An Englishman Abroad - Gary Naylor Goes To Glasgow

Theatre criticism might be as metropolitan a profession as there comes (hands up who subconsciously added the word ‘elite’ to the middle of that sentence?) Sure, on this website, on some others and in the nationals, you will find coverage of the RSC at Stratford-upon-Avon, maybe the big budget shows at Chichester Festival Theatre and a provincial panto or two, but it’s thin stuff compared to just how much actual theatre there is outside London. 

One reason - look, I’m being generous here - might be that, over an oat latte on the Southbank, one reads of doom and gloom over future funding, of buildings collapsing due to local council neglect, of names on the playbill rather less starry than we’re used to. Or it might just be that if you have an all-you-can-eat buffet on the table every evening north and south of The Thames, why go looking elsewhere for options? The bleedin’ obvious answer to that one is that The National Theatre may be in London, but our national theatre is an ecosystem, a fragile interdependent network that needs sustaining conscientiously by all involved if it is to survive.

With such high-minded thoughts in mind, this 44 years and counting Londoner wrapped himself up and headed into the cold rain of Glasgow (with my guide, John, a local - I’m not so stupid as to attempt a peak without a sherpa) to sample a little of Scotland’s scene that was not the Islington-esque Edinburgh Festival.

My first stop (and last stop) was a legendary venue - Òran Mór. In 1862, a church, but since 2004 a multi-purpose set of spaces that can host all kinds of events from experimental art to weddings. It’s akin to having the whole of Camden under one roof.

The gig I attended was drawn from that increasingly popular (and lucrative) genre, the live show of a popular podcast. Not Alastair and Rory at the Royal Albert Hall (reviewed here a couple of years ago), but the more niche appeal of Football Clichés, a fellow pod in the Goalhanger stable.

Except in Glasgow, football is anything but niche and every chair was taken by fans of the show and of podcasting more generally. I can offer empirical evidence for that claim as I was recognised (by voice) by a fellow punter as a result of my modest podcasting career!

Adam Hurrey, Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker’s show was slick, part chat show, part stand-up, but mainly a gathering of the blokeish clan, and showed just how effective 21st century theatres, with their tech, ticketing and hospitality facilities, can be in supporting a newish format that’s only going to grow.

Just over 36 hours later, I was back in the same space watching a new play Righ Iasgair: The Fisher King, presented in the regular lunchtime slot, A Play, A Pie and A Pint. A Glasgow institution, it does what it says, offering that enticing triple all within an hour at an affordable price. I’m amazed that the formula has not been exported.

Kenny Boyle’s play was as Scottish as The Scottish Play itself, two women, one harbouring a secret, caught in the dark on a fishing hike on the Isle of Lewis. Hebridian Gothic if you will, well-timed in the week before Halloween, MJ Deans and Fiona MacNeil bringing wit and charm to the two-hander, sliding in and out of Gàidhlig, a whiff of Pictish magical realism in the air.

After a spectacular redevelopment, but retaining the terrifying (for an Englishman at least) address on Gorbals Street, Glasgow Citizens Theatre is every inch as fine an example of ‘regeneration through culture’ as one sees in post-industrial regions - though there has been a theatre here since 1878.

Dundee Rep’s production of Tennessee Williams’ iconic memory play, The Glass Menagerie, sat well on the dimly lit stage, the intimacy and claustrophobia so necessary to the work effortlessly conjured. Busy with schoolkids and pensioners and plenty in-between at a house-full matinee, the play delivered its signature mix of blackest comedy and bleakest tragedy with a cast comprising Amy Conachan, Christopher Jordan-Marshall, Declan Spaine and Sara Stewart working beautifully as an ensemble. The Gorbals, even under its rapid architectural reinvention, may be a long way from the heat of St Louis, but theatre can bridge such distances - and it did.

A brisk walk, a - dare I say - oat latte and a bite to eat and on to an evening at Tron Theatre, a venue that “produces and presents an eclectic collection of new writing, reinvigorated contemporary classics, dance, comedy and music”. A younger house here, as one might expect of a theatre that programmes a range of material, students, I suspect, ex-students and academics, were well represented in a city, indeed a nation, that has a very strong tradition of university education. You can read my review of Arlington here.

There was time for a visit to the superbly appointed Scottish Football Museum and a peek inside Hampden Park, but no Queen’s Park vs Ayr United match, as it was sold out! Instead, on to the beautiful, arthouse Glasgow Film Theatre for a packed late afternoon showing of Guillermo Del Toro’s slightly disappointing Frankenstein.

It's easy to see how BroadwayWorld's Scotland editor, Natalie O'Donoghue, is kept busy! From a London perspective, especially that of a migrant from the North of England, it's a real tonic to see theatre of such range and excellence in varied, confident, long-established venues thriving even after such a buffeting in the last 15 years. It's not all touring musicals and pantos you know!

Just a Sunday left to travel back to London by train, via the Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur match in Liverpool. At least, that was the plan… 

With thanks to John Mackay

Photo images: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan