Cross-cast pollination

Well, dear reader, it is now Tuesday, and here we are at the start of another glorious week in Betrayal land [Ed. apologies for the later posting...I have made up for it with a few new pics by Richard Campbell]. It’s been a fantastic run so far, and the audiences have been both sizeable and very appreciative. The various critics have also been very generous in their praise, which is lovely for all.

”It is, in both aesthetic and technical terms, truly exquisite.”
The Telegraph ★★★★★

“as immaculate as it is thought-provoking, and often downright beautiful. ”
The Scotsman ★★★★

Fraser has effortlessly and seamlessly slipped in to his ASM role, and is making a splendid job of operating the sliders and all manner of other proppy/furniturey things. Emma took over the calling of the show from prompt corner on Saturday night, and made a similarly splendid job of it too-what a team!

Other than that, there’s not much else to report. We have not as yet managed to better our Keepie Uppie count of 307, but who’s to say what lies ahead-you will be the first to know, rest assured.

The theatre is now bung-full of all types theatrical, as King Lear went into rehearsal yesterday, and we also have the touring production of the Scottish Play (The Steamie) rehearsing here, as are Theatre Crytic and Oran Mor’s Play/Pie/Pint 2 shows in the building too - it’s a veritable factory of art here, let me tell you! 

In fact, talking of King Lear, Neve and I took it upon ourselves to join some of the cast after their first day yesterday for a small sherry or three in the fine establishment that is Sharkey’s Bar out the back. We thought a little inter-cast cross pollination might be the very thing, just to welcome them, you know. We are all heart, generous to a fault……

Barrie

BETRAYAL
2-24 March | More info

Watch Audience Reaction
Watch Trailer

The Trouble with One Person Plays

I've always struggled with one person plays, every time I've been to one I've felt exposed and uncomfortable. With no other actor onstage the only person an actor can talk to is me. To be fair not just me, but the audience, and I've always felt that this was wrong. I like to sit back and watch a performance, take it in and enjoy it. As soon as I am being talked to very directly by one single actor, I'm no longer watching the show, rather, I'm worried about any number of things, including looking interested so I don't upset the actor, who's only a few feet infront of me! I'm no longer watching the play becomes the problem. Not listening or thinking about what's being said, I'm being distracted.

Lynn Kennedy, in rehearsals for LIMBO

Though I'm also completely wrong about one person plays. Working on LIMBO has allowed me work to on this with Lynn, the advantage of a one person play is that it can allow us to create a much more personal connection between you the audience member and the performer. More so than with a larger cast play. When rehearsing the show Lynn and I were very careful in not pushing the audience away but drawing them in. First establishing a connection with the audience and then allowing the character to pull back a bit and try to hide her emotions. Using Pinter (a popular lad in the Citz this month) style characterisation to hide our characters true emotion beneath a mask. Drawing the audience in as we see her struggle against her inner turmoil. I think the result creates a very dynamic and heartfelt performance, that Lynn creates beautifully. The key being not to through to much directly at the audience but giving the character and the audience space to think and feel.

Yesterday evening was the opening night and I hope the production does not keep the audience at a distance, instead, drawing you in as an audience member so you feel connected to the character, as it's only the two of you in that theatre, no-one else.

Richard

Director

LIMBO

Circle Studio

8-10 March, 6.30pm

And we're off...

So, it’s Wednesday afternoon, the day after Press Night, and I think I can say without fear of contradiction, that it all seemed to go really rather well!  A very positive response from an enthusiastic audience, both in the auditorium and in the bar after the curtain came down, so a few post show sherries were taken by cast, crew, production team and audience too - lovely! A few of us even made it over the river for a final nightcap, just to make sure we slept well…

But the Betrayal team don’t rest on their laurels and take it easy on themselves, oh no. Today at 2pm, we assembled onstage to rehearse Fraser in to the show- he is taking over ASM duties from Emma, who will be taking over DSM duties from Cathy when she goes into King Lear rehearsals on Monday. It’s a non-stop theatrical carousel here at the Citz, I tell you!

[Ed. Knowing some of the intricacies of the stage management backstage, we send lots of luck and best wishes to Fraser!]

