Glasgow's Ramshorn Theatre, part of the University of Strathclyde,
has anounced its summer season:
Thursday 15th - Saturday 17th May @ 8 pm
Bert’s Bilbao Ballroom Band
SHOW ME THE WAY TO THE NEXT WHISKY BAR
Directed by Susan C. Triesman
Musical Direction by Marion Christie
The acclaimed Brecht Cabaret returns to the Ramshorn.
An extraordinary evocation of the great years of cabaret between the
wars and beyond, with songs and poetry redolent of revolt and decadence.
Bertolt Brecht, Hans Eisler, Kurt Weill, Cole Porter... this is where
Surabaya Johnny meets Lili Marlene.
Tickets £8/4 from the Ramshorn
Wednesday 21st - Saturday 24th May @ 8 pm
Pure Productions
SQUIRRELS
by David Mamet
Directed by Iain Kelly and Steven Scott
A hilarious comedy by Pullitzer prize-winning playwright David Mamet.
Young, ambitious writer Edmond takes a job as assistant to Arthur,
a once successful scribe who has fallen on hard times. Edmond soon
realises Arthur’s erratic work hides his deeply disturbing fascination
for small, furry rodents. On top of that, the cleaning lady fancies
herself as a bit of a creative spirit. Will Ed survive the insane
office he finds himself caught in, or will he too develop an obscene
obsession?
Mamet’s play deals with imagination, creativity, the meaning
of life and gatherers of nuts in his own unique, sharp, controversial
style.
Pure Productions is a new Glasgow-based company.
Tickets £8/4 from Collins Gallery 0141 - 548 2558
or from the Ramshorn
Monday 2 June - Saturday 7 June @ 7.30 pm
Strathclyde Theatre Group
LYSISTRATA - THE SEX STRIKE
by Germaine Greeer, after Aristophanes
Directed by Bruce Downie
The ancient world is gripped in a long and futile war. While the
men of Athens fight in a foreign land, the women of Athens can take
no more. In secret, they meet with the enemy women and form a pact.
The battle moves into the bedroom. No sex for the men - unless the
women get peace.
Germaine Greer, the world’s leading feminist raconteur, polemicist
and wit, plunders the archetypal story of female resistance. The bullets
and the double entendres fly thick and fast; Greer’s satirical
eye takes no prisoners . She plays up the class divide between the
snobby protesters and the chorus of cleaning women they disdainfully
ignore. She heightens the divisions among the militant women and the
chauvinist stupidity of the Athenian males who claim ’it’s
the menopause makes them crazy like that.’
‘Fast, broad, silly and profound.’ The Independent on Sunday
Tickets: Mon/Tues £5/2.50 Wed - Sat £8/4
from Collins Gallery 0141 548 - 2558
Monday 16 - Saturday 21 June @ 7.30 pm
Strathclyde Theatre Group
COMEDIANS
by Trevor Griffiths
Directed by Susan C. Triesman
Comedians is one of the classics of tthe repertoire from the second
half of the 20th century. Its politics and passion still resonate,
especially as stand-up comedy has evolved into really big business.
A study of the nature of comedy, it works both as a scabrous attack
on the racist and sexist humour which passes for comedy in British
popular culture, and as an exploration of the radical potential of
comedy.
The play begins in the classroom, where a famous old comedian is
taking an evening class for stand-up comics. For all of them - the
docker, the milkman, the insurance agent, the labourer, the night-club
owner and the van driver - success is the means to escape the dreary
reality of their lives. This is their final briefing before facing
a London agent. When they present their acts for him during bingo
night at a club, desperate ambition puts character and integrity in
the limelight, to revealing and stunning effect.
Trevor Griffiths created some of the definitive political theatre
and TVplays of the period. His outstanding quality as a writer lies
in the muscular dialectic of the play’s arguments, and the gritty
reality of its characters.
Tickets; Mon/Tues £5/2.50 Wed - Sat £8/4
From the Collins Gallery 0141 - 548 2558
Thursday 26 - Saturday 28 June @ 8 pm
theatre odyssey
JASON - THE QUEST FOR THE GOLDEN FLEECE
Written and performed by Ross Baillie and John J. Taylor
Two men arrrive in the same place, but cannot leave. Some force is
keeping them there, and is forcing them to tell some wierd story.
A story about the young prince of Iolchus who, thousands of years
ago, went on a long odyssey to gain the Golden Fleece and, in doing
so, met his future wife, Medea. A story full of love, lust, passion,
sex, violence, adventure, revenge, anger, turmoil, centaurs, gods,
goddesses, fire-breathing monsters, horrific serpents, golden (yes,
Golden) sheep, and other very ‘Greek’ things. Why are these
men being forced to tell this strange tale? Are they having the wool
pulled over their eyes by some godd or other? Or have they sheepishly
arrived at the Ramshorn with ulterior motives?
Taylor and Bailllie appear in this newly-devised production, from
the publicly and critically acclaimed arts organisation, theatre odyssey,
in its first Glasgow branch.
Tickets: £8/4 From the Collins Gallery 548 2558
Sunday 29 June @ 7.30 pm
Strathclyde Theatre Group
TALES FROM THE WOMEN’S LOCKER ROOM
A special rehearsed reading for new writers: come and give feedback
to them at this important stage of their careers
BABY BANK
by Shiona Morton
Pete is a security guard in a Glasgow city hospital. He is 51, recently
divorced, and living along. His colleague, Liz, is a nurse in the
maternity unit. A government initiative prompts the hospital to set
up a Baby Bank, a no-blame facility for mothers who wish safely to
give up their new-born babies. Pete is initially unsympathetic, but
finds himself unable to remain detached.
Brought up in Troon, Shiona Morton studied Drama at Glasgow University
in the mid-70s, and then became a teacher in london. Later, she started
writing TIE plays about social issues for Mind Your Head Theatre Company
in Bristol. In 2000, she decided to write in less didactic forms and
has recently been funded by South West Arts to devlop her work as
a playwright. Falling Through, a radio play, will be read at
Bristol’s Tobacco Factory in July 2003.
Tickets: £3/2 ffrom the Ramshorn
