I picked this up off the "Made in Scotland" list and I'm really glad I did. Forget the "site-specific" . One short scene was performed in the theatre foyer, we then walked round to George St where the second short scene was performed in the sales floor of the ultra-trendy clothes shop "The White Stuff" before we ascended to the attic of the same store for what was essentially a small-scale theatre in the round show. This is supposedly adapted from a regular Guardian feature of overheard conversations from all over Britain. Not taking the Guardian, or any other newspaper on a regular basis, I was unaware of it, and again, it's irrelevant. What you get is a series of short plays, none of them more than 5 mins long, which reflect contemporary life in Britain. 3 actors, two men, one woman, play all the parts and all the accents from Glasgow to Suffolk, and many of the nationalities which make up contemporary Britain. A scrolling LED indicator tells you the location of each encounter. Some of the scenes start with actual recorded conversations, which are then continued by the actors, some are stand-alone. We begin with two litter pickers on Glasgow Green, one trying to persuade the other that every piece of littter tells a story. The final scene, after all sorts of itesm of clothing and possessions have bneen discarded by a huge variety of characters, ends with them picking them- unaware of the stories we ahve been told. If it could have been a rag-bag, it is in fact a well-structured hour, funny, edgy, poignant, thought-provoking, and brilliantly acted. The simple set consists of a couple of curved park benches. It looks to me as if it would tour easily. And I would have thought exactly the kind of contemporary theatre ACE wants us to do more of.
Bob of Arts Out West
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