And now the next stage of the run comes into play, namely performing it nightly and keeping it alive, fresh, vital and true - a task we are all relishing, I’m sure. This will start before every performance with the statutory game of Keepie-Uppie, and of course the vocal warm up, which I will now be leading. Dominic has passed this job on to me, as he will now be spending all his time and efforts getting into King Lear mode. Obviously, I’m rather nervous of this, but Dominic assures me I’m up to the task! Oh, and while I’m on the subject of warm ups, vocal and physical, I’m delighted to report that last night, pre show, we once again smashed our previous Keepie-Uppie record with an extraordinary 307 - GET IN!!!

So dear reader, I will take my leave of you, and take this opportunity between blizzards and hailstorms to go and grab some sustenance, but fear not, I will return soon to the Blogosphere, and share more Betrayal goodness with you….and Keepie Uppie scores too, obviously!

Barrie

Ed. Review from The Stage: http://bit.ly/yeeIXY

"Distressing, caustic and superbly realised, this Betrayal is a menacing celebration of The Citizen’s new direction."

BETRAYAL
2-24 March | More info

Watch Audience Reaction
Watch Trailer

Whoops, cheers and keepie-uppie

Well, folks, it is now Monday morning, and much has happened since last I checked in at the Betrayal Blog. We played our first preview performance on Friday evening and……the audience response seemed very positive indeed-good news! Many moments of silent tension were indeed met with “you could hear a pin drop” hush, and other moments were greeted with much laughter, which is a relief to all involved. The audience seemed to be with the play all the way, and the appreciation at the curtain call was a lovely thing to be on the receiving end of.

We met on Saturday afternoon for notes on the previous evening, and worked through a few little adjustments/ideas/thoughts/concerns on the stage, before the 2^nd preview performance that evening. However, before that happened, we had to gather at 6.30pm for our pre-rehearsal, and now pre-performance ritual that is “Keepie-Uppie” (physical warm-up!), and vocal warm up round the piano with Dominic. The excitement and concentration in the room was palpable as we smashed our previous Keepie Uppie record of 117 with an extraordinary….wait for it…..*drum roll*……284!!!!!!!!!! Good times.

The 2^nd preview was then performed before a lovely, warm and sizeable audience, who showed their appreciation at the end of the evening with whoops and cheers mixed in with their loud applause - a lovely way to end the week, and to go into a well deserved day off for all concerned.

So here we are, at the start of the week, and we shall meet at 3pm for notes, and then another dress run at 4pm to keep the show like a well oiled machine as we work towards Press Night tomorrow. I of course, have succumbed to the pesky cold that seems to be doing the rounds at the moment, so my chief aim is to keep that to myself, as I fear I would be rather unpopular if I passed it on to Cal, Neve and/or Hywel.

So, dear reader, until I next tap out another posting to you, I would ask that you send lovely, warm, positive theatrical vibes in the general direction of the Gorbals, and I would also ask a personal favour-namely that you send me antiseptic, non-coughy/sniffy/sneezy vibes to dressing room 7 - that would be hugely appreciated, and not just by me I’m sure…thanking you in anticipation……

Barrie

Finally, here's a short video of audience reactions to the show after Saturday's preview. Thanks to everyone who came to speak to us!

BETRAYAL
2-24 March | More info

Photos by Richard Campbell. See more on Flickr

Lights, camera.....

More missives from our man on the inside, Barrie Hunter...

Here’s another quick check-in from dressing room 7! It’s Thursday afternoon and we are currently finessing the technical side of shifting from scene to scene. Since last I blogged, I have the pleasure of announcing that we finished the tech rehearsals for Betrayal well within the scheduled sessions, so we were allowed the luxury of some time away from the theatre and arrived early evening last night to do the first of our dress rehearsals. I’m pleased to report that generally it all went fairly smoothly, and everyone seemed quite positive about the whole experience-good news!

As always though, there are still many elements to improve on, and Dominic and all the other departments are currently implementing these improvements as I type this missive. We are working towards our second dress rehearsal this evening, which I believe will be photographed, so I’d better shave my face and comb my hair for that. The mood in the camp though all seems very positive, which is always a lovely thing at this stage of the proceedings.

