Perfect Days Review

A “Perfect Day” at Pitlochry Festival Theatre On Wednesday 18TH June the Higher Drama class and the Advanced Higher English class took a trip to Pitlochry to see Liz Lochhead’s comedy “Perfect Days”. The play is set in Glasgow in the penthouse flat of a celebrity hairdresser called Barbs. Barbs is thirty-nine and has realised that this is the perfect time for her to have a baby, but the problem is that she is separated from her husband and has to find a father, for this child. Her mother, Sadie, is against the thought of Barbs bringing up a child alone as she had to do it and tries to convince Barbs that it is really difficult. She ignores her mother’s advice and goes ahead with her plan. The theme of the play is about relationships in general and follows Barbs’ relationships with her mother, her oldest friend Alice and her best friend Brendan. We also meet her estranged husband Davie and see the amicable break up between the two. The final relationship that is explored is between Barbs and Grant. He is Alice’s son who was born when she was seventeen and was put up for adoption. He has now, at the age of twenty-six, decided to find his birth parents. The set design which showed Barbs’ apartment was excellent. It had a mezzanine bedroom are and a bedroom and kitchen off stage. The music used in the play was very effective because the lyrics in the songs were carefully chosen to send a message to the audience about each characters relationship with Barbs. After the play we received a post-show talk from the artistic director and the six members of the cast. We could ask questions and they asked us for our opinions on different aspects of the show. As Higher Drama students we found this very helpful, as in the New Higher Drama exam we are expected to do an essay on Performance Analysis. This has been one of the most enjoyable plays we have attended in the last three years of studying drama. The play is still on in Pitlochry until the middle of October and we would recommend it to anyone interested in poignant comedy. Rachel Melrose 5L and Pamela Macintyre 5S

Question of the Week

How do you create dramatic tension? The prize for the first correct answer is five pounds.

"Uncle Varick" Review by Max and Desne

Quite why he had brought out a chainsaw was unclear. It soon transpired however that rage at his dishonest brother-in-law had caused him to finally snap and turn Uncle Varick homicidal. This type of scene was typical of the play “Uncle Varick” which the new and old Advanced Higher English classes saw in Eden Court on Tuesday 3rd of June. The play was a scottish adaptation of Anton Chekov's "Uncle Vania" which the Advanced higher english class is studying. A particular highlight of the production was the set: a broken picture frame surrounded the whole set. This reflected the character Alexander’s career as an art critic, and how Varick’s faith in this was broken when it was revealed all his criticisms were stolen from others. Live music was used throughout to great effect. Live guitar playing and the singing of sixties songs established a rather plaintive and morose mood as well as highlighting the period in which Mull Theatre had chosen to set this production. “Komorebi” is a Japanese word which describes light which filters through leaves, and this type of light was captured perfectly through the use of gauze at the back of the stage. This was important in reflecting the Doctor’s love of trees. It was this trait; a desire to protect the nature of the highlands, which attracted Shona’s attention. The actress’s performance of this complete infatuation with the doctor was incidentally a very moving one. There was no member of the cast who we could describe as giving an insensitive performance, although we must admit there a few Scottish accents that while realistic were a little difficult to digest. The acting of the character of Uncle Varick was a particular highlight due to his, quite frankly, astounding character development. He began the play as a character that was strong and outspoken, and by the end was deflated and broken, no longer able to keep a handle on his own mind or the things happening around him which caused him much dismay. A strength of the production was that it was able to juxtapose comedy and tragedy in scenes so as the audience felt guilty for laughing at what were clearly horrific events. This certainly left these Ambassadors with a few moral questions! A fun and insightful production overall. By Max and Desne Smallburger. (a.k.a your ambassadors)

Uncle Varick by John Byrne at Eden Court

On the 3rd of june pupils from Lochaber High School went to see Uncle Varick by John Byrne perfomed in the one touch theatre at Eden Court. It was a co-production from Rapture Theatre and Mull Theatre. The play was directed by Michael Emans designed by Jessica Brettle and the music was arranged by Dave Anderson. A review of the play will be written and uploaded to the site as well as hung up on the Eden Court notice board.

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