rhythmaning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rhythmaning) wrote2006-10-08 01:44 pm
rhythmaning) wrote2006-10-08 01:44 pm
Tutti Frutti
I went to see the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of John Byrne’s “Tutti Frutti” yesterday.
Byrne had adapted it from his own TV series – broadcast in 1987. I saw some of it when it was shown, but couldn’t remember much of it (other than it starred Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson. [Random fact: Robbie Coltrane lived in the same house in Edinburgh as my then girlfriend lived in. Not at the same time, a couple of years before. But still.]
I sat right up in the gods of the King’s Theatre – not my favourite theatre at the best of times – but aside from not enough leg room, the seats were fine; the view wasn’t too obscured.
It was a good play – a simple story of an old time rock ‘n’ roll band on tour, and their loves and lives. The two leads were played by Tom Urie (never heard of him) and Dawn Steele (apparently she was in Monarch of the Glen, a tartan-and-shortbread tv series, which I never watched), and they were pretty good.
The band was good too: the whole cast (more or less) had to play instruments, and whilst they didn’t quite have the punch of a real band (the drums were a bit weedy, for instance), they held their own. The many songs were more or less woven into the story, although the band did get in the way of the flow of the story somewhat – the exceptions being when the band played whilst other characters sang the Everly Brothers “All I have To Do Is Dream” (“Only trouble is, gee whiz, I’m dreamin’ my life away”) and Roy Orbison’s “Love Hurts”, the band behind a backdrop.
It was pretty funny – though there were dark moments, too (a car crash, a stabbing, a suicide – prompting the rendition of “Love Hurts”) - but it belied its tv origins: there were a lot of short scenes, literally cutting on the split level stage to the next scene. What scenery there was rolled in and out, so it kept the show rolling, but I think more thought could have been given to making it more theatrical than tv: Byrne is too good a playwright to let him be sloppy like that. (The Slab Boys trilogy – which was revived by the Traverse a couple of years ago – demonstrated his skill.)
Still, it was fun, the tunes were great, the band pretty good. And it all felt rather nostalgic!
It was the first thing I had seen by the relatively new national Theatre of Scotland. (I can’t help thinking of Jim Broadbent’s “National Theatre of Brent” – well, it had Jim Broadbent in it when I saw it many years ago.) They have been quite active recently – “Mary Stuart” is also touring at the moment: it is coming to the Royal Lyceum for three weeks at the end of the month, and I’ll probably go to that, too – it has Siobhan Redmond in it, and I think she is great. The theatre was established (I think) by the Scottish Executive in 2003; its first productions were earlier this year (it premiered simultaneously around the country – called “Home”, it was site-specific, and that sounded very interesting. Looking at their website, you can see how active they have been in just the last few months.
Byrne had adapted it from his own TV series – broadcast in 1987. I saw some of it when it was shown, but couldn’t remember much of it (other than it starred Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson. [Random fact: Robbie Coltrane lived in the same house in Edinburgh as my then girlfriend lived in. Not at the same time, a couple of years before. But still.]
I sat right up in the gods of the King’s Theatre – not my favourite theatre at the best of times – but aside from not enough leg room, the seats were fine; the view wasn’t too obscured.
It was a good play – a simple story of an old time rock ‘n’ roll band on tour, and their loves and lives. The two leads were played by Tom Urie (never heard of him) and Dawn Steele (apparently she was in Monarch of the Glen, a tartan-and-shortbread tv series, which I never watched), and they were pretty good.
The band was good too: the whole cast (more or less) had to play instruments, and whilst they didn’t quite have the punch of a real band (the drums were a bit weedy, for instance), they held their own. The many songs were more or less woven into the story, although the band did get in the way of the flow of the story somewhat – the exceptions being when the band played whilst other characters sang the Everly Brothers “All I have To Do Is Dream” (“Only trouble is, gee whiz, I’m dreamin’ my life away”) and Roy Orbison’s “Love Hurts”, the band behind a backdrop.
It was pretty funny – though there were dark moments, too (a car crash, a stabbing, a suicide – prompting the rendition of “Love Hurts”) - but it belied its tv origins: there were a lot of short scenes, literally cutting on the split level stage to the next scene. What scenery there was rolled in and out, so it kept the show rolling, but I think more thought could have been given to making it more theatrical than tv: Byrne is too good a playwright to let him be sloppy like that. (The Slab Boys trilogy – which was revived by the Traverse a couple of years ago – demonstrated his skill.)
Still, it was fun, the tunes were great, the band pretty good. And it all felt rather nostalgic!
It was the first thing I had seen by the relatively new national Theatre of Scotland. (I can’t help thinking of Jim Broadbent’s “National Theatre of Brent” – well, it had Jim Broadbent in it when I saw it many years ago.) They have been quite active recently – “Mary Stuart” is also touring at the moment: it is coming to the Royal Lyceum for three weeks at the end of the month, and I’ll probably go to that, too – it has Siobhan Redmond in it, and I think she is great. The theatre was established (I think) by the Scottish Executive in 2003; its first productions were earlier this year (it premiered simultaneously around the country – called “Home”, it was site-specific, and that sounded very interesting. Looking at their website, you can see how active they have been in just the last few months.