I have to go now, as I hear over my little tinny tannoy, that they are approaching a moment that I am involved in, in a scene-shifty stylee! When next I blog, we will be 2 dress rehearsals down, and 1 more to go before we perform the play before a preview audience tomorrow evening….YIKES!!

Barrie

PS…..I am tremendously pleased to announce that all corkscrews, plates, cutlery, glasses and bottles behaved impeccably, and I only hope that gravity doesn’t interfere further in my onstage prop-based travails……only time will tell, and of course, you will be the first to know……..

Layering on coats of theatrical paint...

Actor Barrie Hunter continues his backstage blog...

It is now Tuesday afternoon, and we are in the 2^nd session of technical rehearsal for Betrayal. We rehearsed scene changes yesterday afternoon, and all that that entails, and on the whole it all went rather well, I think. It’s quite a complex thing to do actually, as the idea is that scenes disappear and appear without the audience seeing it occur. Without giving anything away (again, I can only suggest you come and see for yourself!), there are mechanical devices at play here that assist us, but we all have to get to grips with them first. Always good to be challenged at work!

So today we are incorporating all of those challenges, and layering on other coats of theatrical paint, namely lighting, sound, costume, props etc…and doing the walking/talking thing too - all very exciting!

I am currently in my dressing room, bedecked in my rather fetching waiter garb, listening to the rehearsal stop/start/stop again on the show relay system, and keeping an ear out for when I have to pop down and assist in the scene change between scenes 5 and 6 - who said men can’t multitask?...

We will be “teching” till 10pm this evening and carrying on tomorrow morning with a view to having a dress rehearsal tomorrow evening. Will we stay on schedule? Will we maybe even be ahead of schedule? Will I manage not to drop the corkscrew this time? These, and other questions will be answered when next I get a chance to type some more Betrayal-based musings on my laptop. Til then, dear reader, you can but keep a finger or two crossed that all goes to plan………

Barrie

[Ed. "coats of theatrical paint" nice...might have to steal that phrase...err, it seems I already have].

BETRAYAL
2-24 March | More info

Patiently waiting

Firstly, let me explain. My name is Barrie Hunter, and I’m an actor. Helen in marketing asked me if I would be interested in jotting down a few words for the Citz blog, as I am currently rehearsing the role of the waiter in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, which previews at the end of this week. I appear only in one scene, so I think Helen realised I would have a little more time on my hands than the 3 other actors, who have slightly more involvement than myself, to say the least! [Ed: That; your sparkling wit and astute mind!].

[Ed: My bribery to get Barrie to blog. Pinter's much over-looked waiter makes his mark]

I turned up on day one of rehearsal for the meet and greet and read-through, then I departed to let them get on with it while I jetted off to New York for a holiday-nice! I re-joined the team last Monday, which was the start of week 4 of rehearsals for Neve, Hywel and Cal (Emma, Jerry and Robert respectively), with Dominic at the helm.

Barrie with Andy Clark in Hamlet at the Citz

It’s been fascinating observing the play come together, and see the importance of punctuation being acknowledged within the production of the play. Every pause, silence and dot dot dot (…) line ending is in the script for a reason, and by not using them wisely, it just simply would not be the play that Pinter wrote. Dominic has likened this to a musical score, which I think is absolutely bang on, and when it’s observed, it works wonderfully well.

I, on the other hand, have the somewhat easier task of merely timing my exits and entrances, uncork wine bottles, pour said wine, take food orders, deliver food orders, take away plates, and generally interrupt Cal and Hywel’s conversation in the restaurant-easy peasy! Aside from one corkscrew dropping incident on Saturday morning, I seem to getting to grips with this for the most part.

There is an extraordinary amount of liquid intake in the play, and a large part of the setting up in the rehearsal room before a run of the play seems to be taken up with the filling of various bottles, beakers, glasses etc with water, which the cast then proceed to imbibe through the play. We have one of the most well irrigated casts I have ever had the pleasure of working alongside, and at the end of each run, before Dominic’s note session, the Citz’s plumbing is thoroughly utilised!

