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Theatre Review: Love Song to Lavender Menace - The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, 13 October 2017

16/10/2017

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‘Love Song to Lavender Menace’ is a two-man play which tells the tale of the eponymous ‘Lavender Menace’ - a lesbian, gay and feminist bookshop that opened on Forth Street (just off Broughton Street) in Edinburgh in 1982 and became the heart of the LGBT community in the Scottish capital before moving to a new location and changing names in 1987.

The narrative follows two shop assistants at the bookshop - Glen and Lewis - who are packing up the books from Lavender Menace in the run up to its fifth birthday, just before it is set to shut up shop, move home and change name.

As they pack, Lewis runs through a planned homage with Glen that he wants to perform as a present/farewell to the owners of the shop, Bob Orr and Sigrid Neilson. The playful homage explores the history and significance of the Lavender Menace and gay culture in Edinburgh in the 1980s, and does so by delving into the personal relationship and history between Glen and Lewis as well.

If that all sounds a little bit serious or mundane, it really couldn’t be less so.

This is one of the most entertaining plays we’ve seen in some time. Matthew McVarish and Pierce Reid are sensational as Glen and Lewis. The narrative dictates that, because of the manner in which they talk us through the history of the shop (through Lewis’ homage), they must play a range of characters each, however briefly. And through quick voice changes, exaggerated movements or even occasionally through dance, they manage to succeed in doing this not only clearly and naturally but often with great comic effect.
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The setting is established wonderfully through both a minimalist but cosy set and a playful, fast-paced soundtrack from the time period. 

The set is a selection of creatively designed bookcases with glowing books that darken one-by-one as the play goes on and more books are packed away. The soundtrack meanwhile is all played diegetically through a cassette player, and is inspired largely by the character’s memories from ‘Fire Island’, a nightclub which was formerly on Princes Street, and in the cloakroom of which the Lavender Menace was originally formed (the club was later bought over by a Waterstones, which still stands on Princes Street now).

Long story short, there was a lot of energy around the performance and the soundtrack. Sometimes it was used for comedic effect, as with the perhaps predictable inclusion of ‘It’s Raining Men’ or ‘YMCA’, or sometimes just to ramp up the mood for a while, as with Jimmy Somerville’s ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’.

The writing from James Ley really is intelligent, informed and witty. The narrative does so well to time travel so convincingly and explore so much - from chilling legal acts, and how Section 28, a piece of criminalising legislation in the Thatcher era, threatened so many, to light-hearted former flings and police interaction at the time - while never feeling forced or breaking away from the personal connection between Glen and Lewis that drives the play.

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Theatre Review: Cockpit - The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, 10 October 2017

12/10/2017

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Walking into The Royal Lyceum Theatre to catch Cockpit in Edinburgh is like being transported back through time and space.

Bridget Boland's lost drama explores the story of a British officer who arrives at a provincial playhouse in Germany, 1945 which is being used as a housing spot for displaced people following the end of World War 2. He is charged with getting them all into groups to travel back to their respective homelands, but as you can imagine, not all people based geographically near one another are also so close on the political spectrum.

The play itself being set in a theatre, Cockpit is then staged across the entire space of the Lyceum - from the stage to the balconies and at seat level as well. Whole rows of the audience are seated on makeshift stalls at the back of the stage, looking back at the traditionally seated audience, and actors/actresses prowl all areas of the theatre throughout.

While most of the action still takes place on stage, there are regularly shouts, murmurs and conversations which take place elsewhere in the theatre.

The audience are then cast in the role of refugees also. They’re very much in the centre of the staging of the play. It creates an atmosphere much more engulfing than the usual audience vs. stage. There’s a feeling throughout that anything could happen, and that it could happen anywhere.

And the Lyceum was transformed suitably for the occasion.

Instructive banners (“No arms may be carried”, etc.) were draped all over the theatre, at every level, taking it back to the time and place. The fact that all of this is in place not just from the get go but from before the play has even begun - and that the set extends not just to the theatre house but to the stairs and entrance as well - provides a stronger sense of setting than we’ve experienced in some time.

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Theatre Review: Sunset Boulevard, The Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh, 3 October 2017

3/10/2017

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If you ever need proof that the staging and performance of a musical can salvage a lousy script then look no further than the Curve production of Sunset Boulevard.

Let’s talk briefly about the characters and plot in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award winning musical. Lord knows how the script made it off the cutting room floor nevermind found its way into an award ceremony.

The musical is the story of down-on-his-luck Hollywood screenwriter Joe Gillis (Danny Mac), who stumbles upon the mansion of faded silent-film star Norma Desmond (Ria Jones). Norma lives alone with her loyal-to-a-fault butler Max Von Mayerling (Adam Pearce). She’s effectively the Opera Ghost from Phantom of the Opera, but instead of torturing other people for love, she’s intent on killing herself over it.

She convinces Joe to live in her mansion/lair to help her polish and shine the film script she’s been working on while she’s been hiding away from the world. Joe agrees and is paid handsomely for his efforts. He inevitably ends up in a romantic relationship with the actress, who is twice his age, and Norma threatens to commit suicide anytime he tries to leave. Seriously, there are increasingly few scenes as the musical goes on where she’s not trying to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, Joe also continues to help Betty Schaefer (Molly Lynch), the fiancee of seemingly his only friend Artie Green (Dougie Carter), work on adapting an old story of his for the big screen behind Norma’s back. While doing this [spoiler], he also falls in love with Betty, and she with him, and they end up having an affair. This builds towards the inevitable confrontation which takes place at the climax of the musical.
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The only problem with all of this? All of these characters are ridiculous, unsympathetic and incredibly dislikeable, which means by the time you reach the climax, you don’t much care what happens.

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