SOME comedians are instantly recognisable by their voice alone. 

FOR example Joe Pasquale, sounding like a budgie on helium.  Reginald D Hunter, with his American deep-south molasses drawl or Al Murray’s cockney rantings.

Andrew Lawrence is such a comedian.  The moment he opened his mouth on stage at Eden Court’s OneTouch theatre you knew you were in for something different.  His voice has a strange macabre quality and sometimes it is difficult to believe it is emanating from the diminutive comedian on stage.  It’s as though it was the work of some hidden ventriloquist.

I’m not sure how to describe his vocal style.  Imagine this.  You are home alone late at night, trying to muster the energy to go to bed as the firelight dies.  Suddenly your battered old teddy bear, his fur worn away, one eye hanging from the socket, turns to you with a malevolent grin and says, “How are you tonight?”  That’s not the voice.  As you rise, shaky legged, from your now urine soaked arm chair, heading for the door, he calls after you, “What’s the matter – don’t you want to play hospitals?”  That’s Lawrence’s voice.

At his best Lawrence has an acute sense of the absurd displayed with a unique sinister, comedic brilliance.  I don’t think I’ve seen any other comedian who can combine his flair for the surreal with such an edgy menacing stage presence.

Lawrence revealed that he studied English at St Andrew’s and his love of language was evident throughout his act.  The set piece sections of his act were superbly written and performed with a vocal dexterity that made it easy to see why he has been nominated for a number of awards.

Although he didn’t allude to it, this was, I think, Lawrence’s second visit to Inverness.  His first, some years ago now, was in the early stages of his career when he performed as a twenty minute comedian at Hootananny’s comedy club in its small upstairs venue.

Hootananny’s management, never ones to be over-burdened by the tried and tested rules of stand up performance, decided to reverse the running order and put me on, as support, after Lawrence as headliner.  This upside down show meant that Lawrence had no warm up act and played to a silent bemused audience of tourists and locals who didn’t know what to make of the wicked squeaky voiced imp performing in front of them.  Inverness, perhaps, was not ready for Lawrence back then.

In the years between his two performances in Inverness, Lawrence had clearly sharpened his skills and showed that he was a solid performer by picking up his act immediately where he left off after the interval.  The intermission can be death to less experienced performers but Lawrence cleared this hurdle with ease.  Although the OneTouch was nowhere near capacity the smallish audience received Lawrence well and a fair proportion of them clearly were fans. His elaborate songs and stories brought well deserved rounds of applause as the audience clearly warmed to this goblin like comedian.

Although Lawrence provided a great night of entertainment I was left with the feeling that he is not yet quite the finished article.  He has still to rid himself of the novice comedian’s habit of playing with the microphone stand as a way of dissipating nervous tension.  While a few tactile jitters are acceptable, Lawrence constantly manipulated the small tripod in a way that distracted us from the man himself and ultimately detracted from his performance.

Lawrence’s great strength is the surrealism of his performance, this is what sets him apart from other performers and is fascinating to watch.  At times I felt he strayed too far from this persona, indulging in blokey banter with the audience which didn’t match the darkness of his other material.  His political humour didn’t work for me either, I was unconvinced by his crude outpourings that seemed at odds with the obviously astute and witty material he had produced earlier in the show.

His act out of a depressed baby emerging from the womb into a shallow and unforgiving world was brilliant. When he is reflects on the meaningless trivia of our lives Lawrence holds a hilarious mirror to the world.  Perhaps he should do what he does best and take us on a bizarre journey to the dark side of our lives rather than indulge in the kind of knob gags that proliferate in the world of stand up.

Lawrence may be still trying to find his voice but despite that he is growing into a great entertainer and someone you shouldn’t miss next time he braves the far north.

© John Burns, 2012

Links

• Andrew Lawrence
• John Burns

IMAGINE Theatre returns to Eden Court for the third time to bring some of their tongue-in-cheek fabulousness to Cinderella.

WITH an evil step-mother, a handsome Prince and a beautiful heroine, it’s no wonder that it’s become the world’s favourite show to watch at Christmas time. As with nearly every pantomime, the tedious central love story was quickly overshadowed by the riotous antics of Cinderella’s unrequited admirer Buttons, and the marvellous Ugly Sisters, played by Alastair G Bruce, Greg Powrie and director Ian Lauchlan respectively.

Eden Court's new production of Cinderella

In fact, said cast members were so hilarious that I began to wonder why modern pantomimes don’t just do away with a fundamental romantic plot. At the very least, it would have been a lot more fun to see Cinders turn down the proposal of the dreary, pompous and, unsurprisingly, minted Prince in favour of the much more loveable Buttons. I certainly know which guy I’d have gone for…

However, petty qualms aside, Anna Mitcham and Clare Waugh did make an admirable pairing as the starring couple, and plenty of light-hearted comments were made about the fact that Prince Charming and his page, Dandini, did not appear to be wearing any trousers. Aside from this unexplained wardrobe omission, the costumes were a definite highlight of the evening’s performance.

The ugly sister’s outfits were a particular treat, consisting of dresses shaped like Terry’s Chocolate Oranges and open purses, complete with huge coins spilling out over the bodice. The sets were straight out of a storybook, with huge, larger- than-life illustrations, a fairy-tale ballroom and even a gasp-inducing floating horse-drawn carriage – far more impressive than any CGI effect.

What with all these swish finishing touches, this year’s pantomime is a far cry from the awkward dance routines and dodgy cloth horses that I remember inwardly cringing at when I was younger. Imagine Theatre really is at the upper echelons of panto productions, and, having truly turned the ridiculous into the sublime, will be capable of capturing any child’s imagination this Christmas.

© Rowan Macfie, 2011

Links

• Eden Court Theatre

WITH all its glitz and gratuity, the seasonal pantomime is not for everyone.

For the most cynical among us, fun-filled tales of sappily-ever-after are never going to cut it. Thankfully, director John Batty at Eden Court has prescribed the perfect antidote to pantomime – a pantidote, if you will – by dusting down David Kane’s Dumbstruck.

Dumbstruck poster image

Written in 1994 by Scottish playwright David Kane, Dumbstruck takes place in a theatrical boarding house in the early 1960s, owned by the eccentric Mrs. Miranda Husk. When a German magician moonlighting as a mercy killer and a religious fanatic civil servant arrive in the house of success-hungry performers, chaos ensues as each character battles it out for their own success. Under Batty’s superior direction, the cast give genuinely hilarious performances, in a bittersweet satire of actors and Scottish character in general.

The real brilliance of this play is that it excels despite having a completely unpersuasive central character. Johnny Ramone, a down-on-his-luck Frank Sinatra wannabe, is a part that looks good on paper, but appears feeble on stage. Andrew W. Denovan visibly struggles as he tries to pull off a character that one feels at times was hastily crafted in order to tie all the meandering story lines together. When Ramone’s true origins are revealed, the plot twist falls flat, and it is fortunate that the play moves at such a pace that this can almost go unnoticed.

Nevertheless, this performance of Dumbstruck is a triumph, and is greatly complemented by a well-chosen selection of low-key musical numbers, including forgotten classics by Brenda Lee and Bobby Darin. Songs in a regular pantomime can appear awkward and impractical (why does he start singing in the woods? And why do all of the animals join in?), but in this case, they don’t just work, but really work, and provide some of the finest comic moments of the play. The perfect ‘palette cleanser’ for the panto season.

© Rowan Macfie, 2011

Links

• Eden Court Theatre

THIS month’s co-production with Open Book of Para Handy – A Voyage Around The Stories of Neil Munro is a rather different venture, and an exciting one. In a period when funding is already very difficult in the arts, and likely to get much worse, it represents a very encouraging foray into large scale Highland theatre.

Okay, it is a long way from establishing Eden Court as a production house rather than predominantly a receiving one, but it is a big step in a good direction. The show is a new stage version adapted and directed by John Bett, produced by Eden Court and Open Book and funded by the Highland Culture Strategic Board as part of the Highland Arts Programme (through Creative Scotland’s Rural Innovation Fund).

John Bett checks out a Clyde puffer (photo Mandy Edwards)

Colin Marr, the director of Eden Court, welcomed the opportunity when the project was launched earlier this year at the theatre, saying that “the Para Handy stories are true Scottish gems and the opportunity to revive and ‘revitalise’ Neil Munro’s classic tales of The Vital Spark was just too good to pass up.”

It is also the culmination of a long-held ambition for John Bett, who first read the stories as an eight-year old, and has long wanted to do something with them. His approach to staging the show will reflect his own early immersion in the theatre-with-music approach pionereed by 7:84 and Wildcat, with a live band under the leadership of pianist and composer Robert Pettigrew joining the actors on stage.

Writing under the pen name of Hugh Foulis, Inveraray-born Neil Munro published the first of the Para Handy stories in the Glasgow Evening News in 1905, and continued writing them for much of his working life.

Their vivid evocation of life on the Clyde puffers before and after the First World War conjures up a long-departed era when the puffers formed a vital link between Glasgow and the west Highlands and Islands. Bett has sourced some amateur film footage from the era in the Scottish Film Archive, and will incorporate it in the show to help evoke the atmosphere of the period.

Munro’s stories were collected in three books, The Vital Spark (1906), In Highland Harbours (1911), and Hurricane Jack of the Vital Spark (1923), and have been adapted for television, including the much-loved series with the late Roddy McMillan as Para.

Invernessian Jimmy Chisholm will take on that role in the new production, which opens on 21 September at Eden Court before touring to His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, the Edinburgh Festival Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Glasgow. We wish all concerned good luck with the venture.

September also means the annual Blas festival, which this year features an intriguing commission which promises to provide a traditional music analogue to Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf (see Sue Wilson’s feature on the project).

In this year of Scotland’s Islands, the festival also offers two significant island-related projects, a new commission from Julie Fowlis inspired by her family connections with Heisgeir (also known as the Monach Isles), and a performance of Hallaig, a musical celebration of the poetry of Skye bard Sorley MacLean.

On the subject of music festivals, let’s not forget the very popular (and already sold out) Loopallu, which effectively closes the summer season of major outdoor festivals (what summer?, I hear you ask).

In keeping with the spirit of Blas, Right Lines’ Hi-wireless series features a Gaelic offering from Gavin Hutchinson this month, Eireaball na Dibhe. It means the hangover, and there may be a few of those around before the festivals close.

Kenny Mathieson

Editor

© Kenny Mathieson, 2011

Links

• Eden Court Theatre
• Open Book
• Neil Munro Society
• Blas 2011
• Loopallu

The theatre reopened on 3 November 2007 after major refurbishment and expansion work.

PUNCHING far above its weight, the 8^th Inverness Film Festival was the strongest yet, delivering a programme distinctive for its quality, audacity and imagination.

With an astonishing line up of Scottish, UK and World Cinema past and present, including 15 Scottish and 3 UK premieres, the festival has certainly come into its own this year; seeing a significant rise in audience numbers and clearly addressing an increasing appetite for diverse independent product.

Arguably the greatest pleasure of any festival is the uncovering of hidden gems. This year’s programme gave ample opportunity for unexpected discovery (and rediscovery) of the work of both emerging and established film makers, which otherwise would not be seen by a wider Highland audience.

Since the opening of the refurbished Eden Court Cinemas three years ago, audience expectation has consistently been raised due to the vision of Eden Court Film Programmer and Inverness Film Festival Director, Paul Taylor.

The American

While this year’s programme featured major releases such as The American; the third instalment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest; Another Year, The Debt and Never let Me Go, the inspired selection of independents such as Symbol, Café Noir, The Eagle Hunter’s Son, The Trotsky, Ruhr and Animal Kingdom, together with a tribute to British Director Terence Davies, were just some of the memorable highlights of IFF 2010.

A unique screening of the 1957 comedy The Smallest Show On Earth, starring Peter Sellers, for a limited audience inside Eden Court’s projection booth was one of the more unusual events, imaginatively placing the audience in the live centre of the cinema.

Receiving its first screening in Scotland at IFF, director Daniel Alfredson’s The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest received the Inverness Film Festival Audience Award (designed by Isle of Harris based artist Steve Dilworth) for Best Film.

Amongst the showcase of new Asian cinema the comically absurd and brilliantly insightful Symbol Shinboru by Japanese Director Hitoshi Matsumoto was an unexpected delight. Watching this film is like taking a ride to an unknown destination, the split narrative suitably intriguing and entertaining to hold us transfixed until the end.

While the connection between a man in a locked room inhabited by virtual angels in the walls and a Mexican wrestler, Escargot Man, appear completely unrelated, the film cleverly progresses like an exercise in gaming. The director visually enables the audience to move up a level as the wider implications of the lone prisoner’s actions are gradually revealed on a global scale.

The world of the isolated room where “the education” consists of pushing buttons producing an accumulation of objects is a potent symbol for modern existence. This truth, however, is delivered with hilarity, the antics of the lone prisoner in polka dot pyjamas and his efforts to escape an immediate source of identification and laughter.

As the parallel narratives converge, culminating in an acceleration of images and consciousness, the film concludes with a magnificently ambiguous ending. Unashamedly strange and supremely entertaining, Symbol was one of the undeniable gems of this year’s festival.

The debut feature from South Korean film critic Jung Sung-IL, Café Noir, was another unexpected revelation. From the opening scene of a girl eating a burger enshrined in a halo of chrome and neon, the film’s incredible cinematography, often delivered in long takes, added much to its dazzling visual style.

Intimate conversations and monologues interspersed with sweeping vistas of the city of Seoul provide a portrait of characters conjoined in love and loss, and of life in contemporary Korea. Drawing on Goethe and Dostoyevsky, the film is densely layered in its textural references to literature, music and film; however, aided by the seemingly effortless camera work, the stream-of-consciousness structure (while sometimes disorientating) is completely immersive.

The film switches between black and white and colour, delivering some ravishingly beautiful sequences; a scene beneath a bridge where a woman is followed while holding a lantern, a vision of unrequited pursuit in exquisite monochrome, is completely unforgettable.

While the characters are resigned to fate the film never descends completely into nihilism, with enough moments of the sublime to elevate it beyond the disappointment and isolation of everyday life. Infused with religious references, the whole film can be seen, like the child’s self-penned school production depicted in one scene, as a convincing passion play minus the resurrection.

A firm favourite with the IFF festival audience this year was The Eagle Hunter’s Son, directed by René Bo Hansen. Set in the vast and beautiful landscapes of Western Mongolia, the film tells the story of a twelve-year-old boy Bazarbai and his journey from his homeland to the industrialised fringes of the city.

The film’s mystical element, the ancestral bond with the eagle, is beautifully grounded by the intimate depiction of familial bonds between father, son and brother and the fragility of traditional ways of life in the face of urbanisation. A rite of passage tale simply told The Eagle Hunter’s Son was completely captivating from start to finish.

The Trotsky

The UK premiere of writer/ director Jacob Tierney’s wonderfully offbeat Canadian comedy The Trotsky, starring Jay Baruchel, was positively teeming with originality, optimism and wit. Believing he is the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky, high school student Leon Bronstein’s life is guided by his destiny; to marry first wife Alexandra, meet Lenin and stage a revolution, overthrowing his fascist principle and youth apathy in the process.

It is impossible not to cheer him on; Baruchel is instantly likeable as Leon, possessing all the earnestness of belief and geek-ish sweetness to endear his cause to the audience. Winning Best Film Direction, Writing and Best Male Film Performance at last month’s Canadian Comedy awards, The Trotsky is a quirky and refreshing take on disenchanted youth accompanied by an excellent soundtrack.

This year’s Terence Davies Retrospective featuring The House of Mirth, The Long Day Closes, The Terence Davies Trilogy (Children, Madonna and Child, Death and Transfiguration), Of Time and the City and Distant Voices Still Lives, offered the rare opportunity to discover the work of one of Britain’s finest directors.

Davies possesses that rare gift of being both poetic and uncompromising, a quality which pervades his entire work. His unique visual language, the juxtaposition of sound and image in layered remembrance, is both deeply personal and universal in its appeal.

Davies consistently reminds us of the dual function of cinema, of human recognition and escape sitting alone and collectively in the dark; the light from the projectionist’s box illuminating all of our dreams and memories. Images of grinding poverty and repression are consistently tempered by the immediacy of sound; an element which contributes so strongly to the emotional resonance and spiritual clarity in his work.

In a film such as The Long Day Closes, Davies utilises sound clips from old movies, popular, classical and folk music to inform our reading of grim Northern streets, seeing romance and magic in the everyday, amidst a characteristically dismal atmosphere of relentless rain. Although in the opening sequence Davies tellingly confronts us with a brick wall barrier, equally there is an emanation of radiance in how scenes are lit throughout the film, evocative of the transformative imagination of the lone child protagonist.

Overhead shots of congregation and cinema audience are bound by the same kind of illumination. Each of Davies’s films feels like an act of transfiguration, the trials of everyday life become exalted. In Distant Voices Still Lives memories of abuse and hardship are counterbalanced by a sense of community and belonging, united in song and by a visual aesthetic which feels as though it were lovingly hand coloured in the manner of a precious family photograph.

The quiet dignity of many of his central characters pitted against the harsh confines of religious or social institutions is deeply poignant and ever present from the earliest works in his Trilogy; stunningly composed in stark black and white. This unflinching vision informs all subsequent work, including Davies’s only foray into period drama set outside his native Liverpool, The House of Mirth.

Davies elevates the costume drama to a whole new level in his adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel, aided by an exceptional performance by Gillian Anderson as tragic heroine Lily Bart. The director portrays a sublimely lit world of social graces and civilisation, conveying a deep understanding of the plight of his central character, the grim reality of her circumstance and subsequent demise.

Davies’s 2008 documentary Of Time and The City feels as much a self-portrait as homage to the director’s birthplace and childhood home of Liverpool. His narration is often wry and profound, the soundtrack of an individual life and of an age combined with archival and more recently filmed footage. Cycles of growth, demolition and decay are steeped in individual and collective reminiscence, reading like a magnificent symphonic poem; a celebration of the environment that ultimately shaped Davies’s unique creative vision and a valediction for times now past.

