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EVERYDAY VENGEANCE Al Seed returns to the stage with a stripped back solo performance marrying the personal and theatrical
the Jacobeans
R evenge has a healthy theatrical history: liked nothing more than on-stage justified carnage, and even Hamlet covers the ground. Al Seed might be concentrating on its more mundane forms, but Everyday Vengeance marks his return to the stage after a period as one of the forces behind Conflux, curators of the Surge festival. ‘I have been operating from the shadows for four years – which has been very satisfying,’ Seed admits. ‘I have a Russian friend who said that you can only cross the line from artist to producer once: so this is an attempt to prove that wrong.’
Known as the clown prince of darkness, Seed’s best-remembered works, like The Factory, captured a sense of absurd menace and introduced a generation of theatre audiences to an uncompromising and theatre. expressive
physical
For Everyday Vengeance, Seed is combining his skills.
the personal with ‘I have quite deliberately decided to make a piece that is both physical theatre and storytelling. It is a stylistic mash-up: different story threads have different styles,’ he says. And although this is a solo performance, Seed balances the theatrical. ‘There is a miniature revenge tragedy contained within the show,’ he notes. Although Conflux have a reputation for large scale performance, Seed is getting back to basics – no props, no big set, just one man, his body and a series of stories. More than just the return of a much-missed performer, it is a reminder that even the minimal can be stunningly theatrical. (Gareth K Vile)
Tron, Glasgow, Thu 25–Sun 28 Jul.
HITLIST THE BEST THEATRE & DANCE
✽ 9–5: The Musical The musical of the film of the song: feminist resistance
goes Dollywood style when a tyrannical boss finds his female employees have had enough nonsense. See preview, page 102. King’s Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 13–Sat 17 Aug.
✽ How A Man Crumbled After success at the Fringe last year, Clout return with their physical theatre tribute to Russian poet Daniil Kharms who once declared ‘art is a cupboard’. See preview, page 102. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 25–Sun 28 Jul.
✽ Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off
Liz Lochhead’s contemporary classic is revisited by Scottish Youth Theatre. See preview, page 103. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 6–Sat 10 Aug.
✽ Parade Proving that musicals can deal with the big subjects, Parade won a Tony
award for its study of prejudice in the early twentieth century. Dundee Rep, Wed 7–Sat 10 Aug.
✽ Up4AMeet Not-at-all kitsch story of sex in
the internet age, containing gratuitous nudity and a pair of stars from reality TV. Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Tue 6–Thu 8 Aug; Oran
Mor, Glasgow, Fri 9–Sat 10 Aug.
✽ The Tip Part of the Surge Festival, Izzie Major has built a pile of junk to sift through in hope of finding the answers to serious questions. King’s Court, Glasgow, Sat 27–Sun 28 Jul.
A L B E R T O S A N T O S B E L L D O
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✽ Heartbeats More from Surge, this time bringing together two of Scottish hip hop’s
rising stars, Xena Gustheart and Big Tajj – directed by Drew Taylor. Hutchesons Street, Glasgow, Sat 27–Sun 28 Jul.
11 Jul–22 Aug 2013 THE LIST 101