The Independent - Heads up: Macbeth

Out damn Scot! Alan Cumming makes a mad Macbeth

What are we talking about? A staging of Shakespeare's Macbeth by National Theatre of Scotland, with a twist... It's set in a psychiatric unit, full of CCTV cameras, where a patient relives the story of Macbeth's reign.

Elevator pitch Is this a CCTV camera I see before me? Macbeth gets the modern madness treatment.

Prime movers It's directed by John Tiffany, the man behind NTS's huge hit Black Watch, with Andy Goldberg (best known for hip-hop Shakespeare The Bomb-itty of Errors).

The stars Alan Cumming, who is, as the press release puts it, a "Hollywood actor and award-winning Scot" (though presumably the awards were for acting, not Scottishness).

The early buzz It transfers to New York, and American bloggers are excited: The New York Times arts blog said Cumming "will perform every single role in the Shakespeare tragedy, including the regicidal schemer of its title and his devious, spot-obsessed wife (though we're especially intrigued to see what he does with the three witches)". Perez Hilton wrote, "Words like 'ambitious' come to mind! We're excited/fascinated to report that Alan Cumming is set to star in an upcoming one-man version of Macbeth... Sweet!" while The Huffington Post imagined Cumming "looking in his bathroom mirror saying, 'You just beat everyone at Macbeth so hard,' while he palms Shakespeare's original manuscript with one ungloved hand and spoons veggie haggis into his sneering mouth with the other..."

Insider knowledge "The Scottish Play" is the first Shakespeare the NTS has ever staged, and casting Cumming is doubly neat: he made his own stage debut with Macbeth in 1993, playing Malcolm at Glasgow's Tron theatre.

It's great that ... while not technically a one-man play as originally hyped, Cumming does speak all the lines: we can't think of anyone better to gender-bend between Macbeth, his lady wife, and the witches.

It's a shame that ... following a luke-warm reception for the "it's all in his mind" Hamlet set in a psychiatric institution/the Young Vic last year, the concept may struggle for fresh-eyed critical sympathy here.

Hit potential Macbeth often can absorb high concepts, and Cumming will prove a draw. Americans seem keen, so may be a hit in New York.

The details Macbeth is at Tramway, Glasgow, 13 - 30 June (nationaltheatrescotland.com)

Source: The Independent

 

Billy Boyd: two new theatre projects

Scottish National Theatre to tackle 'crisis in newspaper journalism'

The National Theatre of Scotland is to stage an investigation into "the crisis in newspaper journalism", using real testimony, which will be performed on the top floor of a media office block in Glasgow. Around 60 hours of interviews are being gathered and will be distilled for a production called Enquirer, looking at the "past, present and future" of newspapers. It will examine ethical questions and the Leveson inquiry, as well as issues around declining print revenues and the rise of digital media.

The NTS's artistic director, Vicky Featherstone, said the project, which was announced on Thursday, emerged from a discussion she had with director John Tiffany in December.
"A lot of our peers, people we grew up with, are journalists, and we'd had discussions with them about this 'crisis' – as they called it – in journalism. It is the hardest thing for journalists to be able to talk about their own situation."
Which is where theatre comes in, she said. "Theatre is an amazing place to be able to ask the big questions, not necessarily to know what the answers are but just put the questions out there and begin a debate.
"We are not doing a piece where a single writer with a single voice will come up with a state-of-the-nation piece with a conclusion and a thesis. This will not be a complete analysis of where we are at now."

The production is a collaboration with the London Review of Books, and involves three journalists – Paul Flynn, Ruth Wishart and the Guardian's Deborah Orr – interviewing other journalists, as well as printers, retailers and readers. That testimony will be edited down by Featherstone, Tiffany and the writer, and London Review of Books contributing editor Andrew O'Hagan. It is all being prepared "deliberately quickly", said Featherstone, with the production set to open at the end of April.
It will be staged on the top floor of a building called The Hub, in the media quarter of Glasgow, with a promenade performance for audiences of around 70.
"Because of what newspapers are, we wanted to respond immediately to what we were feeling and what people were telling us," said Featherstone. "We want it to be in the moment."
For that reason, producers will update the project through rehearsals and performances to reflect whatever developments might occur. The show will be in Glasgow from 26 April until 12 May, and travel to an east London venue in October, in association with the Barbican. It will be directed by Featherstone and Tiffany, whose biggest success was the international hit Black Watch, a play based on interviews with soldiers which began life at the Edinburgh festival in 2006 before travelling across the UK, the US, Canada and Australia.
Source: Guardian

Twitter had this to say about The Enquirer:  

• Billy Boyd is appearing in the exciting new @NTSonline announced today! 