The Scottish premiere of David Michôd’s impressive first feature Animal Kingdom provided excellent closure to the festival. Grand Jury Prize winner at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and recipient of a record 18 nominations in this year’s AFI awards (winners to be announced in December), Animal Kingdom features a fine Australian cast including Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pierce, Jacki Weaver and newcomer James Frecheville as J.

Animal Kingdom

Michôd defies our expectations of the Crime Drama, centring our attention on a teenager placed unwittingly at the centre of an underworld family at war with itself and the police. The ensuing game of survival in this environment is beautifully paced, Michôd building tension gradually aided by Frecheville’s brilliantly understated performance and a chillingly controlled turn by Mendelsohn.

Veteran of stage and screen Jacki Weaver is excellent as matriarch Janine Cody, whose malevolent affection is a binding force throughout. Examining in greater depth themes explored in his award winning 14 min short Crossbow, screened prior to the closing night gala, Animal Kingdom places an innocent between family and authority, devoid of protection from both. The result like Michôd’s remarkable preceding short is a compelling portrait of dispossessed youth.

Local production Fighting Back, the first martial arts film produced in the Highlands, had its debut screening as part of this year’s selection of short films. Directed by Douglas McDowall and Jamie MacDonald and featuring comedy, romance, action and wire work, this ambitious production, part spoof, part homage to Asian cinema, signifies a promising beginning for future collaborative work.

David and Colin Robertson, local black belts in kempo, featured in the film’s fight sequences, with varied camera work by Mike Webster adding appropriate dramatic focus to key scenes. Kevin Douglas’s performance as the villain was convincingly menacing and showed potential for development in future projects. Filmed in just one week, Fighting Back is a great beginning, a refreshing example of storytelling not tethered and bound by its Highland location.

Shot in Glasgow, Colin Kennedy’s 12-minute short comedy I Love Luci involving two addicts, lost dentures and a dog was a thoroughly enjoyable alternative to typically grim urban subject matter, delivered with warmth, humour and a complete lack of stereotyping. Scott Graham’s third short film, Native Son, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, was another highlight of the shorts programme.

His bleak yet compassionate focus on human loneliness and isolation in a rural landscape has become more distilled and accomplished in this latest work. With the prospect of a feature film imminent, Graham is definitely a director to watch out for. What impresses so much about this film is the depth of character he manages to achieve in 20 minutes.

We have a back story (shown not told) which is extremely effective in creating empathy for the central character played by Sean Harris, in spite of his extreme behaviour. As a study of repression, masculinity and the fundamental need for human contact, Graham creates a memorable statement which very much feels like an episode from a more substantial work in the making.

This year’s festival workshops included Scheduling and Budgeting, Film in a Weekend for 13 to 19-year-olds, The Edge of Dreaming workshop with Director Amy Hardie, and the national touring workshop Unravel: The Longest Hand Painted Film In Britain, led by artists Chris Paul Daniels and Maria Anastassiou.

Working with communities and film festivals across the UK to create 16 hours of footage ( one frame for every metre of distance between John O’Groats and Land’s End), Daniels and Anastassiou have conceived of a project that will bring thousands of participants into contact with the immediately tactile medium of celluloid.

Working directly onto 16mm film stock and found footage, people from all ages have hand painted, drawn and etched marks directly onto film, with screenings in participating venues. The process of working sequentially within the frame or directly onto longer sections of film is completely engrossing and it will be fantastic to see the cumulative results of this activity from people all over the UK.

A special live performance of Steven Severin’s new score for Jean Cocteau’s 1930 film Le Sang D’un Poete (Blood Of A Poet) presented a mesmerising synthesis of sound and image, heightening appreciation of the surreal and enigmatic nature of the original work. Cocteau’s combination of live, drawn and sculptural elements found its aural counterpart in Severin’s suitably textured score, a synthesised, highly atmospheric soundscape drawing the viewer rhythmically into the imagery on screen.

Although Cocteau’s staging can often feel contrived, it was impossible not to become immersed in the dream-like and voyeuristic world of his creation to due to the immediacy of Severin’s hypnotic score. The second work in his on going series Music For Silents, the composer/ musician has clearly grounded his interpretation in an understanding of Cocteau’s visual language which is wonderfully compelling.

Throughout the four days of the festival it was pleasing to see audiences taking a chance on cinema without the instant draw of big stars or well known directors. The popularity of films such as The Eagle Hunter’s Son are proof positive that audiences becoming accustomed to the quality of Eden Court’s regular film programming are more willing to engage with a greater variety of film.

The screening of James Benning’s Ruhr was surprisingly well attended given the stillness of his moving images. This is challenging, absorbing and rewarding cinema, part of a diverse and dynamic programme which continues to evolve in each successive year. Although IFF 2010 is a very hard act to follow, it is certain that audiences can continue to expect the very best in 2011.

© Georgina Coburn, 2010

Links

• Inverness Film Festival

The brainchild of educator and composer Stephen Deazley, the Love Music Festival is an exciting and ambitious new initiative, bringing some of the world’s finest musicians to Peebles, Kilmarnock, Glasgow, St Andrews, Shetland, Banchory, Stornoway and Inverness.

The Festival’s national touring programme features an astonishingly diverse range of music from Central and West Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Canada and the USA, providing the opportunity for live experience of new sounds together with a learning programme “designed to encourage curiosity and musical experimentation.”

Bulgarian vocal group the EVA Quartet

Engaging directly with young people aged 4-18, the Festival will also include a number of public events culminating in a family day at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness (13 November, 10am-4pm), featuring performances from all the festival artists.

While there are precedents of access for young people to Classical and Traditional Scottish Music, direct contact with a broader range of world music and sound experience has yet to be embedded in teaching, schools and communities. The Love Music Festival’s ethos of access to musical excellence from around the world utilises a multi media approach, providing multiple routes into the music and culture of incoming artists and new perspectives on familiar sounds. Festival Director Stephen Deazely explains:

“A key element that grew rather organically was the concept of offering young people a ‘festival experience’, not just a single performance. In terms of where we looked for musicians I was interested in both the natural draw of wonderful musicianship but also in trying to achieve an eclectic mix that would surprise and reinforce the grand scale of the festival’s ambitions to bring unfamiliar music, and by subterfuge inject mini-cultural shocks.

“There is a very simple, tried and tested way of breaking down barriers – it’s about contact, real human contact. This is done in part by our travelling team of intrepid animateurs, who will be touring all over the [eight festival] regions working in schools, but it’s also about bringing the music and musicians up close.

“I don’t accept that musicians, however great they are, need to maintain a mystique – that’s a purely pop invention, so simply getting close up to the musicians and bands will have enormous impact. At the end of the day musicians who are the best in the world will inspire no matter where they come from.”

Tuvan throat-singers Huun-Huur-Tu

A range of online resources through the Love Music Festival website for students, teachers, parents and the wider public, including creative classroom music, composition, internet and digital music projects and experiments with sonic art will compliment the performance programme and encourage dialogue between audiences and visiting artists.

The Love Music Festival Jukebox, a series of networked playlists, will enable people to explore, rate and tag the music of the festival artists and discover the music which most inspired them. In addition sound installations within venues will add to the interactive nature of the Festival experience.

The potential for individual musical discovery is part of the expansive nature of the festival, and access to free software Map Mixer through the festival website will enable new music to be created and shared online. Throughout September and October, Love Music Festival’s Multi Media Curator Yann Seznec will be leading workshops in schools for 14-18 year olds, recording, editing and uploading sounds into Map Mixer, an interactive sound bank which anyone can use to compose their own tracks. In addition to its own website, the festival will utilise Facebook, Twitter and the GLOW network to share skills, opinion and information in the lead up to performances.

Four festival performance days in each of the seven touring regions will target specific age groups; Green Pea, featuring Trio pour un petit pois (France) and Circus Invisible (UK) for ages 4-7, Sonic Harmonic, featuring Eva Quartet (Bulgaria), Mamadou Diabate (Mali) and Sväng (Finland); and Balkan Mash, featuring Creaking Tree String Quartet (Canada), Jonny Axelsson (Sweden) and Kolektif Istanbul (Turkey) for ages 8-13 and Electric Loops featuring Huun Huur Tu (Tuva), Oren Marshall and the Charming Transport Band (UK) and Hobbit (UK) for ages 14-18.

All festival regions large or small, urban or rural will have access to the same diverse programme of music and learning being delivered in partnership with local venues and authorities. In the Highlands and Islands, they are Eden Court Theatre and Highland Council; Shetland Arts Development Agency and Shetland Islands Council; and An Lanntair and Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar in The Western Isles.

“We wanted every performance to go everywhere, no excuses,” Deazley explained. “Being able to tour to rural communities as well as cities was always very important – that means programming only up to a certain scale of ensemble / band, which still allowed us to bring the whole festival programme to every venue.

“We are bringing musicians from Turkey, Sweden, Canada, Bulgaria, Tuva, UK, France, Finland, West and Central Africa; a beautiful music theatre work and the crazy world of Circus Invisible for younger audiences; the regal and intoxicating sound of the African harp, the Kora; singing quartets from Bulgaria and Tuva; Balkan dance rhythms and grooves from Kolektif Istanbul; the extraordinary harmonica virtuosi Sväng from Finland; Canada’s leading bluegrass string band; Beatboxers; Electric Tubas; percussionists from Sweden and Central Africa.”

Kora master Mamadou Diabate from Mali

Deazley then explained how local communities can get involved:

“We have been working with all the local education teams since the start of the year, putting together tours of workshops to schools. If your school isn’t involved there may still be places for students to come to the Love Music events. Get in touch with us and we can put you in touch with the key people in your area.

“Start with the website [see link below] – its all there, resources, jukebox, videos, tour dates, contact details, so get online. If you are at school get your GLOW account up and running – you can stay in contact with all our animateurs there, and parents can do this too. The web resources are free, there are lots of creative projects teachers can do themselves.”

It is hoped that the Love Music Festival will become a biennial event and expand to a UK wide project in 2012, ensuring long term, sustained access to a broad range of world musical experience for young people. The potential of the festival in terms of creative legacy is perhaps one of its most exciting elements. With few educational opportunities offering any quality of experimentation, the Festival is a unique event, providing access not just to performance but actively seeding creative process. Stephen Deazely described the value of this approach.”

“I go back to my own work as a composer. I approach my own music like having a set of interesting ingredients, and I have to find a way to make them work well together and still feel like they can present a bigger idea. It’s a bit like problem solving, which, when you’re in the process, is totally engrossing. By applying curiosity and an experimental attitude, and guided by your own aesthetic and instinctive judgment things work themselves out on their own.”

The scale of ambition for the Love Music Festival is inspired and encouraging, especially in the current economic climate. The festival’s aims to “broaden the range of music available to young people, deepen their understanding of music from other cultures and open up possibilities for children to engage with international artists and their work” represents a vision of sustained impact, appreciation of diversity and self discovery.

On the question of diversity, Deazley cites a parable about identity told to him by a Russian dancer friend:

“ONE (person) in a room does not exist. TWO (people) in a room exist because you can come together, and in coming together there is safety of a kind. THREE (people) in a room is more than ONE + TWO. When THREE are in a room there is more of a challenge. THREE can make different combinations of TWO + ONE. When there are THREE you suddenly know that you can be on your own, that you can be different.

“Okay, it’s more amusing in Russian! But diversity makes you understand more deeply who you are, and you can’t begin to make anything honest in a creative artistic context until you know who you are.”

The Love Music Festival Scotland runs from 1-13 November 2010.

© Georgina Coburn, 2010

Links

• Love Music Festival
• Stephen Deazley

JIM McAUSLAN has been to Eden Court in Inverness to find out how staff are responding to the challenges of modern audiences.

THE ANNUAL Pantomime at Eden Court lived up to all my expectations – corny jokes, lots of “he’s behind you’s!” and cheesy songs galore. This year’s fairytale was Jack and the Beanstalk, and, despite said tale at first being a distant memory for me, it all came flooding back. And who knew you could get a pink-dotted blue cow?

Jack and the Beanstalk at Eden Court

This year’s Pantomime was brought to Eden Court by Imagine Theatre, led by writer and director Iain Lauchlan (who also played Dame Trott). He said that they were “delighted” to work with such talent. It was the company’s first time working on a Panto in Eden Court, and, with the help of local children, dancers and friend Karl Woolley (Simple Simon and also assistant director) amongst others, they went all out to create a spell-binding show.

Like all good Pantomimes there was a princess, a baddie, a poor boy who got the girl, a dame and her slightly simple son for us to giggle at. Panto’s are always at their best, I think, when set out in the traditional way: we like the fact that good triumphs over evil and the most unlikely guy gets the girl; it’s a nice sway from reality. So the format may have been decidedly familiar, but that’s what’s nice about it.

Now, to the all important issue of the massive, or should I say not so massive, beanstalk – growing from a dustbin, it was rather novel but I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t huge, looming and mechanically engineered like the one I saw in Edinburgh when I was wee; but the recession is here, as Fleshcreep (the Giant’s right hand man) reminded us.

Fortunately size was no issue when it came to The Giant, in fact the “Biggest Giant in Pantoland”! That was certainly true, and as the fog machine’s mist (possibly not needed – there was enough fog outside to hide many a giant) evaporated, the Giant appeared to lots of gasps. Sword in hand, the papier-mache-like brute staggered across stage; I’m certain many people will remember that moment for a long time.

I think perhaps I’m growing out of my Pantomime phase, but I have no doubt that by the time I’m a student I’ll be desperate to go again. But the amount of work put into the production every year is incredible, and they really did put on a good show. Wee children with flashing lights should perhaps be banned, though…

© Jo Gratton, 2009

Links

• Imagine Theatre

• Eden Court Theatre

WHILE THE recent economic downturn has impacted negatively on the frequency of orchestral touring in the North [and the programming, as witness the RSNO rolling up with a programme and orchestral forces more characteristic of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra – Ed.], clearly it has done nothing to diminish the appetite and enthusiasm of the local audience.

Trisdee Na Patalung

This latest concert by the RSNO was a sell out, and while the programme could have done with an injection of more challenging and unexpected material, the buoyant selection of popular works by Mozart, Elgar and Beethoven clearly pleased the warmly appreciative audience.

Perhaps the most unexpected element was the way in which 23-year-old conductor Trisdee na Patalung (Resident Conductor of the Bangkok Opera and Music Director of the Bangkok Baroque Ensemble) blended so seamlessly into the body and fabric of the orchestra.

In concert halls the world over we are used to seeing large presences and personalities, not always in the service of the music they perform. It was therefore refreshing to see Trisdee na Patalung’s unassuming sensitivity, which came to the fore in the second movement (Larghetto) of Elgar’s Serenade For Strings Op.20, and in his lead of the orchestra in their performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op93.

Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K525 opened the programme with a predictable flourish, followed by the celebrated composer’s Horn Concerto No 4 K495, with David McClenaghan, the RSNO’s esteemed Pricnipal Horn player, as soloist. Though beautifully played and phrased, the smoothness of a modern valve instrument provides a very even sound, unlike the period instrument where chromatic notes were achieved by stopping with the hand.

Like a lot Mozart performances, this work felt more like an exercise in technique and musical form perfected by performer and composer than a memorable piece of musical expression. Although the concerto is a musical form designed for display of the range of an instrument and the prowess of the soloist, it felt as if there was more potential for interpretation of the original work. When pieces of classical repertoire are so well known the ultimate challenge for any performer is to make the audience hear them anew.

Elgar’s Serenade For Strings Op20 opened the second half of the programme, exhibiting the composer’s characteristic lyricism and density of strings. The gentle repose and mellowness of this work, which evolved from three (now lost) miniatures, Spring Song, Elegy and Finale (1888-9), were perfectly compatible with the sensibility of the conductor. Here the orchestra communicated the essential qualities of Elgar’s music beautifully, leading to the highlight of the evening, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8.

Although in comparison to the gravitas of Beethoven’s 7th and 9th symphonies [described as “comic” in the programme note – I assume that should have read “cosmic”, or else it needs a bit of explaining – Ed.] the 8th represents a reduction of scale both in terms of thematic content and orchestration, it also illustrates superbly Beethoven’s understanding of classical form in predecessors such as Mozart and Haydn.

The work also revealed the unmistakable energy underpinning the whole composition that is uniquely his own, and always so evident in his music. The 8th is a joyous and well rounded work that resists being a slave to its own symphonic structure – what we hear first and foremost is the colour of the orchestra and the insistent aural signature of a composer that mastered the art of both form and feeling, bringing us resoundingly into contact with both. The RSNO communicated this brilliance in unison.

It seems ironic that at a time when people need art the most, cutbacks in touring are considered – even by members of the arts community – to be an inevitable consequence of recession. In our not so distant past there are examples of more enlightened government leadership in times of economic depression that have actually resulted in wider public art programmes, touring and performance. It is a pity that organisations such as the RSNO are not currently part of a larger cultural framework facilitating such access, and that we accept lack of priority as an excuse for lack of funds.

© Georgina Coburn, 2009

Links

• RSNO

SO AS a friend and I sat, quivering in our seats, slowly sinking and praying that the actors mingling and shouting at the audience would not see us or nick our sweets like they’d done to one poor soul, I began to wonder what I’d got myself into.

Tam and the Company

Having briefly read (if that is possible) Rabbie Burns’ rather epic poem this afternoon (I confess for the first time), I wasn’t convinced this production could modernise it at all. However, I was hoping to be proved wrong and I’m glad to say I was.

This collaboration between Scottish Youth Theatre, YDance and the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland was an ambitious project as part of this year’s Homecoming celebrations. Although I doubt it was what some of the older audience members were expecting, it was thoroughly enjoyable, holding onto the traditions of Burns’ language while remaining lively.

In fact, the beginning reminded me of something out of Skins as the nine actors and eight dancers downed imaginary shots then proceeded to collapse.

Unlike Burns’ original poem, there is no Grey Mare Meg, since our tale is re-set in contemporary times; they thought it best to forget the horse and cart and opt for a car instead. I can see their reasoning.

