’s Lady Baba steals things in a refreshingly accessible take on an old story that retains its dark heart. The Herald, July 2nd 2012 ends
Edinburgh Playhouse Five stars A big National Coal Board sign looms large at the opening of Lee Hall and Elton John's decade-old musical stage version of Hall and director Stephen Daldry's hit turn of the century film. In a tale of one little boy's liberation as a dancer against the backdrop of the 1980s miners strike, however, the Durham Miners banner and the 'Save Our Community' sash held aloft matter more. It is this call to arms that forms the heart of Daldry's production, as Billy becomes a potty-mouthed beacon of hope in a situation where picket line, thin blue line and chorus line rub uneasily up against each other. Given such a context, there is bound to be some pretty grown-up stuff going on here, be it the institutionalised homophobia in Billy's village, the class war going on within it, or Billy's grieving for his dead mother that drives his every move. And, as so magnificently choreographed by Peter Darling, what moves they are. Watch...
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