• In the cast of @ntsonline's Enquirer are Maureen Beattie, John Bett, Billy Boyd, James Anthony Pearson and Gabriel Quigley 

• #Enquirer a site-specific piece constructed from interviews from those in the newspaper industry. 

• New production announcement! "Scottish National Theatre to tackle 'crisis in newspaper journalism' http://gu.com/p/368bq/tw via @guardian" 

Andrew Scott & Billy Boyd will be reading Martin Amis & Irvine Welsh at the Criterion Theatre on March 30th  

Stories Before Bedtime is a series of late-night readings designed to champion the love of reading and stories and to transport the audience back to when being read aloud to before bedtime was a fundamental part of one's daily life. Come and listen to classic short stories come to life in the mouths of some of this country's leading actors and actresses.
Hot on the heels of February's Twisted Love starring Tom Hiddleston and Russell Tovey comes this raucous evening of comic twists and star turns featuring extracts from Jerome's classic book Three Men in a Boat.
Fresh from the movie set of Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy, Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings) will be reading Irvine Welsh's darkly hilarious short story The Granton Star Cause.
Andrew Scott (Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes) will be reading an extract from Martin Amis' debut coming-of-age novel The Rachel Papers.
Friday 30th March 2012.
Details and ticket information at Criterion Theatre

Social Media Call for "An Appointment with The Wicker Man"

Social media users are invited to take pictures and film footage of the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of An Appointment With The Wicker Man on Friday 17th February at 11.45am for a 12pm start at the Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling.

This is an exclusive opportunity to photograph and film two scenes from the production and to meet the famous Loch Parry Players. The cast and creative team will also be available for interviews.

Based on the cult film, An Appointment With The Wicker Man is co-written by Greg Hemphill and Donald McLeary and directed by Vicky Featherstone.

The cast includes Greg Hemphill and Paul Riley who worked together on Chewin’ The Fat and the spin off Still Game. They are joined on stage by Sean Biggerstaff who played Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter films.

The full cast is Sean Biggerstaff, Jimmy Chisholm, Greg Hemphill, Johnny McKnight, Sally Reid, Paul Riley and Rosalind Sydney.

Places are limited so if you would like to attend please register in advance by emailing andrew.neilson@nationaltheatrescotland.com

The first twenty people to register will be given a free ticket to see the whole show on Friday 17th February at 7.30pm.

In the meantime why not tweet about production using the hashtag #wickerman or find out what happens at a social media call.

The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of An Appointment With The Wicker Man is supported by Bank of Scotland and tours to His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen from 21-25 Feb, Theatre Royal, Glasgow 28 Feb-3 March, Eden Court, Inverness 6-10 March and The Alhambra, Dunfermline 21-24 March. More information at www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

Source National Theatre of Scotland

Sean Biggerstaff as Robert Burns

The National Theatre of Scotland recently tweeted a link to this video of Sean Biggerstaff as Robert Burns as part of their Five Minute Theatre project in 2011


It's a not entirely serious imagining of the moment when William Shakespeare and Robert Burns meet each other in some other dimension and discuss poetry, girls and the connections between the two.

Performed by Barrie Hunter, Sean Biggerstaff
Directed by Robert Dawson Scott

Source: National Theatre of Scotland

One-man Scottish Play tops National Theatre’s bill

The National Theatre of Scotland unveiled its trump card for the 2012 season yesterday, with actor Alan Cumming – currently a star of American TV show The Good Wife – playing a one-man Macbeth.

It is the NTS’s first production of Shakespeare, six years after the theatre was founded. Cumming will star in the multi-media show in Glasgow in June before taking it direct to New York.

“I’ve always wanted to do Macbeth,” the actor said yesterday. “I’ve been obsessed with the play all my life.”

Other projects unveiled yesterday for 2012 included Glasgow Girls, a new production by award-winning director Cora Bissett, described as a “feelgood musical” about the true-life Glasgow teenagers who campaigned for a family of asylum-seekers. Bisset’s last production, Roadkill, was a major Fringe hit.

Read more at The Scotsman

The Mirror has a video interview about the project here

Story also reported by The Stage