Jayne Austin plays Tam’s long-suffering wife Kate, who drives him home after his night in the pub but later leaves him to the devil and witches after her patience is pushed to the brink. Not surprising, really, and if this poem reminds us of anything, it is that times haven’t changed all that much with drink remaining a staple part of Scottish culture.

Philip Napier who plays the devil and narrator and David McNay, a confused Tam, also give superb leading performances.

It was certainly a side of Burns’ I’d never seen before, and didn’t even think existed if I’m honest, but I’m glad I did, and if we think Burns’ should be alive and dancing in our culture this might just be the way. If there was one question I left asking, it was why didn’t my school (the ever wonderful IRA) enlighten us with this side of Tam O’Shanter?

© Jo Gratton, 2009

Links

• Scottish Youth Theatre

• YDance

• National Youth Pipe Band

Researching ancestry in New Register House, Edinburgh (© VisitScotland/ScottishViewpoint)

ONE THING must be said about the conference on Scotland’s Global Impact – it was great crack. On the first day, among the 250 people thronging the foyers and flocking into the Empire Theatre to hear the papers were many familiar faces and a buzz of excitement. The whole event attracted over 450 people.

In this warm enthusiastic atmosphere what little ice there might have been could not survive unbroken for long, certainly not after Leslie Riddoch stamped her personality on the proceedings.

In the opening speech, Bruce Crawford MSP presented apologies from First Minister Alex Salmond, who had originally been billed as filling this slot, and conveyed his best wishes for the proceedings.

“How one small nation changed the world!” That was the sub-title for the gathering, and it was in no small measure a celebration of Scottish achievement. “But it is also important to recognise we are not a nation that lives in the past but gives it due recognition,” said Bruce Crawford. “We should not and cannot rest on our laurels.”

To prove his point, he mentioned the Saltire Prize put up by the government for projects relating to renewable energy and the SNP’s own climate change legislation, deemed to be world leading. He welcomed modern immigrants and their contribution to our national life.

He referred in that mixture of pride and humility that is really a form of boasting to “That small parliament of ours”, and assured the audience that the conference would reflect on both the good and the bad in our history.

The conference brought together historians from all the airts. Lt Col Ian MacPherson MacCulloch from the Canadian Forces College in Toronto called it an “intellectual ceilidh”. We heard some weighty academic papers that demanded close listening, especially when read rather than spoken, but the rewards were worth the effort. This was all cutting-edge stuff, I heard someone say.

We had closely argued excursions into the emergence of Scotland from the Dark Ages, examinations of our contributions to European history, and several papers on aspects of the diaspora in North America and the Antipodes.

John MacKenzie, Professor of Imperial History at the University of Lancaster, established his local credentials by telling how his father had played in the Inverness Thistle team that had won the Highland Cup in 1921, and then went on to argue that Scottish emigrants took an awareness of environment with them that enabled them to do great things in the far corners of the world in a host of occupations related to the outdoors and exploration.

He also dealt with the great fault of many who write about the Scottish diaspora – the sin of slanted selectivity. It is an easy error to fall into, allowing our interest in what Scots did to lead us to ignore the activity of emigrants from other places.

Professor MacKenzie tried to measure this tendency by choosing geology and checking in the Australian Dictionary of Biography the provenance of all the rockbashers listed therein. By no means all were Scots, he found, but the Scots who were included were the pioneers.

“They punched above their weight,” he argued, and felt his hypothesis held good. The phrase “punching above our weight” recurred several times over the three days. We Scots seem to have been involved in everything out of proportion to our small population. Why this should have been the case across the globe remains a mystery. It deserves systematic investigation, and Professor Tom Devine argued for this at the end of his session.

Devine’s own contribution, “Did slavery make Scotland great?”, was uncomfortable listening for those who had not thought about this aspect of our history before.

The title was a riposte to the general sense of “Wha’s like us?” that the conference theme was inclined to evoke. His basic contention was that the involvement of Scots in the slave-based plantation economy in the West Indies, and the remittance of money home, was a key factor in our “great leap forward” in industrialization.

“The Scots past, like all other ethnic pasts, is filled with light and shade,” he said, and no serious historian could disagree with that. Scotland’s global impact has been negative as well as positive, and history should not be bent to serve current political purposes.

On the first day, Dr Philomena de Lima’s paper on contemporary immigration was also a refreshing exception to the general emphasis on the achievements of emigrants. Professor Eric Richards from Flinders University brought some welcome humour to his exploration of the long two-way relationship with Australia.

A number of “elephants” were identified as being in the room – notably emigration to England and to Ulster, but these topics had not been programmed. Ewen Cameron, Senior Lecturer in Scottish History at Edinburgh University and a native Invernessian, had the tough job of summarising the whole thing in a brief wind-up speech.

That the conference had happened has a lot to do with the new Inverness, he said. Forty years ago such an event would have been inconceivable – there was not enough forward-thinking in the Highland capital.

He reminded us that the purpose of history is not to celebrate the past. “I think we have been successful in getting away from this Clearance obsession,” he said, before asking: “Can Scotland sustain her global impact in an age of economic difficulty?”

We’ll probably need another intellectual ceilidh to explore that question, but at Eden Court last week nearly everyone was up for it and already talking about making this a regular event.

© Jim Miller, 2009

Links

• Scotland’s Global Impact Conference

• Homecoming Scotland

Blazin' Fiddles

WITH PROVISIONAL figures from Blas 2009 indicating ticket sales up by some 20 percent on last year, and at least half of the festival’s 43 concerts having sold out – no mean feat at the best of times, let alone in the middle of a recession – it seemed only fitting that its closing show drew a capacity crowd. There was also that extra buzz to the atmosphere, the anticipation and responsiveness of an audience happily primed by earlier events, which only a successful festival can generate.

A short set from the young Fèis participants who’ve plied this year’s Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail served as a tasty appetiser to the proceedings, comprising some strong instrumental medleys, in impressively sophisticated arrangements, on fiddle, whistle, bagpipes, accordion and guitar, and a beautifully delivered and harmonised Gaelic version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, translated by Eilidh Mackenzie.

Next up were the festival’s main Homecoming attraction, Cape Breton family outfit The Barra MacNeils, not only retracing the journey their emigrant Scottish forebears made a couple of centuries back, but making a return appearance at Blas after their debut visit in 2007.

With a melodic frontline featuring fiddle, flute, accordion and uilleann pipes, backed up with piano, bouzouki, guitar, bodhrán and bass, their sets of strathspeys, jigs and reels delivered plenty of densely-layered colour as well as the vigorous bounce and drive characteristic of Cape Breton music.

The tunes were interspersed with a diverse selection of vocal material, including a rousing a capella colliers’ anthem, ‘The Coal Town Road’, from the band’s home patch of Sydney Mines, featuring all six siblings in close harmony on the chorus, and a sparkling puirt-a-beul number subtly accompanied on accordion and tambourine, whose quality outweighed their sole lapse of taste in an ultra-slushy self-penned ballad, ‘Dance With Me Daily’.

More transatlantic connections were explored by the Canadian/Irish five-piece Tread, whose superbly accomplished mix of harp and fiddle tunes with dazzling stepdance displays affirmed them as one of this year’s top festival hits, while harpist Triona Marshall’s heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in their first UK visit showed that the audience’s fervent appreciation was fully reciprocated.

Highland heroes Blazin’ Fiddles supplied a suitably high-octane climax to the night, with the cunningly spliced tune styles and time-signatures among a preponderance of newer material demonstrating how their intricate ensemble sound continues to evolve in ambition and refinement, while their latest recruit Anna Massie, replacing Marc Clement on guitar, further expanded their palette with her nimble melodic picking.

There was also a surprise appearance by one of the band’s original co-founders, Duncan Chisholm, before all of the night’s musicians filed back on for a glorious last hurrah, firstly paying tribute to the recently deceased Cape Breton fiddle maestro Jerry Holland with a lush rendition of his instrumental anthem ‘My Cape Breton Home’, then setting about a final stramash of reels which won a prolonged standing ovation.

© Sue Wilson, 2009

Links

• Blas Festival

National Youth Pipe Band

A NEW departure for Blas, the Piping Gala was, understandably, not without a few teething problems. The evening began in stygian gloom as the lighting department of Eden Court appeared not to notice that the Bean-an-tigh, Anna Murray, was on stage to greet the audience in Gaelic and English, and announce the National Youth Pipe Band.

Ranging in age from 10 to 25, they are a non-competing outfit, which must be a relief to those who do compete as they displayed formidable competence. Very modern in outlook, they produced some terrific arrangements with plenty of swing, sass and verve, as well as demonstrating the necessary dignity and reserve for slow airs and marches.

Next up was James Macphee of Inverness, chosen by the Northern Meeting championships, and displaying not just great skill but a lovely understanding of the variations in tempo that contribute so much to great pibroch.

Anna Murray and Brian Ó hEadhra slowed the pace and provided a textural contrast with some lovely tunes for small pipes and guitar – a marriage made in heaven – and equally lovely songs, before the NYPB returned to raid the Gordon Duncan Tune Book and rock the stage again.

Following the interval, the Northern Constabulary Community Pipe Band, a local voluntary band set up in 2002 and supported by the Inverness Common Good Fund, took us back to traditional piping territory in a well-judged performance overseen by Pipe Major Kenny Watson.

Unlike their predecessors, they are a competing outfit who are beginning to collect some serious trophies on their collective mantelshelf. Then it was back to the future with rising stars Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson, accompanied, very sensitively, by Strathpeffer’s Matthew Watson on guitar. Ainslie and Henderson are renowned for their dizzying, dazzling mastery of flute, Highland, small and uillean pipes, and cascades of notes poured off the stage in a brilliant, sparkling set which set the Empire Theatre alight.

From the young Turks to the old(er) guard – the three Macdonald brothers of Glenuig (Angus, Iain and Allan) are living legends in the world of traditional music. They made it look so easy – always the mark of the master. Tunes from Cape Breton sat comfortably side by side with old Highland jigs, slow airs, classic combinations of March, Strathspey and Reel, and their own compositions.

The Community Pipe Band ended the night with some classics, including ‘Highland Cathedral’, ‘The Rowan Tree’, and ‘Scotland the Brave’, tunes which can easily sound hackneyed but were played with passion and dedication. Despite the small hiccups, it was a very nicely programmed evening celebrating the breadth and depth of music for the pipes, which are such an integral part of Gaelic culture.

© Jennie Macfie, 2009

Links

• Blas Festival
• Jennie Macfie

Louise Marshall

DIGITAL DANCE  was the product of five days of hard work by a group of twenty four young adults and it proved to be as fresh as I imagined, but perhaps a little too short. Its music was atmospheric (though a little repetitive and dance-y for my taste) and the dancers enthusiastic, so that the culmination of their work made Eden Court Summer Youth Dance Project 2009 a treat for family and friends.

The beginning of the dance was slightly delayed due to a few technical hitches but nobody seemed particularly bothered, so all was going well until an accident involving a dancer and the stage floor took place; luckily the stage floor didn’t suffer too much, and neither did the dancer, though someone else (my friend as it happens) had to take her place.

So after a few false starts the show was underway with black and white film projected onto the background, and then Maree Murdoch entering left dancing her mobile number (an imaginative idea of one of the choreographers) which was particularly inspired, though I confess neither I nor her sister realised until she explained on the journey home.

Waves of dancers followed with domino effect movements and rather rave style dancing at points. On the screen behind the dancers there were more images projected, including video footage of them practising which added to the cosy, inclusive feeling of the whole performance. The dancing seemed to reach out to the audience and succeeded in its wish to be an “interactive” performance.

The performance attempted to encompass a whole range of elements, and the dancers managed well with the help of able tutors – Louise Marshall, Eden Court’s Dance Artist, and Ruby Worth – but it could have been a little longer. Perhaps it was nerves, but the dance only managed to clock in 20-odd minutes, which I thought was a little disappointing. None the less it was all well done and I’m looking forward to next year’s production.

© Jo Gratton, 2009

Links

• Eden Court Classes

Magic of the Dance

MAGIC of the Dance may be full of talented dancers, but it felt as though it was having an identity crisis as the dancers whirled across the stage, first in cloaks and then with basket balls, seemingly unable to decide if they were part of High School Musical or Riverdance.

The story is also somewhat confusing: narrated by Christopher Lee, it attempts to tell the story of two lovers torn apart in famine-stricken Ireland only to come together once more when they board a ship for America in search of a new life. However, I doubt that you you would have understood this without a programme, and with the steep price of £5 my guess is that most of the audience were baffled (me included).

Most of the story took place in the first half anyway, so as I took my seat after the interval I wondered what would follow; the answer was a dance off between the American and Irish dancers. Their foot work was extraordinary, the speed of the movements mind boggling and the music eerily atmospheric.

Dermot Cullen and Collette Dunne played the romantic leads, and their dancing was able, although the chemistry between them was lacking a little. From the shores of Ireland they venture to America, and it is here that things got really strange, including an unnecessary segment of audience participation when the lead tap dancer hauled three men on stage from the front row for a contrived Rat Pack routine, and a basket ball set-piece that seemed out of context considering the production is meant to be set in 1849.

However, maybe I’m being pernickety, and the vast majority of the audience were carried away by this extraordinary tale of events.

For me I don’t know if it was the pyrotechnics or the voiceover by Christopher Lee (much loved baddie from The Lord of the Rings and many other movies) or the insanely fast moving feet of the dancers, but it was all just a bit too much on a midweek night when I could have curled up on the sofa.

I’m sure that Magic of the Dance, celebrating its tenth anniversary on this tour, will continue to wow audiences for years to come, but not always in the right way…

© Jo Gratton, 2009

Links

• Magic of the Dance
  

Michael Forbes - Living With The Demon of Self Doubt

THIS LATEST show from the Highland Artists group features work by Eugenia Vronskaya, Michael Forbes, Caroline Hewat, Alex Dunn, Pay Hay, Linda Smith, Denise Davis, Pamela Tait, Rosie Newman, Anita Jeanne Murray, Erland Tait and David Williamson. A variety of media are represented including painting, drawing, printmaking, mixed media and sculpture, and it is particularly gratifying to see further development and distillation of work by individual artists since the group’s previous show at Eden Court in March.

Alex Dunn’s Cha mhòr nach eil ah-uile – Almost everything that consoles us is false (pencil and paper on cardboard) is a striking series hung in 4-1-4 formation, in a location where the detailed execution of the work can be appreciated due to an abundance of natural light. This sequence of abstracts is well balanced in terms of form, colour and composition.

There is obvious care and precision in the cut sections of the work and hand-drawn grounds, contributing to the subtle textures within the bolder structure of each piece. The rhythm of mark in graphite catches the light and on closer inspection creates an interesting dialogue with the dominant forms of the composition that immediately strike the viewer at first glance. This group of images presents a stronger overall statement from the artist than in the previous group show, with tighter control, execution and a closer relationship between the artist’s technique and ideas.

Characteristically, the bisecting cut of the composition and intricately detailed quality of the drawn mark are at once as much a cerebral engagement as a visual one. Criomag Den Dealbh as Motha – A small part of the bigger picture is a good example, with a single delicate white line angulated in relation to the dominant cross form curving diagonally across the square composition. There is always a sense of individual struggle in the thematic scope of Dunn’s work, a kind of hard-edged sensitivity which is visually and intellectually engaging, consistently presenting the human condition in abstract form.

Linda Smith’s forays into a more expansive palette and textural handling of paint in the previous show are further distilled in her latest work. In The Cool of the Night (Oil) is a good example, a convincingly unsettling image bathed in eerie green and yellow light. The eye is led physically and psychologically up the path towards the door ajar, a swing suspended in midair at the very edge of the image adding to the tension of the work. The angular nature of the elongated composition presents the image itself to the viewer like a chink in the door of our unconscious and contributes to the maze-like quality of this shadowy nocturnal scene.

Denise Davis’s A Triptych of a Life Model (Oil) is a beautifully visceral figurative work, the vertebral column exposed in white and strongly articulating each form and pose. The artist’s choice of colours reflect both life and decay; blood red cadmium, deep alizarin, earthy ochre, umber and rich, cool ultramarine contribute to the immediacy of the work. Gestural, drawn elements of fine brushwork in the upper body combine with the solidity and volume of hips and thighs.

The artist reveals her understanding of human form and condition through life drawing, made potently expressive through abstraction. Figures in Green and Red is a fascinating exercise in composition, the palette lightened and energetic, colour dividing the image yet creating a harmonious whole. The bisected background of complimentary orange and purple read left to right is deepened vertically by hue, a stage upon which two figures executed with vigorous brush marks emerge.

Caroline Hewat’s Brownstone and Standing in the Sky (Both acrylic, and graphite on canvas) are the artist’s strongest works on show, utilising delicately drawn line to define the massive solidity of mountains. Planes of form in graphite grey, sienna and white are given depth by drawn shaded lines and vibrant brushwork. The layered use of acrylic allows under-painting to surface and overlap with opaque washes contrasted with more robust areas of paint handling. The high horizon line adds to the sense of scale within the scene, while sensitivity of line captures the elusive and changeable nature of the Highland landscape.

Another strong exponent of line in the exhibition is Erland Tait in his set of monoprints. Dalmore is a good example, defining the architecture of the distillery with elegant simplicity, reminiscent of Mackintosh in their beautifully pared-down singular line. Linked to Tait’s work in stained glass and the linear formal design of his paintings, the structural aspect of these monoprints is effectively heightened by the absence of colour.

Pamela Tait’s colourful graphic style influenced by Pop Art, Fashion and Advertising takes on a more multilayered aspect in this show. Ghost Lady Series 2 (Pencil and paper on paper) combines collage with sharply drawn illustration to create a greater sense of depth within the image. Neon colours accent rather than dominate the work, the female face emerging out of a characteristically dark ground. There is a distinctly retro feel in terms of design in much of Tait’s work and while this sometimes feels like imitation, Ghost Lady 2 reveals the possibility of layers of interpretation based on exploration of technique which is exciting to see.