So here we are now at the start of Tech Week, when the whole shooting match relocates from the rehearsal room to the stage, and a new set of challenges await for the cast, crew and production team-happy days! We commence at 2pm this afternoon to rehearse the scene changes on stage, of which there are many. Without giving too much away (you’ll need to come and see for yourself), the rehearsal room has resembled a furniture warehouse from the late 60’s/early70’s, and that furniture (and cast) has to now arrive and depart the playing area seamlessly, as time passes through the play backwards and forwards…that’s the plan, anyway. Watch this space to find out how this all pans out…

BETRAYAL
2-24 March | More info

50p Tickets Revival

Saturday saw the first of three 50p ticket sales planned for 2012.

Echoing the 50p sales of Citz past, this was designed to provide absolutely anyone with the chance to see our work, provided they have 50p and the patience to join a queue. The offer was revived by new Artistic Director Dominic Hill. Saturday's sale was for Betrayal by Harold Pinter, which previews this week and is the first show to be directed by Dominic since taking up post!

Tickets went on sale at 10am. I arrived at the theatre at 8.50am and at that point there were 3 folk in the queue. From this point on the numbers grew steadily and we were delighted the rain stayed away.

From our point of view the build up to this sale was very exciting, but definitely nerve-wracking as we had no idea how many (if any) would show up. It was so good to see all the people who were prepared to wait to get tickets.

Actor Cal Macaninch joined Dominic to present the first ticket to the patient first person in our queue.

Well done to all who were successful in getting some 50p tickets this time around. 50p tickets for King Lear go on sale at 10am on Sat 14 April and for our Beckett double bill on Sat 26 May. If you can't make any of these, don't worry...

We are absolutely committed to providing theatre which is accessible to all of the Citizens in our community. For our own work, we provide a wide range of concessions which start at just £2 (for Unemployed and Gorbals Card-holders) and as a matter of course, we offer all seats at previews for just £6 and £10 Tuesdays. See Pricing info here. Check Box Office for pricing on each show as some visiting companies vary.

This season, you can also see Limbo on 8-10 March for £5 (or £3 with a ticket to Betrayal).

Here's a wee slideshow from Saturday. Thanks again to all who took part, braved the cold and made it a big success! Here's to the next one.

Choosing Limbo

This week we started rehearsals for Limbo by Declan Feenan, the compelling and tender story of a young girl who gets into a relationship with an older man. Its a one woman play performed by the actor intern at the Citz, Lynn Kennedy. When I arrived at the Citz last September to be the resident assistant director, Dominic mentioned to Lynn and I that we should meet up and see if there was any work we could make together.

I had been at the Citz for a month, working on A Day in the Death of Joe Egg before I got a chance to properly meet Lynn. We sat down together briefly in the office we would later share to chat and see what kind of projects we might like to work on together. I have always worked on new writing and was very keen to find or create a new play for us to develop together but first we both wanted to get to know one another and each others tastes. Taking a trick I’ve used to get to know designers I’ve worked with we went to visit galleries together, see exhibitions, installations, to build up a knowledge of what work was going on right then in Glasgow and to find common ground. Going to the theatre together, then sitting down after with a drink to argue about what we liked and disliked really began to allow us to see how we might begin to work together.

We soon started to focus upon two ideas, to find an existing play to work on together or to devise our own. We got to work just before Lynn started rehearsals for Hansel & Gretel at the Citz and before I headed to assist on Mister Merlin at the Tron. By the time these shows started we knew we wouldn’t have time to devise our own show and should realistically be looking for an existing script.

With this in mind we started then to read, read and read some more. Searching for the best one person play that would suit Lynn perfectly. It was not easy. Finding a great one person play especially a great one person play for a young female actor, proved much more difficult than I ever thought it would be. After striking out with my own search I decided to call in some help and try to find a new play at the same time. I began a wider search by calling, emailing or generally shouting across the street at the literary departments of the Traverse, the Royal Court, Paines Plough and Tinderbox. Four of the biggest new writing companies in the UK. Asking each for recommendations and advice on finding what I was looking for. I got some great advice from everyone in these theatres but nothing at first came up, there seemed to be a lack of new one person plays. Calls then went out to the Playwrights Studio and onto various new writing blogs and still I couldn’t find anything that was suitable.