Whilst local audiences will be familiar with Eugenia Vronskaya’s work in oils, this exhibition presents an opportunity to view some of the artist’s superb works in drypoint. This intaglio technique, whereby the image is incised onto the metal plate, conveys the immediacy of a sketch, while the burr cast up by the incision contributes to the soft density of the mark, giving it a velvety intensity. Battle of the Trees is an excellent example, a monumental struggle of opposing lines, accented marks of fallen individuals in the mid-ground.

The artist’s incised marks contain remarkable energy, reading like musical notation of two thematic strands in combat. Self Portrait reveals Vronskaya’s deep understanding of composition and inner structure in relation to the figure. There is a powerful sense of architecture in the human form described with conviction in heavily incised crosshatching and planar recognition of the face.

Michael Forbes has contributed what might well be a portrait of all artists in his painting Living With The Demon of Self Doubt. Exhibiting the artist’s characteristically quizzical attitude, the artist sits composed upon a sofa, an enlarged demon face peering over the top. Whilst this universal illustration of creative uncertainty is given comic treatment it emerges out of grey shadows branded as sketched doubt upon the artist’s t-shirt. The image is a brilliant truth and as we smile we swallow the pill.

Artists groups such as Highland Artists continue to make a significant contribution to the cultural life of the area and it is a pleasure to see personal creative development at the heart of their latest show.

© Georgina Coburn, 2009

Links

• Highland Artists
• Eden Court Theatre

NDT2 (photo - Chris Nash)

MUCH, NO DOUBT, to the relief of stagecrews all over Europe and the UK, the NDT2 2009 tour relied almost entirely on lighting for its special effects. Allied with the use of simple, monochromatic costumes, the emphasis lay where it should be, on the superbly trained young dancers.

It is hard to imagine a greater contrast from last year’s programme, almost overpowered by towering figures and dramatic costumes (‘Sleight of Hand’), windmills, snowfalls and a tray of gravel for ‘Mammatus’, and a ziggurat for ‘Dream Play’.

The evening started with ‘Offspring’, in which two somewhat distracting lasers accompanied a beautifully moving duet, shafts of white light evoked the gloom of a dusty barn on a sunny day as they illuminated a group of darting, meerkat-like dancers. A diagonal bandolier of spots was lowered for a solo before the lasers returned to encircle a superbly evoked foetal figure.

A male solo led to a male pas de quatre, all danced with a restless intensity before the end; a sudden, single, circle of bright light and an intake of breath. Choreographed by former NDT2 and now principal NDT1 dancer Lukas Timulak during the impending birth of his first child, ‘Offspring’ contained much to admire but the relentless display of the dancers’ brilliant technique was just too much; towards the end of the 22 minutes it was almost too tiring to watch.

The second work, ‘Gods and Dogs’, by NDT2 co-founder Jiri Kylian, showed a maturer understanding of pace while continuing to showcase the company’s gymnastic flexibility, speed and precision with some superfast staccato moves which purely took the breath away.

A glass bead curtain covered the back of the stage, swishing fast or swaying slowly with the dancers and the music in a visually arresting victory for simplicity. The high projection of a wolf loping slowly towards the audience was an unnecessary distraction but the bacteria-like white lights which crawled over and camouflaged the soloist at the end of the piece, accompanied by the swish of the glass curtain, burned a memorable, atmospheric image on the collective retina.

‘Minus 16′, made on NDT2 ten years ago, and last seen at Eden Court just before it closed for redevelopment, provided the night’s dessert. Ohad Naharin’s work is a perennial favourite with dance companies worldwide, due to a profusion of crowd-pleasing elements united around a meditation on what it is to be a dancer; accessible dollops of disco, techno, B-boying and circus skills, all set to a mashed mix of music including showtunes and surf guitar, lounge and Latin.

Boundaries between audience and company are blurred and gender is masked by a unisex costume of rabbinical black suits, white shirts and fedoras over grey singlets and shorts. The chair scene, set to the Hebrew melody ‘Ehad Mi Yodea’, part of a traditional text used to teach children during the Passover supper, is vividly impressive.

The sudden backbend with outstretched arms recalls Goya’s ‘The Execution of the Third of May’, the repeatedly prone figure stage left, the structure of a childrens’ game, the quasi-military chorus of voices, the clothes thrown in a heap; the cumulative effect gently tugs at the memory of the Holocaust and provides the necessary depth and substance as a continuo to the superficial flash and style of the framing segments.

The crowd was emphatically pleased; Eden Court is not much given to the full standing ovation. NDT2’s dancers deserved every minute of theirs for their superb technique and unstinting energy.

My only quibble with NDT2 is a lack of soul, a lack which is inseparable from their extreme youth and intensive working practice, the latter usefully outlined by Executive Artistic Director Gerald Tibbs in the post-show discussion. This reviewer was left longing even more than usual to see NDT1, the company to which many of NDT2’s dancers graduate at the still-tender age of 23 and where their talents ripen to the soulful full.

© Jennie Macfie, 2009

Links

• NDT2
• Eden Court Theatre
• Jennie Macfie

Sunrise not Secular

NÒS ÙR, or New Style, is the name given to the weekend event celebrating the minority languages of Celtic Europe and the growing numbers of singers and bands performing in those minority languages. A partnership between GoEvents and Anam Communications, the event is in its second year and is one of a series of international song contests in Europe, designed to highlight the fragility and cultural worth of these minority tongues.

The final will be held in 2010 and it is hoped that this major event will also take place in Inverness. I had the opportunity to experience different elements of the Festival this year, both from a performers point of view and an audience member. Here are a few , I hope interesting, observations!

Friday afternoon saw myself in the Eden Court restaurant meeting the Gaelic youth vocal harmony group Fionnar, who were performing that evening, as the Scottish representatives in the Nòs Òg, or ‘Young Style’ strand of the weekend. In contrast to the Saturday nights entertainment, Nòs Òg is entirely non-competitive and designed to showcase some of the best up-and-coming musical talent in the minority language countries – in this case, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Fionnar were given the chance to premier the Gaelic songs they had written themselves over the past six months in their Sgoil Roc project, which gave them the opportunity to work with professional Gaelic writers and mainstream rock musicians to produce their own EP of new style Gaelic music. Their set of three songs, written about topics as diverse as Bebo, Facebook and the decline of minority languages when faced with celebrity news, made for a beautiful and arresting performance slot.

The Stilletoes from Wales are a self-described “pop punk rock” group and their set was indeed a stark contrast to Fionnar – demonstrating how far ahead of Gaelic the Welsh language is in terms of normalising mainstream music. Likewise, The Temporary from Ireland gave a different slant to the face of Youth Music from another Celtic nation.

The groups, although so entirely different, were all great examples to other young people of how to reach contemporary audiences with contemporary issues and styles. Fionnar’s nerves were not helped by the fact that a team from the BBC Rapal” music show tailed them during the afternoon…

Saturday morning saw me attend a music industry seminar at Eden Court to discuss the topic “To be successful you have to sing in English”. This seminar was run in conjunction with the Voices of the West conference which also took place within Eden Court. The seminar did indeed provoke a lively discussion amongst the few who attended, and the emerging agreement was that the topic could be answered by the question “depends on what you define as success…..”

The afternoon saw me make a swift departure to sing with Inverness Gaelic Choir in the Inverness Provincial Mod (who won the main competition of the afternoon against stiff opposition from Dingwall Gaelic Choir). The tartan stilletoes were much admired but had to be removed before the evening stint…

The main event of the weekend was the competition element, which took place in the Empire Theatre but could perhaps have filled the OneTouch more effectively. Opened with a Gaelic song by Inverness choral group Canntaireachd, and compered by actor Tony Kierney and singer/songwriter Karine Polwart, the programme consisted of ten bands and singers from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Brittany and Cornwall who had all battled it through the selection rounds to represent their countries.

I doubt whether a more diverse selection of styles could be found anywhere else in the world. From Gaelic rock, Breton rap, traditional Ulster Scots, Cornish punk to Gaelic punk, we were given the gamut of musical and cultural innovation.

In a noticeable departure, the Scottish Gaelic entries were much more upbeat and contemporary than last year when the entries, whilst of a very high standard of musicality and style within their genre, were much less ‘nòs ur’. Mary Ann Kennedy certainly provided audience members with a style rather different from her usual but she looked and sounded equally at home as a “rock chick” rather than oa “Rodel Chick”… .

After the voting process which, in true Eurovision style had its technical difficulties, the winners of the house and web vote were announced as Stornoway band Sunrise Not Secular, which delighted the teenage girls from Canntaireachd. Sunrise” have been gradually establishing themselves as the front runners in new wave Gaelic rock music and they, together with Irish singer Fiach, go forward to represent their respective languages at the Liet Lavlut 2009 final in Friesland in October.

Nòs Ur is expected to move elsewhere in 2010 but here is no doubt that wherever the host country is next year, they will have learned from the experiences of Inverness organiser Brian Ó hEadhra, who himself participated in the event in Europe a few years ago. It is encouraging to see the diversity of the minority cultures and the strength of feeling, particularly amongst the young performers who are passionately proud and defensive of their languages.

There may be a long way to go until the mainstream totally accepts a minority language as chart material, but with young bands such as we saw in Inverness this weekend, we can be hopeful that it will come eventually.

© Fiona MacKenzie, 2009

Links

• Nòs Ùr
• Fiona MacKenzie

Inverness Opera Company

ONE OF the facts of life is that musical theatre is popular, to the extent that at times musicals can dominate both the West End of London and Broadway in New York, leaving conventional theatre to pick up the remains of the available audience.

During the second week of June Inverness’s Eden Court offered a microcosm of that reality. In the OneTouch Theatre Inverness Opera Company presented the third act of their successful “songs from the shows” format to good audiences; while next door in the Empire Theatre the joint production by two of the most respected companies in the country, Dundee Rep and the National Theatre of Scotland, played to modest numbers with a version of Ibsen’s masterpiece, Peer Gynt, that I found so bad and disgusting that, to my mind, it should never have seen the light of day.

At least I assume that the second half was as awful as the first as I could not bear to stay after the interval [see John Burns review for a different response to the controversial award-winning play – Ed.]

So, hats off to Inverness Opera Company for maintaining standards and putting so much hard work into their latest presentation that I am almost tempted to overlook the niggly bits. I say “almost” as I am told that I have ruffled one or two feathers in the past for judging Inverness Opera on the same standards as a professional company. But they charge a commercial rate for tickets and they perform in a professional venue, so that is the basis on which I will treat them.

In a nutshell, the parts of the show between the long dark pauses were very good. Without exception all thirty-three of the cast sang well to the accompaniment of a most impressive, but nameless, on-stage orchestra. And whoever made the inspired decision to recruit the estimable Claire Morris as choreographer deserves a medal, as her stylish imprimatur really lifted the performance into something special, resulting in the cast singing with their bodies as well as their voices.

However, before I go into more detail on the performances, let’s get the niggles out of the way. Essentially the show was twenty-three disconnected excerpts from twenty-one musicals with nothing to put the songs into context. The programme sheet was no more than a list of the songs, which musicals they came from and who was singing them, but that’s not a lot of help in a dark auditorium.

Which brings me back to my main niggle, the long dark pauses that made up 9% of the total time of the show (Yes, I timed them. How anal is that?). While the changes are taking place, would it not be possible to have one of the cast introduce each song with no more than a few lines about the musical involved and how the characters and the song fit into the plot? That would alleviate the audience sitting in the dark like numpties, and give the whole show continuity and pace.

West End to Broadway Act III opened with the overture to Wicked!, the must-see show about the Witches of Oz that is packing them in at the Apollo Victoria in London.

Dark pause 22 secs

The whole company set the mood for the evening with a boisterous and enthusiastic rendition of Money, Money, Money from Mamma Mia, the Abba tribute show, and one of the few songs to have also appeared in West End to Broadway Act II a couple of years ago.

Dark pause 32 secs

Then it was debut time for one of the fresh leads of Inverness Opera, Lea MacLaughlin singing Another Suitcase from the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita. While the movie may have associated this number with Madonna, Lea’s delivery was much more akin to the original by Julie Covington. It is never an easy song to get right, but Lea had the measure of it.

Dark pause 27 secs

Staying with Rice and Lloyd Webber, Garry Black had just the right level of anguish in the Gethsemane solo as Christ queries his impending death in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

Dark pause 20 secs

Maureen Westley, Margaret Hadnett, Gail Turner and Anne Hughes kept the religious theme going as the group of nuns in The Sound of Music who try to solve the problem called Maria, full of humour and exasperation.

Dark pause 27 secs

Popular stalwart Charlie Sinclair then sang the solo Some Enchanted Evening from another great Rogers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific. A warm deep voice that had no trouble filling the OneTouch Theatre with every word clearly defined.

Dark pause 25 secs

Eddie Docherty and Lorna Lumsden took the stage suitably attired to sing Chim Chiminee from Mary Poppins, and thank goodness Eddie decided not to try and emulate the execrable Cockney accent that Dick Van Dyke employed in the movie as a loveable chimney sweep.

Dark pause 14 secs

Avenue Q is one of those unlikely successes that has been playing on Broadway for a decade and in the West End for four years, having just transferred to the Geilgud Theatre. Mixing humans and puppets, it is set in a very down-at-heel part of New York, and has a decidedly seedy theme, but some wonderful songs from the pens of Robert Marx and Jeff Lopez, of which maybe the best known is Fine Fine Line, sung beautifully here by Sasha Devine.

Dark pause 22 secs

Rent is a rock musical written by Jonathan Larson based on Puccini’s La Boheme, but set in New York with all the main characters infected with AIDS. It was a success in America, possibly because of Larson’s sudden death from an aortic aneurysm just as the show was about to open on Broadway. However a West End version called Rent Remixed ran for only three months and was critically vilified. Seasons of Love opens the second act as the whole cast contemplate what can happen in a whole year.

Dark pause 38 secs

Inverness Opera’s next full scale production is Titanic – The Musical, and we were treated to a taster with a medley of four of the numbers from the entire company under the direction of Bob Garrity. Some lovely songs, including the toe-tapping The Latest Rag, to look forward to, but let’s hope they get the scene changes speeded up or global warming will have melted the iceberg and Titanic will reach New York safely.

The second half began with, yes, you’ve guessed it!

Dark pause 31 secs

The full company returned to the fun and frolics of Mamma Mia with a unison rendition of the title song.

Dark pause 23 secs

In her first lead for the company a few months ago in Anything Goes, Nicola Macaskill gave an excellent performance as Reno Sweeney. In her cameo as Diana in A Chorus Line, she confirmed that her success as Reno was not a one-off, singing the number Nothing, a recollection of horrible high school acting classes.

Dark pause 18 secs

And so the show continued, with everyone playing their parts to the hilt. Aileen Hendry and Andy Warburton as the Couple of Swells from Easter Parade, Stephanie Smart sending in the clowns from A Little Night Music, a quintet of the ladies for Suddenly Seymour from The Little Shop of Horrors, Helen Barron, Lea MacLaughlan and Clare Nicholson sweeping the floor in Matchmaker from Fiddler on The Roof.

Inverness Opera’s principal male, Des Devine performed an impressive title song from Starlight Express (how about roller skates next time, Des?) with the only slick change of the evening as he slipped on a jacket to go straight into the Jets’ song, Officer Krupke from West Side Story. Margaret Aburn got her turn in the spotlight in front of a semi-chorus for Tell Me It’s Not True from Blood Brothers. Gerry Sutton made a suitably sad and forlorn Mr Cellophane from Chicago before Miriam Crabtree upped the ante as the taxi dancer Charity Hope Valentine singing Big Spender from Sweet Charity and putting the frighteners on her client, Eddie Docherty.

From there to the end it was the full company all the way, with a selection of numbers including a gooseskin-inducing Do You Hear The People Sing? from Les Miserables and culminating in another visit to Sweet Charity for The Rhythm of Life.

A most entertaining evening which everyone enjoyed and left them looking forward to West End to Broadway Act IV. Inverness Opera have got the semi-staged format right; the energy and enthusiasm is impressive; the singing is good, a lot of the time very good; the movement is a massive improvement. Get the continuity sorted and next time there will be an outstanding show.

© James Munro, 2009

Links

• Inverness Opera Company

Keith Fleming as Peer Gynt (Photo - Manuel Harlan)

THEY SAY ignorance is bliss and this certainly turned out to be the case for me when I witnessed the National Theatre of Scotland & Dundee Rep’s co-production of Peer Gynt. I knew nothing about the play when I walked into the theatre, and that meant that was I saw was an amazing revelation.

The play began in the Foyer of the theatre when the place was suddenly invaded by a drunken wedding party. It was the sort of wedding reception we have all been to and dread. Everyone was drunk and emotional, singing off-key pop songs and always on the verge of a fight. Then the wedding guests simply wandered into the theatre and on to the stage and the play began.

What unfolded on the stage was an incredible piece of theatre. This is an earthy tale that rampages across the stage like a bull escaping through a market place. Peer Gynt arrived on stage dishevelled and wild-eyed after being carried away across the mountains on the horns of a huge stag.

The real question is who is Peer Gynt? He is a man struggling to find his identity. Cast out by the community because of his tall tales and drunken womanising he lives in a shack in the forest. The play follows his life as he travels from abject poverty in the woods to become a wealthy arms dealer in Africa, all the while struggling to find his true identity and walking away from the woman he loves.

I discovered later that the original author of this classic play, Henrik Ibsen, had actually believed it might be impossible to stage. This, however, was a hugely imaginative contemporary adaptation of the play by playwright and translator Colin Teevan. The original was first produced in 1876, but it has been brought right up to date for this production.

Set in today, Gynt’s struggle for identity is as modern and relevant today as it was when Ibsen first wrote this chaotic piece of drama. The adaptation constantly wrong foots the audience, and you never know what will appear next as the play takes in an amazing number of scenarios.

We are treated to a surreal scene as Gynt travels into the underworld of mountain Trolls and is seduced by the daughter of the Troll king. There is a band of apes, a scene in the desert, and at one point a quad bike roars onto the stage, driven by a man with a pig’s head.

The whole performance moves at an amazing pace with actors changing roles with impressive ease. The set was spectacular and for this show the Empire theatre had been stripped bare, with a huge scaffolding ramp assembled on stage as the backdrop for the play.

Keith Fleming’s performance as the young Peer Gynt is excellent, a powerful portrayal of the passion and the fury of this young man as he copes with life, love and the need to find out who he is. In the second half of the production Gerry Mulgrew puts in an equally strong performance as the older Peer facing his demons as death approaches.

The play was so well acted overall that it is hard to select any particular performance, as all the roles were well performed by all the cast. Robert Patterson, however, was particularly memorable for his menacing performance as King Bastard, the ruler of the Trolls. Spinning about the stage in his electric wheel chair he was reminiscent of the emperor of Dr Who’s daleks, and he brought a chilling menace to the role.

Dundee Rep’s production helped me to remember something. It reminded me just how powerful a medium theatre can be. It reminded me why I go to plays and recaptured the fascination that was born in me when I first saw theatre in Liverpool’s Everyman. As long as you are not faint hearted enough to be put off but the foul language – and there is a lot of it – this play is a celebration of just how good theatre can be.

I intend to see it again before the company leaves town, and I’m going to read Ibsen’s original work to see if I can drink from the source of Teevan’s considerable inspiration. I have seen a lot of 5-star performances, and this show deserves even better than that. This play has broken through the ceiling; this is a 6-star show.

© John Burns, 2009

Links

• National Theatre of Scotland

• Dundee Rep Theatre

• John Burns at Purple Comedy

Auntie Janet Saves the Planet - Frances Morrison as Madame Pipistrelle and Steven Struthers as Sargeant George (Photo - Drew Farrell)

QUEUING outside the theatre doors, children and family members were asked if they would become voles before being led in to the performance by the brown soldier hare and his marching drum. With spots on their noses and pink vole ears, the audience marched into the theatre.

Comfy cushions were placed on the floor where the first three rows of seating would normally be in the OneTouch, and most of the children popped down on them, ready for the performance. The delightful set on stage captivated them.

Auntie Janet (a hen) was having a crisis, she informed the audience, and needed help. Her lovely woodland and home would be bulldozed in the morning by the loggers, if she couldn’t find the one thing that could save her environment. Her pals, the Brown Hare (Sgt George), Song Thrush (Mavis) and Pippistrelle Bat were going to help her. Auntie Janet said they were to find the song that would stop the disaster, but they had to be back by dawn for it to work.

So the three set off on their adventure, narrowly escaping the jaws of Brutus the cat in the woods, and came across the travelling carnival with some very engaging and amusing puppets. The first character, Noxious Stinkerton – a rat obsessed with cleanliness (he was in the bath at the time of performance on stage) had the first part of the song, which he shared with Sgt George.

There was something fundamental George had to do so that he could learn the new beat – and that was to change his old ways and play the rhythm Noxious taught him. All the voles in the audience were encouraged to get up and dance along to the new groovy beat and Sgt George had learned that change was possible and it was good.

Next came Olga Petrova, mistress of the skies (an Eastern European bumble bee with hayfever) who taught the group the harmony. Again more audience engagement with children dancing and singing along with the stage characters. Melody came next from the world’s strongest micro-organism – Giganticus Rex – who could only be seen through a large magnifying glass.

The voles, of course, knew the rest of the song, because they were clever and know the colours of the rainbow. And with a huge group effort with audience and characters working together, they managed to get the song back in time to Auntie Janet. Each character having accepted that change could only happen, if they were prepared to alter something about themselves and learn to sing a new song.

The tale was amusing, engaging and sweet. And the message was this – “When you stand together and the song you sing is true, everybody listens to you.” With a moral to the story, an education in how to make music and interesting characters, this musical brings a great deal to performance for children. And when the characters left stage, the children in the audience were reluctant to leave, staying a good while to dance to the music and probably hoping someone would come out again. A sign that they had a good time.

© Jelica Gavrilovic, 2009

Links

• Scottish Opera

Mark Lomax: "Map Reading For Beginners (Missing In Aston)" mixed media.

THE HNC Contemporary Art Practice Here and Now exhibition is a two part show: Part I by tutors of Inverness College’s Art and Design course followed mid-month by Part 2, an exhibition by students of the college (16-26 June). The showcase of work currently on exhibition by Inverness College tutors reveals a varied and interesting range of work throughout the first two floors of the Eden Court Theatre foyers, including painting, sculpture, mixed media, printmaking and textiles.

Brian MacBeath has contributed a variety of work to the exhibition including oils on canvas, monoprints and lithography demonstrating his characteristic engagement with resonant colour and abstract form. The Return (Oil on canvas) is a good example, with an overlap of organic and geometric shapes allowing layers of paint handling to emerge in a burst of aqua, purple, yellow, orange and green.

This layered technique is also clearly evident in the printmaker’s art, the interplay of saturated colour, line and form creating a harmonious balance of composition in works such as Untitled (Monoprint) and Delta. Overall McBeath’s work possesses an attitude of quiet repose even in its most vibrant hues, a result of the strong formal design element of his compositions.

Rosie Newman’s sculpture The Ladder Tree is a delightfully surreal work which sits particularly well beneath the atrium of natural light, juxtaposed with the grey concrete and slate of the architecture.

The upturned builder’s ladder defies both viewer expectation and gravity in a fusion of man-made and organic elements. Fused to each angular leg, tree branches meander upwards extending the line of the work into the air in a wonderfully aspirational way. The sawn off tips of branches accented with pink bud like paint allows the imagination of the viewer to blossom.

Also on display by the artist are a series of acrylic and mixed media works. Soldier’s Joy (Gloss, acrylic, canvas on gauze) displays a decorative treatment of colour, pattern and line defining the sculpted torso in a manner reminiscent of Gustav Klimt. The soft palette of green orange, blue and pink together with delicate layers of abstract patination and materials interpret the essentially masculine subject in an interesting and unexpected way.

Matt Sillars has contributed a series of four photographs exhibited previously as part of the Scottish Photographer’s show at Inchmore Gallery in 2008. Collectively titled The Vanity of Interruption, these are beautifully observed life studies exploring the “cycle of growth, decay, regeneration” and the relationship between human beings and the natural world.

Subtlety of colour, line and balance of form within these compositions are part of their inherent quality and it is disappointing not to see the two largest images. The Madness of Civilisation occupies a more central position above the main staircase with enough breathing space around them for the viewer to fully appreciate them.

A series of Abstract Expressionist works by Mathew Jones explore the dynamics of paint handling in oils. There is a darker current running through this work both in terms of the artist’s choice of palette and rhythm of brush work. One of the largest works; Untitled (second to the left) in dominant black, ultramarine, umber and sienna, utilises flat blocks of concrete form and colour to unify the composition, overlapping sections and gestural marks to create a feeling of movement.

While some of the paint handling feels laden in sections, smaller works on display allow the under-painting, pure energy of brushwork and pigment to emerge to a greater degree. In the absence of subject matter the need for balance between the plastic elements of the painted surface becomes heightened and this is one of the greatest challenges for any artist. Investigation of these dynamics is part of the craft of painting and a vital line of ongoing enquiry for the artist.

Maggie Kinghorn’s works in mixed media, printmaking and textiles display an exploration of pattern and design together with an intriguing use of found materials. Safe Haven (Relief print) is a good example with a strong recognition of positive and negative space and rhythmic marks overlaid on a ground of newsprint.

Time For… reveals an intriguing stimulus of found material prompted by the base text which is revealed to the viewer in fragments. Words like “opportunity” and “quality” emerge from behind the printed design and the slogan “It’s Time for a Clear New World” add to the multilayered quality of the work both in terms of ideas and technique. Collage and stitching are integral to the construction of mixed media works such as Shift In Direction, a combination of newsprint, photographic print and fabric.

Robyn Kennedy’s large scale acrylic and mixed media work on canvas, Culloden Moor, is a richly textural and evocative piece of work. Burnished heather browns, white and accents of black unite sky and land in a sweeping abstract reinterpretation of the infamous moorland. Movement in the composition is achieved by blocks of shifting tonality creating a windswept desolate atmosphere. The delicacy of textures in this work, together with its subtle tonality balances perfectly the pattern of strong interlocking forms which hold the composition together.

Mark Lomax has created a series of finely wrought, exquisitely intricate mixed media pieces exploring the concept of boundaries. Utilising altered maps as a ground the artist has explored the concept of identity and our connections to place based on borders of pictorial representation. The technique of collaged surfaces, drawn, overlaid and gouged, carves out a new territory, a mindscape which defies the familiar charting of the world around us and our place within it.

No Boundaries – The Space That Remains When All Sense Of Belonging Fades with its torn and collaged sections, blackened boundaries of smeared ink and softly faded map’s palette creates a sense of drifting borders of uncertainty. The information we normally use to orientate ourselves eludes us and in its place the abstract arrangement of drawn marks, form and colour illuminates this loss of identification and certainty.

On an intellectual and aesthetic level these are satisfying, thought-provoking works with the drawn mark a consistent and unifying human element within the work. No Boundaries – The Apparently Arbitrary Arrangement of People, Place and Phrases almost reads as low relief sculpture with its layers of plaster, collage and pigment. It is incredibly tactile in a beautifully understated way, the process of conception and formation of the image evidenced in every layered mark.

Although Eden Court is a challenging environment to hang work due to an outmoded hanging system and the open nature of the outer theatre foyers, the show is a great opportunity for raising public awareness about the creative activity by staff and students at the city’s Midmills campus and a valuable experience for students in terms of presenting an exhibition in a public space.

An exhibition of work by NQ Portfolio Art & Design students of Inverness College is also on display this month at Midmills, Crown Avenue, Inverness, from 3-12 June.

© Georgina Coburn, 2009

Links

• Eden Court Theatre
• Inverness College Art & Design

Home-Made Shakespeare

PROBABLY one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen all year, but if you leave your cynicism behind and take it with a pinch of salt, Home-Made Shakespeare proves to be a rather enjoyable evening’s entertainment.

In a combined effort from Nola Rae (London Mime Theatre) and Lasse Akerland (Teater Allena), madness and laughter join forces in an original take on three of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.

However, the three plays which followed, we were told, were not by the well known William Shakespeare, but none other than his brother Eric who was the real talent (whoever knew?). No doubt both brothers were turning in their grave when these two highly experienced but eccentric story tellers threw themselves head-on into the world of Shakespeare for the eight plus audience.

The first Shakespearian mouthful (more literal than you would think) was a wacky version of Macbeth played by Akerland’s lunch (and, no, I’m not joking). With a dining table as the set and a tomato as Macbeth, Akerland whirled us through the Scottish play in such a way that sparked the imagination and had even the older audience (my mother) crying with laughter.

Then, without so much as clearing the now demolished luncheon away, Rae was introduced to us before swiftly manoeuvring behind the puppet theatre ready to begin “The Tragedy of Handlet”, (appropriately named since the characters were two gloved hands) otherwise known as the slightly more famous Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

For those of us who are not well versed in all of Shakespeare’s plays, or in my own case have not yet come to study them in school, Rae’s loose interpretation of Hamlet was somewhat confusing. However, it has to be said that my bewilderment of the story did not take away from the incredibly talented puppeteering.

After a short interval the thirty-something audience (two thirds of which was made up of keen drama students) trooped back in for the second half of the evening performance – Shakespeare’s unrequited love story, Romeo and Juliette. Our hero and heroine were played by none other than two bags (Romeo was paper and Juliette plastic) and although it takes a little getting use to this was definitely my favourite of the three.

This was such an original and unusual little play, and although I have my reservations about it I can’t help but feel slightly entranced by its magic and how captivating it was. I think it is a great introduction to Shakespeare (William or Eric), and will prove to be a success.

© Jo Gratton, 2009

Links

• Nola Rae

Anne-Sophie Duprels as Manon (photo - Mark Robertson)

I WENT to bed the other night with a haunting little tune going through my mind, diddle iddle ee da dee pom pom, and it was still there in the morning. It wasn’t a musical cup of black coffee; I slept perfectly, on a cloud of euphoria after being one of the modest audience to relish the new Scottish Opera production of Manon, by the French composer Jules Massenet.

If I had to sum up this version of Manon briefly, I would say it was lavish and awash with dramatic metaphors. The costumes, designed by the Canadian André Barbe, were a pure reflection of the fashionable nobility of pre-Revolution France. His design for the set was also a pure reflection, but here was a huge broken mirror with a golden tinge, as though inviting the cast to see themselves in all their extravagance, frippery and facileness, and yet all the time there was the foreboding of doom.

For most of a decade Barbe has been working in partnership with his fellow Canadian Renaud Doucet, a director and choreographer with a background in dance. No prizes then for realising that all the stage movements of the whole cast had been calculated to the finest detail, or why a sextet of baroque dancers were brought in for the spectacle of the scene in the Cours la Reine.

It was customary for a ballet to be included in 19th century productions at the Paris Opera, but Doucet chose the more correct baroque style of dance that was seen a hundred years earlier. Making up the Canadian triumvirate was lighting designer Guy Simard, responsible for the golden wash over the whole production, and doubtless also for the rather annoying spotlight that reflected off the mirrored backdrop into certain seats in the auditorium.

We first see Manon in a giant picture frame, portrayed as an innocent country maid, while the Orchestra of Scottish Opera are playing the prelude under the baton of their new Music Director, Francesco Corti, making his Inverness debut, and giving us a foretaste of the wonderful melodies to come.

The story of Manon is taken straight from the novel by the Abbé Prévost, L’histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, and like all opera has a hugely complicated plot full of hard to believe twists and turns. The fifteen-year-old Manon arrives by coach in Arras on her way to a convent where her worldly instincts are to be subdued. She is under the care of her cousin, who is easily distracted to go gambling, leaving Manon in the sights of Guillot de Morfontaine, a nobleman roué and his companion De Bretigny who are entertaining a trio of actresses (I said there were quite a few metaphors).

De Morfontaine sees his chance and offers Manon the use of his coach while he finishes his business with the actresses. Enter the young Chevalier des Grieux who takes one look at Manon, they fall in love, escape to Paris in the borrowed coach and set up home together. Then it all gets really believable!

Des Grieux is kidnapped by his father, and trains to go into the church. Manon shows her true colours and gets cared for by a succession of rich noblemen, who are a lot less rich by the time she has finished. Then she seduces Des Grieux from going into the church, gets through his inheritance and takes him to a gaming house to try and win some more money.

This he succeeds in doing, at the expense of de Morfontaine, who gets his revenge on the couple by getting them arrested, him for cheating at cards and her for prostitution. He is released; she gets banished for life to the colonies. Des Grieux manages to get the guard to release Manon from the chain-gang on the road to Le Havre and exile, but she is totally exhausted and dies in his arms.

It’s not so very long ago that opera singers were expected just to stand there and sing; now they have to be able to act as well. And act well they did. In the title role the petite French singer, Anne Sophie Dupreis, showed a delightful warm rich soprano voice, and played the part with appropriate coquettishness.

The young Des Grieux was Liverpudlian Paul Charles Clark, a fine tenor with the right amount of naivety. Inevitably the biggest cheer went to Harry Nicoll as Guillot de Morfontaine, back before his home audience, playing the part to the hilt, the picture of snooty elegance in satins, silks and feathered hats, and obviously loving every minute of it.

But with the numbers involved, a chorus and a corps of dancers as well as a several smaller roles, this was very much an ensemble production and everyone deserves a share of the praise for a memorable evening. And we must not forget the artists of the wardrobe department responsible for the huge range of the most lavish and ornate costumes that Scottish Opera have ever put on a stage.

Manon is described as an opera comique, but I must end with a very serious question. What is it about Inverness opera-goers that makes them so reluctant to experience spectacularly good works with which they are not familiar? On previous visits to the Highlands by Scottish Opera the audiences for Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage, Judith Weir’s A Night at the Chinese Opera and Verdi’s Falstaff were disappointing, to say the least.

Yet all three were highly entertaining and were first class performances. Ticket sales for Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte this week were respectable, and it was the third production that Scottish Opera had brought to the Highland capital in recent years. I’m not complaining about that, as this David McVicar production was as good as any I’ve seen anywhere, but I am complaining about the lack of adventure shown by the Inverness audience.

Scottish Opera are back at Eden Court in November with two operas new to Inverness, Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers. Both are great fun and I promise that you will not be disappointed with either of them. After that, in May 2010, only one opera is being staged here, Puccini’s La Bohème, yet again. The message is clear. Unless you want a diet of operatic pot-boilers then you need to come out of your corners and try something unfamiliar.

© James Munro, 2009

Links

• Scottish Opera

Caitlin Hulcup as Dorabella, Marie McLaughlin as Despina and Violet Noorduyn as Fiordilgi in Cosi Fan Tutte (photo - Richard Campbell)

MENTIONING that I was going to see this, somebody said, “The trouble with ‘Cosi’ is the plot is so complicated”. Not in the hands of David McVicar and Scottish Opera, it isn’t; the cast’s excellent acting skills often rendered the surtitles redundant in this comedy of deceit.

Cynical, worldweary Don Alfonso, sung and acted to perfection by Peter Savidge, does not believe in fidelity, and cajoles two idealistic young officers, Ferrando (Joel Prieto) and Guigelmo (Ville Rusanen), to put their fiancees Dorabella (Caitlin Huldcup) and Fiordiligi (Violet Noorduyn) to the test by disguising themselves as Albanians (presumably shorthand for dashing young hotheads in Mozart’s Vienna) and attempting to seduce them.

Alfonso bribes the sisters’ maid, Despina (Marie McLaughlin), to assist him in his dastardly plan and keeps stepping up the pressure on the unfortunate girls. With the cards so stacked against them it is no wonder that despite an initially fervent resistance they eventually prove him right; women – shock! horror! – can be as fickle as men.

Alfonso wins the bet, and the girls end up with each other’s fiances. It’s the sort of romp dependent on the suspension of disbelief which everyone from Boccaccio to Shakespeare to Gilbert & Sullivan to Hollywood screenwriters has had fun with, and Scottish Opera are no exception.