When I was particularly desperate and days away from when we needed to finalise the decision, I got an email from Tinderbox and one from the Traverse with a few more recommendations, one of which was Limbo. At first I wasn’t sure about the recommendations, I didn’t recognise the names of the writers but after a bit of research and a read of the plays I knew that I had found some winners.

I took a few recommendations to Lynn and after she had time to read them we sat and discussed what we liked. We whittled the choices down to two plays, Limbo and Adult Child/Dead Child by Claire Dowie. One of these two we would take to Dominic. Both were great scripts, Adult Child/Dead Child would be a real challenge in performance, with a fantastically rich and deep character, plus a great story, but Limbo attracted both Lynn and myself to it. The gorgeous and heartfelt story of a young girl alone and trapped in her own life really made us want to produce this piece and so it was Limbo that we took to Dominic.

Several months later we have now just started to get stuck into the play and are really excited about what we will discover and create together over the next few weeks. Come along to find out...

Richard

Director

LIMBO | 8-10 March

Starts at 6.30pm (under 45mins)
£5 or £3 with a ticket to Betrayal!

Many thanks go out to: Jennifer Williams, Chris Campbell, Andy Arnold, Hanna Slättne, Emma McKee and James Grieve. For all of your help and advice, very gratefully received.

Lovesongs

For Frantic Assembly’s forthcoming tour of Lovesong, we recently ran a competition in our enews where we asked people to send us their favourite lovesongs. The entries were so good and varied, we thought we’d share the list with you. The full list is below, but we also made a playlist of any of the tunes that were available on Spotify...just in time for Valentines day.

Let us know if you’d add anything else.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Roberta Flack

You're the One 
Shane McGowan/Maire Brennan
Circle of Friends Soundtrack

Bed of Roses
Bon Jovi



Heartbeat
Buddy Holly and the Crickets

Love Hurts
Roy Orbison

Romeo and Juliet
Dire Straits

Just An Old Love Song
John Stewart

Endless Love
Diana Ross and Lionel Ritchie

Ae Fond Kiss
Eddi Reader

Nocturnal Me

Echo and the Bunnymen

Lovin’ You
Minnie Ripperton

Dance Me to the End of Love
Leonard Cohen

Always
Atlantic Starr

May You Never
John Martyn

I Can't Make You Love Me
Bonnie Raitt

The Lady in Red
Chris de Burgh


Try A Little Tenderness
Otis Redding

At Last
Etta James

If Love Could Last Forever
The Bathers

Between the Bars
Elliot Smith

Wonderful Tonight

Eric Clapton

I Want You
Bob Dylan

I Feel The Earth Move
Carole King

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
Rod Stewart


This Must Be The Place

Talking Heads


Something
The Beatles


You Are So Beautiful
Joe Cocker

My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose
Karen Matheson

Couldn’t Love You More
John Martyn

Someone Like You
Van Morrison

Love Theme from Bladerunner
Vangelis

It’s Oh So Quiet
Bjork

That’s Amore
Dean Martin

Let’s Get it On
Marvin Gaye

Secret Love
Doris Day

Time After Time
Cyndi Lauper

I Surrender
David Sylvian

Lovesong described by The Telegraph as "a tribute to the durability of loving relationship" has been receiving rave reviews in the early part of its tour. It reaches the Citizens Theatre on Tue 7 February and plays until Sat 11.

“I’ve never seen such an instantaneous standing ovation…the piece beats with such profound truth that you’re held rapt “
The Telegraph ★★★★
“Lovesong is compelling, understated perfection…poignant and uplifting…a hugely memorable performance” 

The Stage
“It all works beautifully…This haunting play is shot through with compassion and tenderness.”
Plymouth Herald
"Lovesong is an atmospheric, gentle, humorous tear-jerker.” 

What’s On Stage ★★★★

More info on Lovesong