Relegating the chorus to the boxes on either side of the stage resulted in a coup de theatre when they first stood and sang, and left the stage clear for the sweeping lines of Yannis Thavoris’ sets to create maximum impact, slightly marred when a piece of Act 2’s moonlit garden was lowered prematurely from the flies to dangle, perplexingly, over the Bay of Naples in Act 1.

The action has been moved forward to the end of the 19th century, as Scottish Ballet did for their recent Sleeping Beauty, a period which is foreshadowed for us by the knowledge of what is to come – the First World War, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Age of the Machine and universal suffrage. It makes so much sense for Cosi fan tutte to be set towards the end of the Age of Innocence, and Tanya McCullin’s costumes, while not desirably lush as her lavish gowns for La Traviata [they saved lavish for Manon – Ed.], were suitably evocative.

The four young principals acquitted themselves with distinction. Joel Prieto and Violet Noorduyn had perhaps a slight edge on their partners for richness and strength of voice but it was a close-run thing. Marie McLaughlin threw herself into the role of Despina like a latterday Elsie Tanner, rolling up her skirts, slapping her thighs and, from time to time, her fellow singers, to the continuing delight of the audience.

In the ensemble work, particularly at close of each act in “Ah che tutta in un momento” and “Fate presto, o caro amici”, the company’s voices were entwined in a beautifully balanced bouquet. Another treat for all the senses from Scottish Opera.

© Jennie Macfie, 2009

Links

• Scottish Opera
• Jennie Macfie

Nicola Benedetti (photo - Simon Fowler-Universal)

IF IT WAS Eden Court’s intention to bow out of orchestral concerts in style, then Saturday evening’s event was a huge success. It has been an unbalanced season, with three of the eight concerts waiting until May, a month when audiences are traditionally lower as the longer evenings arrive and music lovers anticipate the summer festivals.

Add to that the mutterings in the bars and galleries of Eden Court as the regulars digest the news that next season has been reduced to only three concerts and the omens are not good for an enjoyable evening.

But enough of the negative. The fact remains that a blockbuster programme, a star soloist and the debut in Inverness by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, one of London’s best, will bring out the public in their droves and have them hanging off the top shelf in the Empire Theatre. And let’s leave to others at another time the question of how to solve the dilemma that, even with a sell-out audience, the money raised from ticket sales is exhausted well before the interval.

One of the usually enjoyable features of Eden Court orchestral evenings is the pre-concert talk, this time with Thomas Prag chatting with the effusive and entertaining American conductor, Andrew Litton. What a bonus it is when the man with the stick is such a good communicator. He even dedicated the symphony to a young girl in the front row who was going to hear it for the first time. That is a memory she will cherish.

He had won over his audience before a note had been played with reminiscences of his days with various orchestras, including some hazy memories of touring with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (in case you are reading this Mr Litton, my last memory of you was one summer evening twenty odd years ago relishing the merchandise from the fish and chip van on Ullapool pier).

In Inverness, Gerald Finzi is a bit like a number 44 bus. You wait years for one to arrive, then two come at once. Last concert we all enjoyed the Clarinet Concerto, and now the delightful Eclogue. It was a work that was never performed in public during Finzi’s lifetime, although he composed it in the 1920s. An eclogue is a term that goes back to the ancient Latin poet, Virgil, and is a poetic conversation between shepherds.

Finzi’s version is a delightful pastoral interplay between piano and strings, possibly planned as the andante for a piano concerto. For this performance Andrew Litton directed the strings of the Royal Philharmonic from the piano and immediately displayed the great rapport he has developed with these fine musicians. A very gentle, but enthralling way to open the concert before the fireworks of Tchaikovsky to come.

Then it was time to welcome the reason for the packed auditorium. The was a palpable hush of expectancy as Scots violin star Nicola Benedetti made her third appearance on the Eden Court stage. Her entry was full of confidence and poise, bearing what has become her pride and joy, the Earl Spencer Stradivarius. Elegance personified, she appeared to have been poured into a stunning figure-hugging satin gown in a hue of what fashionistas call Ocean Dusk (to the likes of you and me, that’s brown).

To say that the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto had a dodgy beginning back in 1878 would be an understatement. It was rushed onto the page, fully orchestrated in about three weeks as a favour to Yosef Kotek, who declared it unplayable, as did the dedicatee Leopold Auer. It had its first performance in Vienna played by Adolf Brodsky and conducted by Hans Richter. It was insufficiently rehearsed, incompetently accompanied and crucified by the critics. Thank goodness critics and reviewers can get it wrong!

The concerto fairly teems with melodies, so many that the gorgeous opening tune from the orchestra never returns. But by then it was full-on Nicola, with attack and authority wringing every emotion out of every line. No matter what challenges Tchaikovsky threw down Benedetti had the answer with the Royal Philharmonic supporting and following in her wake.

So much feeling and energy did she impel into the cadenza that it seemed almost violent at moments, only to metamorphose into the sweetest pianissimos. It was no wonder that she received as much applause at the break as most soloists get at the end of a concerto, as this was a mature, reasoned and impassioned delivery.

There was no rest for Benedetti in the andante with all its demands for expression, and then without a break, Maestro Litton charged into the final rondo like Concorde launching from the runway, as first the soloist then the orchestra seemed to take command, whereas in truth the whole thing was pure Nicola Benedetti at her most magnificent.

I was left with but two questions. Firstly, was this really the same Nicola Benedetti as first played here just over five years ago with the Scottish Ensemble in the days before she was catapulted into the stratosphere? And secondly, what happened to her flowers? Surely Eden Court could have found enough bawbees in the petty cash to present Nicola with a well-deserved bouquet.

The chat over the ice creams was mainly about the magnificence of both Nicola Benedetti and the Royal Philharmonic, which seems a good enough way to take peoples’ minds off next season, as that discussion came only in second place. Then it was back into the Empire Theatre for Andrew Litton’s showpiece, Tchaikovsky again, but this time his Fifth Symphony, summed up in the apology for programme notes as “balletic and soulful”.

There are many similarities between the Violin Concerto and the Fifth Symphony, most notably Tchaikovsky’s gift of memorable melodies and how to orchestrate them to the maximum effect. Litton, conducting without a score, had the measure of every nuance, keeping the excellent orchestra at his fingertips, and gripping the audience’s attention right through to those three final triumphant chords. The young girl could not fail to have been impressed.

© James Munro, 2009

Links

• Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Nicola Benedetti

Voiceworks

THESE DAYS, everyone seems to be talking about cocktails, and very enjoyable they can be as well. Take the pick of singers in the Highlands, add a few of the best pupils of an inspired vocal coach, stir them together and strain into the OneTouch Theatre, and what have you got? Voiceworks – the Invergordon-based creation of the energetic, imaginative and ubiquitous Colin Lewis – an amateur group aiming for professional standards.

Their latest offering is a sort of triple bill, beginning with a showcase of songs by the ensemble as well as individual members, and followed by two contrasting acts from the Harnick and Bock show, The Apple Tree, that ran for over a year on Broadway in the mid-60s, although perhaps it benefited from the success of their previous hit, Fiddler On The Roof.

But let’s look first at the opening part of the show, what Colin Lewis called “A Selection of Sinful Secular Songs for the Stage”, and maybe the sibilant alliteration was meant to compensate for the part of The Apple Tree that was not being performed, Mark Twain’s take on Adam, Eve and the Serpent. The Ensemble paraded onto the stage with military precision, the gentlemen in their dinner jackets and the ladies elegant in an array of colourful gowns. Mack The Knife from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera was accurate and precise, with every word heard clearly at the back of the theatre and a nice balance between threat and humour. Then they all paraded off again in single file, so that eight of the company could turn round and parade back on to the stage to sing Matona, mia cara by Orlando Lassus, the sixteenth century Franco-Flemish songsmith, about the intentions of a German soldier and the Italian object of his desires. No translation was needed to understand what was going on. Then it was “Left Turn. Quick March” and the octet paraded off the stage again.

Forgive me if I climb onto my hobby-horse for a moment. A couple of months ago I castigated Inverness Opera for the pauses between scenes in Anything Goes that prevented the performance flowing properly and sent the audience half-asleep. Sorry, Voiceworks, but all that parading on and off was exactly the same.

I know that this selection was just that, a selection and not a dramatised performance, but did anyone else wonder whether it was a bit like a soirèe musicale and it would have been nice if the members of the Ensemble who were not actually singing stayed on the stage and made a party of the whole performance? Anyway, winge over.

Joseph Kelly was the first of the soloists with Arise, ye subterranean winds from Purcell’s Tempest. It’s not easy to think of Purcell as a writer of bawdy songs, but there it is. Joseph’s is still a young voice, tuneful but the strength and projection have yet to be developed. Next up, after the march off and on with pause, was Julie Keen singing Non so piu from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, sung well but where was Cherubino’s teenage angst?

We stayed with Mozart for the famous duet from Cosi Fan Tutte, Ah, che tutta in un momento with Fiordiligi and Dorabella singing to each other rather than to the audience in the guise of Alison MacLeod and Aileen Hendry, two experienced performers with good voices.

The last of the soloists was Kathleen Cronie as the maid, Blonde, from Mozart’s The Seraglio, teaching the eunuch Osmin the art of seduction. Kathleen’s singing was the first of her skills being shown, with a voice that was in the upper reaches of the soprano register. Later in the evening she was to pick up the conductor’s baton.

Then on trooped the full ensemble for a top class rendition of John Rutter’s version of Shakespeare’s It was a lover and his lass. Off they marched, but it was an about turn by Kathleen Cronie, Colin Lewis, Alan MacLeod and Caroline Warburton to sing Verdi’s stunning quartet from Rigoletto when the jester promises to take revenge on the philandering Duke for the way his daughter, Gilda has been treated.

The first part was brought to a triumphant conclusion by Liz McLardy and Elaine Shearer with the duet Sui suo capo aggravi un Dio from Anna Bolena by Donizetti. Belief was suspended for a few minutes. Was this really an amateur performance in the OneTouch Theatre? It would have done credit to the stage of the Theatre Royal in Glasgow.

Then a programmed and justified pause while the stage was adjusted, props set and the piano trio in the pit was augmented to an octet with conductor Kathleen Cronie. The Lady or The Tiger? is the second part of Harnick and Bock’s The Apple Tree trilogy. All three pose the same question of what happens when we get something that we think we want, only to discover that we don’t really want it after all, or do we?

In the Court of King Arik, sung by Colin Lewis, all trials are fair, or so we are told by the Balladeer, Alan Macleod. Prisoners have a free choice of two doors to go through. Behind one is a hungry tiger, and you are assumed to be guilty; behind the other is a beautiful lady, you are innocent and you have to marry her. That’s a choice?

The King’s daughter, Princess Barbara, sung by the portrait in scarlet that was Sasha Devine, loves Sanjar, the Captain of his Army, a battle weary Andy Warburton, but her love is forbidden as he is a commoner. However her love is academic as he prefers the beautiful servant Nadjira, played by Caroline Warburton.

Anyway after much coming and going with some great quirky, but fairly operatic music, King Arik catches his daughter with Sanjar, and puts him on trial. Princess Barbara bribes the Balladeer/Tiger Keeper to tell her which door hides the tiger, although he tells her she really doesn’t want to know. The King hides Nadjira behind the other door leaving Barbara with the quandary of sending the man she loves to his death or into the arms of another. We are never told the answer, and instead are left wondering whether the play has finished.

For the third part of the Voiceworks programme Colin Lewis took up the baton and we were presented with the third part of The Apple Tree, called Passionella. The style changes from opera house to Broadway. Alpin Stewart is the Narrator for this tale of Ella the chimney sweep who dreams of becoming a movie star, made redundant by automation, who finds her wish granted by her enchanted television set, but only between the Seven O’Clock News and the end of the late, late show when she becomes Passionella.

Kerry Adam plays this dual role, with a convincing tribute to Marilyn Monroe. She is signed up by a movie studio, meets her idol in the rock star, Flip, sung by Gordon Fleming, and is worshipped by her adoring public. Then it is the end of the late, late show, and like Cinderella in pantomime, our heroine returns to her apartment and her television set, where she finds her fellow chimney sweep, looking remarkably like Flip, and they both live happily ever after.

The Apple Tree has had one revival since its original run, but it did not last long. To be honest, that is not much of a surprise. The songs are pleasant but not memorable and the plots are decidedly shallow. It has had a few amateur performances in the UK as it lends itself to school productions, but I have not seen it before and I don’t expect to see it again.

The Voiceworks presentation fell somewhere between a staged recital and a full production, but that is inevitable when trying to work miracles on a limited budget. Colin Lewis has a great deal of talent at his disposal that deserves stronger material to work with. It was a brave effort to present something so unknown but it made for an enjoyable evening and I’m looking forward to their next project.

© James Munro, 2009

'Allo 'Allo (photo - Robert Workman)

‘ALLO ‘ALLO is an essentially British sitcom despite the fact that it is set in wartime France. The humour comes direct from the kind of seaside postcards that were sent home from Blackpool a generation ago. Sausages feature highly in the comic material of the play. There are a great many references to boobies and hardly a minute goes by without cast members finding themselves in compromising positions involving suspender belts and unlikely explanations.

The play is a straight adaptation of the TV sitcom that began twenty five years ago and if you had not seen the original TV show you might have been a little bemused by the bizarre world inhabited by the play.

It was clear that most of the audience were already devotees and right from the opening scene they responded enthusiastically. Every catch phrase from the original sitcom was greeted with applause as was the entrance of familiar characters including Vicki Michelle who played the sex starved waitress with an endearing enthusiasm.

She is the only original member of the TV show to appear in the stage adaptation and she seemed completely at home with the character.

Translating a half hour show from TV and transplanting it on to the stage where it has to hold the attention of an audience for two acts of fifty minutes is no mean feat, but writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft have accomplished this admirably.

Whilst the plot line could easily have been taken direct from the TV show, it made the transition to the stage with ease, and there was enough pace and humour to keep the show entertaining throughout. To be fair the plot was something of an irrelevance as it was largely a vehicle for endless double entendres, the dropping of trousers and a sprinkling of flashed suspenders. All of which kept the audience happily chortling throughout the show.

As café owner Rene Artois, Jeffrey Holland put in an excellent performance, acting as the anchor for the whole show. His gentle charm quickly endeared him to the audience and his frequent asides to the almost capacity crowd kept us up to date with the breakneck plot.

With a cast of 15 the show could easily have descended away from the farce it was intended to be and into a less entertaining chaos with a gaggle of actors shouting at each other on stage. This danger was cleverly avoided by this highly professional and well rehearsed cast, with skilled direction by Robert Carson.

James Rasson put in an energetic and compelling performance as the robotic Herr Flick and his hilarious dance routine was one of the highlights of the show. Corinna Marlowe, as Rene’s long suffering wife, was brilliantly comedic as she sang her out of tune cabaret and provided Rene with his straight man, or should that be straight woman.

If you were hoping for a treatise on the human condition or were yearning for a savage satirical take on life and love, you would be disappointed. However, if you were looking for a great night of entertainment in the safe hands of an accomplished cast and team of writers then your ticket price would have been well spent.

‘Allo ‘Allo does exactly what it says on the tin – it brings the TV show to life on the stage in a show that is simple yet hugely entertaining. Sometimes it is good to go to the theatre simply to be entertained and not provoked or challenged and that is just what this show does.

So put on your comfortable trousers, have fish and chips on the way to the theatre. Go on, just for once ignore the warnings about cholesterol and the politically correct edicts about laughing at foreigners and enjoy this light hearted romp that has the good sense not to take itself all that seriously.

‘Allo ‘Allo runs at Eden Court until 23 May 2009.

© John Burns, 2009

Links

• Eden Court Theatre
• John Burns at Purple Comedy

Scottish Ballet's Carmen (photo - Andrew Ross)

CARMEN – well, we all know the story, and the music. Headstrong tobacco girl flirts with soldier, ditches him for glamorous bullfighter, and it all ends in tears, and worse. So what’s new in Scottish Ballet’s take?

A lot. Starting with the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin’s re-orchestration of Bizet’s so-well-known-it’s-hackneyed score, which concentrates on strings and percussion to give it a sharp freshness, much more in tune with 21st century sensibilities.

Richard Alston distilled the essence of the story into a taut, coherent, gripping dance work, with spectacle, humour, pathos and sensuality by turns. An old hand, he had made plenty of exhilarating sequences for the corps which often had the freedom and exhilaration of Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story, and of course there were some heartbreakingly lovely duets and trios for the principals.

Sophie Martin as Carmen had much in common with her fellow countrywoman Sylvie Guillem, demonstrating an enviable precision, strength and musicality, with a graceful, unhurried perfection of movement which runs all the way to the very tips of her elegant fingers and toes. She was beautifully partnered by the assured, passionate dancing of Daniel Davidson as Don Jose and the imposing presence of William Smith as Escamillo.

Vassilissa Levtonova was also very impressive as the Gypsy, but some of the other dancers were, on the first night, struggling a little with the flat stage at the Empire after a run of several days on the rake at His Majesty’s in Aberdeen – one of the many hazards that beset a touring dancer. Nonetheless they threw themselves into the dance wholeheartedly and no doubt later performances were as synchronised as the choreographer intended.

Peter Mumford’s set and lighting design was faultless, economical and utterly beautiful; if there is any justice it should be laden with awards. It was the perfect backdrop for the dance, and Antony McDonald had surpassed himself with the costumes. I cannot have been the only woman in the audience left longing to sashay home in a little high necked lace bolero and cascading, rustling, ruffled skirt.

The second work, Ashley Page’s Cheating, Lying, Stealing (1998), continued the theme of infidelity and betrayal but in a mid-West setting of roadside diners and motels with an uncompromisingly hard modern soundtrack by Michael Gordon and David Lang. The individual duets and trios provided many opportunities to admire the dancing skills of the company members, including Martin, now ably partnered by Adam Blyde, Claire Robertson and Erik Cavallari, and the ever-watchable Paul Liburd.

The design, even with the burning sofa, probably won’t rank among McDonald’s career best, apart from the bleached blonde wigs, purple jackets and mustard shorts for Levtonova, Luciana Ravizzi, and Kara McLaughlin. Very memorable, very Vogue.

Ashley Page’s choreography had a faint and very pleasing hint at times of the style of William Forsythe (whose workwithinwork from the same year is, entirely coincidentally, featured in Scottish Ballet’s autumn tour). But overall the blocking of the group work felt disconnected and the end result was that – strangely for a work about passion – it felt curiously disengaged.

© Jennie Macfie, 2009

Links

• Scottish Ballet
• Jennie Macfie

Shopping For Shoes

THIS DECEPTIVELY simple teenage love story has been wonderfully crafted by Douglas Irvine into a mixture of gigantic shoe-boxes and inspired talent to produce an imaginative and thought-provoking play.

Written by Tim Crouch for Visible Fictions, the production had its debut in 2006, where it played at the Bank of Scotland Children’s International Theatre Festival and enjoyed much success. This time round Shopping for Shoes was back to appeal to its ten-to-sixteen year old target audience in Inverness.

Rosalind Sydney (or Ros, as she introduced herself to us) is the star in this one ‘woman’ cast and she holds her own throughout as she delivers to us, with much exuberance, the story of Siobhan and Shaun. Both are 13, but this is where the similarities appear to end, since Siobhan spends her nights signing Greenpeace petitions online, whereas Shaun is passionate about only one thing – his tremendous collection of shoes consisting in all of about 60 pairs!

Even I have to admit – as a fond lover of shoes myself – that perhaps 60 is a little excessive, but Shaun doesn’t mind. To him they represent his identity as he proclaims along with the Nike Logo: Just Do It.

Part of Siobhan’s heart, as the script so gracefully puts it, belongs to Shaun, and like all good love stories, with a little bit of delicate scheming she is able to show him that there is more to life than shoes, and that they can do a lot more than just identify you.

To top all this off the show is made more unique by its use of mainly props to tell the story; inside each of Mark Leese’s over-sized shoe-boxes there are a pair of shoes representing a character.

The script is eloquent and above all simple, with its message clear and uncomplicated, and even the most cynical of audience members would be hard pushed not to be drawn into the magic which Shopping for Shoes creates out of the most ordinary of events.

Its contemporary tune makes it quite timeless and its wish to strive against “once upon a time” storytelling means that all in all it is super little piece of “now” theatre with humour, wit and charm throughout.

© Jo Gratton, 2009

Links

• Visible Fictions

Zoe Thorne in Spoonface Steinberg (© Beggars and Kings, 2009)

TRANSFERRING a work from one medium to another is a process fraught with difficulty. It is a rare stage play which, when adapted for the screen, manages to burst out of the confines of the wooden “O” where it was initially conceived. Adapting books to stage or screen necessitates stripping plotlines to the minimum in order to allow audiences home at a decent hour.

Spoonface Steinberg is also a transferred work; it started out twelve years ago as a radio play (by Lee Hall, writer of Billy Elliot) or, strictly speaking, a dramatic monologue aimed at giving the audience some insight into the workings of the autistic mind. It was so popular that thousands of cassettes (doesn’t technology date fast nowadays?) were bought by listeners.

However, despite being adapted for the stage, it is still basically a radio play. The action is confined to the hospital room in which Spoonface is dying of cancer. Whatever she does, whether sprawling on her bed, arranging cassettes in a pattern on the rug or closing her bowl of cereal in the wardrobe, her movements are generally interchangeable and none of them really advances the action of the play at all.

That said, in the title role, young Zoe Thorne gives an assured, highly commendable performance – 90 minutes on stage alone is a gruelling prospect for any actor – and there is nothing to quibble about in the direction (Michael Fentiman) or design.

But ultimately it is a curiously unmoving evening. A child, dying of cancer, born autistic, discoursing on God and man, feminism and Judaism, artlessly revealing her and her family’s story to us – somewhere it ought to have jerked a few tears, but I sat through it dry-eyed.

My neighbours in the OneTouch were teachers who said that they wished they had seen the play sooner, as they, like most nowadays, were coping with pupils on the autistic spectrum. For them it was educational, which is a praiseworthy result, and may be one of the reasons for the enduring popularity of this piece, but for this reviewer it felt irritatingly contrived.

“There are no real ends, only middles”, says Spoonface. I have rarely been gladder to reach the end.

© Jennie Macfie, 2009

Links

• Beggars and Kings

• Eden Court Theatre

• Jennie Macfie

Kally Lloyd-Jones as the Countess in Les Amoureux (photo - Lynne Connor)

BASED ON Angela Carter’s The Lady of The House of Love, Company Chordelia’s Les Amoureux combined elements of dance, music, theatre and opera in a nightmarish fairytale of sumptuous red velvet and decaying lace.

Heavily laden with Romanticism, the soundtrack included music by Chopin, Gorogkovich & Rhobotkova, Glass, Bartok, Massenet, Faure, Duparc and Butterworth, which at times threatened to drown out the spoken word and song in French and English.

Solo Baritone Damien Thantrey as the soldier had presence, but like many elements in this work, stood alone rather than being part of a strong, coherent theatrical statement. Choreography by Kally Lloyd Jones was at times clumsy and repetitive, particularly in relation to her central role as the countess. We understand in less than a minute that she is undead, a vampire, and the lengthy exposition between her and Linda Duncan McLaughlin as The Keeper seemed unnecessary and laboured.

The detail carried in a sequence of well defined movement gives us all the information we need about a character and can be a pure agent of expression on its own. The production seemed to smother itself self-consciously in staging at the expense of real expression through movement, complexity of character or narrative.

Whilst thin plots are a balletic tradition, it is possible in contemporary dance productions to have real exploration of character or theme together with sumptuous staging. The multiple layers in this production were primarily scenic and the overall pace uneven. Perhaps in the hands of a different Choreographer/ Director a greater balance could have been struck between artistry and ideas.

Design by Tom Rodgers and costuming by Claire Donnelly and Alexandra Kharibian enhanced the Gothic fantasy of the piece with attention to detail a hallmark of the production. From the moment the audience entered the theatre the stage was set for a dream-like experience; rows of trees like gallows lined the stage, adorned with an assortment of faded lace, wind chimes, angelic dolls, birdcages, strung tarot cards and flickering lamps.

Grahame Carter’s Lighting Design, particularly in relation to moments of transformation in the work were particularly effective. The moment when the two forms of the soldier and countess are illuminated before a vibrant red curtain, their motion slowed completely was an example of design and movement coming together to heightened theatrical effect.

There were sequences that worked well, such as the combination of Amelia Cardwell and Freya Jeffs as the two shadows, a sinister pair of minions clad in suited fur. A combination of human, animal and otherworldliness, their tandem movements were convincing and their forays into the audience an added element of unease.

The premise of the story; the endless thirst, the turn of the tarot card and the meeting of the two lovers could have been seeds for a more interesting and polished production, especially in terms of choreography. Whilst Les Amoureux is an imaginative piece of theatre as a piece of contemporary dance it lacks power, pace and cohesion.

© Georgina Coburn, 2009

Links

• Company Chordelia
• Eden Court Theatre

Rowena Calvert

TO MANY it may seem like a brave choice to programme two modern works by British composers and present them to an Inverness audience. But the friends and supporters of Inverness Choral Society are nothing if not loyal, and while there were one or two empty seats in the nether regions of the Empire Theatre, everyone who came last Saturday evening was rewarded with two enthralling and contrasting choral compositions.

The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace by Karl Jenkins may have had pride of place in the programme over John Rutter’s Requiem, but in truth it is not that hard to decide which work is the more convincing and musically satisfying.

One may be spectacular with a universal message while the other is more melodic and thought-provoking. The one draws on the tenets of several religions while the other includes additional Christian texts to the regular liturgy of the Requiem Mass. And in both the forces of the chorus are on their feet and the soloists on their seats far more than is usual.

Rehearsal time for Inverness Choral is limited and it speaks volumes for the inherent standard they have achieved in recent years under conductor Gordon Tocher that so much could be delivered so well in one performance.

The Rutter Requiem achieved popularity right from its first performance in October 1985, an inevitable result considering the delightful melodies that haunt the work from start to finish. The seven sections form a palindromic meditation on the themes of life and death. The central Sanctus showed the chorus in fine form with an affirmation of divine glory.

On each side are the two more personal prayers of the Pie Jesu and the Agnus Dei. In the first of these we heard the guest soprano, Jessica Leary, for the first time. She is yet one more of the emergent constellation of singers who are benefiting from the attentions of Inverness Choral’s Honorary Patron, Patricia MacMahon.

Rutter scored this part without vibrato, allowing the female soprano voice to sound very like a boy treble, and Jessica achieved this effect to perfection. The balancing Agnus Dei is sung by the chorus alone, opening with the male voices with a pianissimo obligato from the timpani, and building into a crescendo before reducing into a short passage for the solo flute of Catherine O’Rourke, and ending with the full chorus reciting the prayer for the dead.

Moving out in the palindrome to the sections that are not part of the standard Requiem liturgy, the orchestral soloists were featured in the second section, Out Of The Deep, based on Psalm 130, and in the sixth section where the words are those of Psalm 23, The Lord Is My Shepherd.

For Out Of The Deep the cello obligato was played by the guest principal cellist, Rowena Calvert, a Sutherland girl who went to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School, followed by the Royal Academy of Music and her postgraduate degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, widely recognised as having one of the finest cello departments anywhere.

Last year, I witnessed her progress with the mentoring of Alistair Tait during the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival, and predicted in Northings that Rowena “was destined to become a musical star of the future”. After hearing her again on Saturday, all I can do is reiterate my prediction.

Her delicate and expressive playing inspired the chorus to a first class rendition of this psalm. Fiona Gordon took the oboe part for the 23rd Psalm and provided a perfect counterpart for the controlled and emotive singing of the chorus with a melody that would have been comfortable as one of Canteloupe’s Songs of the Auvergne.

The opening and closing sections, Requiem Aeternam and Lux Aeterna, share the same beautiful and memorable melody that evolves out of a sombre introduction. The two parts differed in the addition of the pure soprano voice of Jessica Leary to the closing section. The appeal of that tune was emphasised by the number of the audience who were humming it as they went out for their interval refreshments.

If all the publicity for this concert by Inverness Choral Society is anything to go by, I must be one of the few people who had not heard the Karl Jenkins work, The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace. But I had listened to his earlier work, Adiemus – Dances of Time, often enough, and was captivated by the range of melodies it contains.

The Armed Man was commissioned by the Royal Armouries to commemorate the millennium in 2000, and was greeted enthusiastically from the first performance onwards. So it was with eager anticipation that I listened to the opening bars.

In years past the sound of the orchestra that accompanied Inverness Choral was best left to the memory, but now the Inverness Choral Sinfonia has evolved in parallel to the choir itself into a most respectable ensemble. Never before has it been the size that was needed for The Armed Man, well over fifty musicians, and it shows the respect it has earned that it was able to recruit the extra forces from players who are better known as members of the national orchestras.

The Armed Man is a spectacular work, loaded with military allusions, that draws upon several of the religions that make the world a less than safe place. While most of the sections are drawn from Christian traditions over the centuries, there are also references to Islamic, Buddhist and Shinto beliefs.

Indeed its message is about the horrors and futility of war, albeit in a theatrical manner. There were drums and trumpets galore; there was powerful singing from all the voices in the chorus; there were the velvet tones of guest mezzo soloist, Lilly Papaioannou.

Rutter’s Requiem and Jenkins’ The Armed Man are a pair of contrasting but complementary compositions, a sort of choral equivalent of Cav and Pag, that together make a satisfying event. On its own the Requiem is not as meaty as it could be; and in The Armed Man the Jenkins melodies were overpowered by the spectacle.

From a performance standpoint I cannot fault the concert; Gordon Tocher and his forces delivered exactly what was on the page; the chorus sang well up to the standard we have come to expect, and they had a huge amount to sing; the Sinfonia has developed into an orchestra that is good enough to have a life of its own; the guest soloists graced the stage to perfection.

Musically I have a subjective reservation in that I felt that The Armed Man, as a composition, did not live up to its hype. But it is the members of the audience who are the final judges, and they were enthusiastic and appreciative with their applause. The last comment came from the Sinfonia’s leader, Robin Calvert, as he left the stage. He stopped for a brief moment and squeezed his daughter Rowena’s shoulder to say how well she had done.

May I end with a plea to the Inverness Choral Society’s Programme Editor. I accept that £2 seems to be the going rate for a theatre programme these days, although it does seem rather a lot for three sheets of A4 and a cover. But please remember that your supporters in the audience are trying to follow the performance in subdued lighting, and that many of them are of an age when eyesight is not as strong as it once was.

I am so looking forward to the Brahms German Requiem and the Bruckner Motets in November, but please, please can we have a programme with a much larger text font, even if it means a few more sheets of paper.

© James Munro, 2009

Links

• Inverness Choral Society
• Rowena Calvert

LAURIE PIPER is the Marketing Manager at Eden Court Theatre, and explains the importance of marketing in keeping the flagship theatre viable

LAURIE PIPER joined Eden Court as Marketing Manager in January 2008. He took a degree in Marketing at Stirling University, while simultaneously working in the box office at the Macrobert Centre on the Stirling campus.

He took on the running of the jazz club at the University for Assembly Direct, and spent vacations working in Edinburgh for the International Festival, the Book Festival, the Jazz Festival and Unique Events. He was Marketing Office at the Jazz Festival before moving south to take up a post at the Theatre By The Lake in Keswick, which was being rebuilt at the time.

Laurie Piper, Marketing Manager, Eden Court Theatre (photo - Kenny Mathieson)

He missed Scotland, and returned to take up a job in marketing for an electronics company, but “eventually got bored of corporate life” and went back to working in the arts as a freelance. He worked on events that allowed him to indulge his joint interests in the arts and outdoors, including Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, the World Mountain Bike Championship in Fort William, the O’Neill Surfing Championships in Thurso, and Highland 2007, before taking up his post at Eden Court, where he heads a small department.

KENNY MATHIESON spoke to Laurie for NORTHINGS, and began by asking him about the marketing department he took over at Eden Court.

LAURIE PIPER: I did a lot of work up here with H2007, and when this job came up at the end of that it seemed a fantastic opportunity. For a theatre of this size we have a very small and tight department. Many of my colleagues elsewhere are aghast that we handle marketing and press and external relations and promotion and all kinds of things. We run all the campaigns for the various festivals based here, the panto and so on.

We have a staff of three, which is temporarily down to two, but we hope to have a new person in by early May. One other area we will be looking to develop is group sales – the school groups, or the businesses that want a night out and so on. We’ll be appointing a half-time post to work on that.

If we don’t sell a lot of tickets, we won’t be here, simple as that, and we need to maintain our track record constantly

KENNY MATHIESON: What is the significance of marketing to a theatre like Eden Court?

LAURIE PIPER: It’s vital. I know I would say that, but I believe it is absolutely true. It’s about awareness. Marketing takes the customer from unaware to aware, from disinterest to interest to decision and doing something about it, which in our case is buying a ticket to see a show here.

If people don’t know about it they are not going to come it is definitely not a case of “build it and they will come!”. We need to show people that we are here, that we have things they may be interested in. There are many people who currently come only to the panto and nothing else, for example, and from a marketing point of view they are more likely to increase their rate of attendance than someone who already comes ten times a year.

KENNY MATHIESON: So they become prime targets?

LAURIE PIPER: We have to try to reach them and interest them, and that is where marketing and press are vital. Here these two functions are seamless. Theatre and the arts can transform lives, and if we can get kids coming here for face-painting or whatever, they are not going to be afraid of theatre later on, or look on it as something scary or not for them.

KENNY MATHIESON: You mentioned selling tickets earlier – how much of setback were the problems that the theatre had in getting the on-line booking system up-and-running at the end of last year?

LAURIE PIPER: Happily our website now works for bookings, which has taken over a year, and was one of the few things that wasn’t developed when the building was completed. It required a complex solution, and getting the box office system to work with our information website was very tricky.

We found really good designers who worked tirelessly on it, but since we launched it at the end of December we have sold over a £150,000 worth of tickets on our site, we get 4,000 unique visitors a week, we have 10,000 people signed up to our e-news electronic updates list, and the website is one of our main ways of telling people what goes on.

Eden Court Theatre's website

KENNY MATHIESON: Do you acknowledge that there was lost business in the year or so that it took? Anecdotal evidence suggests that was the case.

LAURIE PIPER: Yes, I do, and I don’t think anyone here would disagree that we missed opportunities in that period. We should have been able to sell tickets on-line to people who couldn’t get through on the phone when we first opened.

We had 30,000 calls in our first week, and even if we had stayed opened 24 hours we couldn’t have answered them. How many of those people didn’t try again we don’t know. We do know anecdotally we lost sales, and one of the great challenges is that when we do know something is wrong or a customer hasn’t had what they wanted, we fix it.

KENNY MATHIESON: People have complained quite a bit about it …

LAURIE PIPER: Yes, and it is one of the things we have worked really hard on over the past year, and I think we are at the point where we provide a good level of service in the box office. We constantly monitor the number of calls that come in, and average waiting time now is around a minute – at times it was 15 or 16 minutes.

It’s important to get all aspects of that service right. On-line sales are not the only answer. Not everyone is on-line or wants to use it, so we still need the telephone and personal counter service and we still need a good quality brochure.

KENNY MATHIESON: So print has not been usurped by the web?

LAURIE PIPER: Print is still very important to us. I came up in this business on creating good quality sales print, and that is something else that we have worked very hard on. I think the brochure has improved with each new one we have done. It now runs for four months rather than three, so they are larger and run longer, but there is an overall cost saving.

When the January to April brochure with the Sunshine on Leith cover came out, our box office was inundated for a fortnight, and that had not happened with any of the other brochures to that point. I was particularly proud of that one, and the next one is going to be even better.

I feel Eden Court has a particular voice, a particular identity, and a particular place in people’s minds here in the Highlands – it is not a place that you come only if you are interested in high art, and I think our brochure and our direct marketing reflects that.

KENNY MATHIESON: On the subject of direct marketing, I have noticed a major increase in targeted mail-outs in the past few months – has that effort increased?

Howard Goodall and Rambert dancer (photo - Carl Fox)

LAURIE PIPER: Yes, it has. We did a number of extras in the past few months. It comes back to the fact that you can’t neglect your customer core, and there are things that you can do with a letter and a piece of print that you can’t achieve through a website or any other way.

We target not only people who we know are interested in a particular company or art form, but we also look at possible overlap. Our classical music customers might be interested in the fact that Howard Goodall has composed a score for Rambert Dance, for example, so we mailed the people on our orchestral subscription list and Scottish Ensemble subscribers and so on.
With that example we had a good response – we did a mail-out of 750, and sold around 160 tickets directly from that, which is a good take-up. A more dance-oriented mail-out for the same show sold well over two hundred more, so that is quite a lot of tickets, even if we allow that some of those people might have bought them anyway.

KENNY MATHIESON: So you see the mail-outs as good value?

LAURIE PIPER: We do use the web and lots of other things, but there are customers who simply like a letter through the door, and we know when people don’t like that because they tell us. Our customers generally tell us what they like and what they don’t like, and we are very happy with that. We believe we get value for money from the mail-outs, and even if we don’t, I would rather try and work on something than just not bother.

The other things that sometimes surprises people who promote their events here is that we treat the big companies and the small companies in the same way when it comes to a marketing effort. Whether you are the National Theatre or Theatre Hebrides, you still get the same level of service from us.

There are lots of small producers and cultural crofters in the Highlands, and we feel it as our duty to do as much as we can for them when they come here – The Tailor of Inverness is the latest example of that, and a huge success. It sold out every performance, and we are bringing it back in May.

KENNY MATHIESON: What other marketing tools are available to you?

LAURIE PIPER: We have made use of outdoor advertising on the buses in Inverness, which is quite successful because there are no bus shelters here for big posters. Sunshine on Leith was a good example – a lot of customers told us they found out about it through seeing it on the side of a bus.

We have regular features on local radio, and we will take some of the performers into the studio during longer running shows as well. I know if I go into the studio and talk about a show on a Friday morning, when I get back to the theatre the box office will be getting calls about it. It’s very useful for cinema, where there is not as long a lead time for marketing as in the theatre shows.

KENNY MATHIESON: How about web-based developments like Facebook and Twitter?

LAURIE PIPER: Yes, we use those as well. Social networking has worked for us, with our dance ambassadors for example, but it was hard work. There are some things that will always work, and others may be this year’s thing and gone next year, especially some of the on-line things, which is a very fast-changing environment.

We are lucky here with the local press as well. They tend to be both interested and knowledgeable, and we have good relationships with all of them. We try to spend our advertising budget as wisely as possible, but there is a rule of thumb in the PR world that says that editorial coverage is worth two-and-half-times advertising space in terms of return.

It is all part of the marketing tool-kit, and you can’t take one piece away without impacting elsewhere.

KENNY MATHIESON: Do you have any involvement with programming?

Eden Court Theatre brochure

LAURIE PIPER: Colin (Marr) and Roz (Bell) are the driving forces behind programming, but I have regular weekly meetings with them where we look at things that have been offered to us, and look at issues like probable demand for it and the likelihood of selling tickets, and how much work and expense we might have to put in to selling it, which can vary enormously.

We will always try to programme the work of the Highland companies, and we feel we have a responsibility to do so.

KENNY MATHIESON: How about the argument that Eden Court gets lots of public subsidy and should be above the commercial cut-and-thrust?

LAURIE PIPER: It’s a perception I hear, and it is worth putting on record again that it is a misconception. Although we received a lot of money to do up the building, our revenue grant has stayed static, if not actually decreased over the years, and costs have gone the other way.

We do get healthy grants from The Scottish Government, the Scottish Arts Council and Highland Council, but they make up the lesser part of what we need to keep this theatre running. If we don’t sell a lot of tickets, we won’t be here, simple as that, and we need to maintain our track record constantly.

We try to spend our money well and effectively, and I would say that we provide amazing value for money across our operations, whether it is the theatre or our education department or whatever. We are always looking at the bottom line and working on doing things more efficiently without compromising quality.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2009

Links

• Eden Court Theatre

Paul Merton

COMEDY is perhaps the most fleeting of all art forms, laughter hangs in the air for a moment and then evaporates leaving little trace on the memory. Unlike music, where a particular piece can evoke emotion time and time again, comedy looses its initial impact when viewed again.

Possibly this is the explanation for the fascination of many comedians for the roots of their art, expressing a need to find longevity in what appears to exist only in the moment. Many performers have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the work of the comedians who have been before them. In this respect, Paul Merton is follows in a well-trodden path with his fascination for the days of silent comedy.

Merton took the Eden Court audience on a leisurely ramble through the antics of comedians whose only monument might be a few minutes of grainy celluloid film and the ability to make an audience laugh fifty years after their passing.

Merton opened the show with a short French film from 1905 showing a cello player whose efforts are so poor he is assailed by all around him. The name of the person who made the film is lost in time but the undoubted comic genius remains.

What was fascinating about this show was the accompaniment of the films by pianist Neil Brand. Brand is one of the finest performers of improvisational piano and his ability to interpret the film in music brought an added dimension to the show.

This is how these films were meant to be shown, in front of a live audience with a man seated at a piano interpreting the action with his finger tips. Brand gave an interesting insight into his art, explaining that cinema pianists were often seeing the movie for the first time when they played and had to react at the same breakneck speed as the audience.

Explosions and gunshots were his biggest nightmares as the pianist has to predict exactly when they will occur. No mean feat as the fuse burns down to the powder. Brand’s music added a great deal to the enjoyment of the films and it was a delight to hear a live musician playing alongside these films, displaying them as they were intended to be shown.

Merton showed a number of short films, giving examples of the work of Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. The show was more of an illustrated lecture than a comedy event as Merton introduced each film with warmth and enthusiasm. What came across most was his genuine interest in and love of the work of early silent comedians, with Merton’s gentle and rather elegant introductions framing each short film.

Unfortunately, I was unable watch the final film in the show, which was a full length Keaton classic due to my developing a coughing fit that threatened to drown out the pianist. I decided to beat a hasty retreat at that point, as if I had remained the film would have been far from silent.

The audience seemed well satisfied as they left at the end of the show having been transported back to an era before special effects and computer generated images, a time when Keaton really was nearly crushed by a house and only the imagination and skill of the theatre pianist provided the sound track. Films now are far more sophisticated but Merton’s show left me questioning whether the silent era possessed greater imagination and comic genius.

© John Burns, 2009

Links

• Paul Merton
• John Burns at Purple Comedy

Janet Smith's I Thought I Heard Somebody Calling (Photo - Matthew Andrews)

THERE WAS a time not so long ago when Eden Court was actively and successfully developing its dance audience, so it was deeply disappointing to see the OneTouch Theatre barely half full for the first night of SDT’s new tour.

A round robin email from the marketing department saying, inter alia, “I know it’s short notice, but if you’ve nothing planned tonight or tomorrow then you could do much worse than see SDT’s stuunning (sic) dancers do their stuff” should be filed under “too little, too late”.

Those who had managed to buy a ticket were treated to another breathtakingly good programme from this world-class Scottish company, including a new work by Artistic Director Janet Smith, whose choreography is never less than innovative and thoughtful.

I Thought I Heard Somebody Calling was no exception, containing an internal narrative which was always coherent to the dancers, in marked contrast to several works which have been shown on this and the Empire stage in the last few years. Smith has welded together a company of superb dancers, strong on technique, with a beautiful fluidity, deft lightness, and who can genuinely act.

If film-making has been likened by cinematographers to “painting with light”, then choreography is surely “painting with moving bodies”, and the canvas of this piece was soon covered with extraordinary scenes that recalled anything from meerkats emerging from their burrows or children in the playground to Madonna’s “Vogue” video, all bound together in the consistency of a dream.

It incorporated some of the best lighting design I have ever seen on a stage (Bruno Poet), and beautifully thought through naturalistic costumes (Paul Shriek) which were often stretched and tugged to great effect. Alvin Ailey did something similar decades ago, but this was straight off the street.

The evening opened with The Long And The Short Of It, a short work by Caroline Bowditch, SDT’s Artist for Change, whose presence and chutzpah are in inverse proportion to her stature. Challenging preconceptions of all kinds, this duet with the company’s tallest dancer, Tom Pritchard, was snappily mesmerising.

The Visitation, which closed the evening, was mesmerising in an entirely different way. Costumed by Kathrine Tolo and once again lit with sensitivity by Bruno Poet, Ina Christel Johannessen’s choreography felt at first dream-like, and then became something of a European surrealist film, with which Bunuel, Fellini, Bergman and Chabrol would have felt at home.

Surreally sinister and touching by turns, puppets and mannequins were carried on stage. At times, it was hard to tell which of the bodies standing or slumped at the rear of the stage were dancers and which were costumed puppets. Ghostly revenants flowed and ebbed like waves amongst tartan clad dancers; tables were rapped and ectoplasm crept from under a chest – what did it all mean?

The work held its secrets tantalisingly out of reach but no matter, it was impossible not to be riveted by the dancing. Never was a move anticipated, each and every step seemed spontaneous, the result of a sudden impulse; this is the Holy Grail of dance, and it is an absolute tragedy that so few were there to witness it.

Particular bouquets to James MacGillivray and Ruth Janssen whose dancing goes from strength to strength, and to Naomi Murray whose tireless, eerily winsome Bride was straight out of a Japanese horror movie.

Scottish Dance Theatre are at the OneTouch Theatre again tonight (17 April 2009).

© Jennie Macfie, 2009

Links

• Scottish Dance Theatre

Fiona (Boise) Mackenzie (photo - Archie Macfarlane)

NOW, BRIAN (Ó hEadhra), you missed a trick there – all you had to do was ask and this Fiona Mackenzie would have offered to MC on Sunday evening, or even sell the ice cream… Arguably, I suppose I could be the ‘real’ Fiona Mackenzie as unfortunately I am several years older than any of the three Fionas who participated in ‘Would the real Fiona Mackenzie please stand up’… .

Originally billed as an antidote to the inevitable confusion caused by several Fiona Mackenzies singing and playing throughout Scotland, both in Gaelic and in English, the concert at Eden Court showcased the singing and song writing talents of these three Fionas, all originally hailing from Lewis.

First to take the stage was Fiona ‘Chasm’ Mackenzie, probably better known from presenting programmes on BBC Alba. She performs regularly with the band The Open Day Rotation, and tonight was accompanied by band leader and songwriter Willie Campbell on guitar, vocals and loop machine to provide extra percussive texture.

Fiona accompanied herself on piano and it might have been nice to have her centre stage at some point, but the positioning of the piano meant the audience only ever saw her in profile. She has a very warm and lovely tone to her voice, easy to listen to, which entirely suited the style of Campbell’s songs such as ‘Pages of my Past’ and ‘Just Consider It’.

The country influence on some of the material did not overpower the strength and subtlety of the vocals, and Campbell’s backing vocal harmonies were a simple complement to the melody line. American blues singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt’s well known song ‘Dawning of the Day’ was given a simple, eloquently beautiful outing, and was the only cover in this set of Campbell’s self-penned numbers.

Fiona ‘Gress’ Mackenzie( now of Inverness) took the middle set and surrounded herself with such well known names as Mairi Campbell on fiddle and viola, Rick Taylor on piano, Lisa Mulholland on box and Derek Urquhart on guitar.

Her set showcased self-penned material from her album Elevate, released in 2008, mainly in English but with an element of her Gaelic heritage surfacing in such songs as ‘An Roinn’, a setting of Sorley MacLean’s well known poem, and ‘Dùisg Mo Chridh’, written by Fiona’s sister, Eilidh Mackenzie of Inverness.

The only ‘traditional’ hint of Fiona’s heritage came through the inclusion of a short waulking song, with Fiona’s youthful voice perfectly suiting in particular the vocable line, at times reminiscent of classic archive recordings. Such intricate melding of the Old and the New is vital in bringing Gaelic song into mainstream repertoire today, and Fiona’s talents as a songwriter manage to combine these most effectively.

Fiona ‘Bosie’ Mackenzie of Callanish and Edinburgh began her set of her own bluesy-jazz influenced material with ‘Live in a Tree’, a song of childish innocence, accompanied on double bass by Dave Donnelly, Graham Steven on guitar, and Derek Urquhart, this time on drums.

The lyrics of Fiona’s material were evidence enough of why she was runner up in the UK song writing competition, and she is able to write to suit her slightly smoky, sultry tone perfectly. Songs of stalkers, self-loathing and hypnotism gave the audience time to reflect on recollections, perhaps of past relationships and regrets.

The programme was an eclectic mix of styles and voices, and was never in danger of becoming predictable or safe. The three singers are all very comfortable within their own styles and demonstrate what is good and fresh about song in Scotland today. If the ensemble finale of three songs, one chosen by each, was a tad ‘spontaneous’, it did not affect the impact of the songs. The voices complemented each other and the finale of a Gaelic version of ‘Eidelweiss’ was an audience pleaser.

So, long may all of the singing Fiona Mackenzies of this world strive for musical takeover – there are enough of us anyway! A little birdie tells me that Glasgow may be the next target audience….

This Fiona Mackenzie is the Mhairi Mhor Gaelic Song Fellow

© Fiona Mackenzie, 2009

Links

• Fiona (Chasm) Mackenzie
• Fiona (Gress) Mackenzie
• Fiona (Bosie) Mackenzie
• Fiona (Mhairi Mhor Fellow /Northings) Mackenzie

Associated Page

• Fiona (Gress) Mackenzie interview

Two's Company

IF THE sixteen performers from Eden Court’s Higher Drama group were nervous during their performance in then it didn’t show, and although they’d spent a rigorous day being examined on the practical element of their Higher Drama, their enthusiasm was still evident and contagious.

Eden Court Theatre has been running a Higher Drama course as part of its educational programme for the past seven years, and over this time has had much success bringing the arts to young people across the Highlands. The course is made up of a theory and practical exam, and the students were given a chance to show off their achievements in this public performance.

The various pieces were essentially a series of duets with a diverse range of themes. They whisked us from Greece to Glasgow, and provided a refreshing and enjoyable evening’s entertainment.

We began in Ancient Greece with scenes from Sophocles’ Antigone. All of the students took part, with different interpretations from each pair; some chose to present the scenes in keeping with their historical setting, others added a modern slant. The different takes not only added a bit of extra spice but also demonstrated their tremendous adaptability and range.

The rest of the evening’s performance took excerpts from a number of Scottish plays, such as Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which had several amusing scenes and accents to accompany, David Greig’s Outlying Islands, Liz Lochhead’s modern Perfect Days, Gorgeous Avatar by Jules Horne, and finally Ann Marie Di Mambro’s Tally’s Blood. Perfect Days was particularly successful with its close resemblance to everyday life; humorous, moving and well portrayed by both students.

The show was an overall success with all its components of a high standard, and there had clearly been a lot of effort and work put in to achieve this quality. With the students coming from across the Highlands, from as far as Portree and Mallaig, to practise their coursework every Saturday, there is a great deal of commitment involved in the production.

All credit to the students themselves, and also the course director, Angela Morris. The course is intended to accompany work done in school and is directed mainly at 6th year students, with some 5th years taking part as well.

Since there are few schools in the Highlands which offer drama as part of their curriculum (Culloden Academy being a notable exception), there is always a lot of interest in both the Higher and new Intermediate Two courses, but organisers have found that smaller numbers in the Higher course are more successful, especially if some students have already completed the Intermediate Two grade.

Two’s Company demonstrated that new acting talent abounds in the Highlands, and it is clear that there will be a continued interest in Eden Court’s drama courses for years to come. And who knows – perhaps we’ll see some of the students on the screen soon, since coincidently Bollywood started filming at Eden Court last Friday evening too… .

© Jo Gratton, 2009

Links

• Eden Court Theatre

L to R: Louise Jameson and Janet Dibley in Women on the Verge of HRT

MARIE JONES’S Women on the Verge of HRT is the story of two middle-aged friends and their escapades after the “dreamy” Daniel O’Donnell’s concert. Vera, played by Louise Jameson, is bold, opinionated and extremely bitter due to her ex-husband’s new (and much younger) wife and baby son. Her close friend Anna, played by Janet Dibley, is quite the opposite, happy to stay in a loveless marriage and lust over the picture of Daniel O’Donnell printed on her pillow case.

The show opens slowly, as Anna sets the scene while she prepares for bed, humming a love song to Daniel. The energy picks up markedly when Vera enters and breaks her quiet moment. This contrast in their characters allows for some humorous moments throughout the play, particularly the conversation about owning a cat…

On the whole, however, the performance is rushed, with the actors throwing away many punch lines with dialogue that is too fast to pick up on. And those jokes that are delivered well are generally predictable lines playing on the subjects of menopause and the battle of the sexes.

The set and lighting design is fairly straight forward. In the first act the women (and their naive, impressionable waiter) are situated in their hotel room and in the second they are in the “nature” of Donegal, waiting for the sunrise. In both cases, the set and lighting are simple and served their purpose.

As a piece of theatre, it is a disappointing work. The script could delve much further into the universality and timelessness of negative self image: the 45-year old pre-menopausal woman who despises her body probably despised it when she was 25. Unfortunately Jones has played it safe, and delivered a fairly straight forward, sentimental story.

Having said that, who am I to judge? I am at least 20 years younger than the target audience, and many of the pop-culture references fly straight over my head. I can’t say I exactly enjoyed myself, but the 700 or so women on the verge of HRT sitting in the auditorium most definitely did. If you’re looking for entertainment, and a very giggly girls’ night out, this is definitely your cup of tea.

© Polly Hamilton, 2009

Links

• Eden Court Theatre