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Wait for the fur to fly as Msfits arrive
Looking good, feeling fine we live in a world where appearances matter, although many of us labour under the hope that what’s beneath the skin is just as important as how that skin is arranged.
But what if appearance was the only thing that mattered, and if beauty could cost you your life?
That’s the premise in Gary Owen’s award-winning drama The Drowned World, which Skewiff Theatre Company brings to the stage at the Baby Grand in Belfast on Tuesday and Wednesday. Four characters are struggling to survive in a world where beauty is everything — and Owen’s play asks questions about how we see ourselves and others we perceive as different.
Scottish company The Msfits (correct spelling!) will be serving up something a little different in the comedy Fur Coat and Magic Knickers, at the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine, next Wednesday. It’s a cautionary tale about the perils of retail therapy, so leave your credit card at home.
If you’re fond of a bit of footie, NLP theatre company’s Singin’ I’m No A Billy He’s A Tim, which plays at the Waterfront Studio tonight and tomorrow, is for you. Fireworks fly when a Celtic fan and a Rangers supporter are locked up together on the day of an Old Firm match. Not too many good sports about in this darkly funny drama.
It’s a week for the rib bandages. Our own Bruiser Theatre Company has teamed up again with Bill Scott, the writer of The Case Of The Frightened Lady, in a new version of Gogol's classic comedy The Government Inspector.
A penniless traveller finds himself mistaken for a top-ranking government official in a small country town. He plays along with the confusion, revealing greed and hypocrisy on a scale that even he finds hard to stomach. The show opened earlier this week at the Old Museum Arts Centre, and plays there until September 22 before setting out on tour.
Culture’s the key word of the week, when the Cathedral Quarter in Belfast launches the city’s first Culture Night next Thursday. More than 95 arts, cultural and hospitality-based organizations will be taking part, offering everything from walking tours to milk and cookies, from carnival workshops to dancing in the streets.
One of the many highlights on September 25 will be a chance for local audiences to interact with our leading local professional theatre companies in the Potthouse Bar.
So if you don’t know your Ransom from your Cahoots or your Green Shoot from your Prime Cut, now is the time to meet them, and watch DVDs of previous productions, as well as learn more about their work.
Some of the companies taking part in this one-off event include Aisling Ghear, Martin Lynch’s GBL Productions, Kabosh, Replay and Ransom theatre companies.
And Ransom will be staging the world premiere of Suzie Miller’s play Transparency at OMAC next Friday.
The play explores the themes of evil and punishment through the psyche of a man who, as a child, was involved in murder. Now Simon has struggled to bury his troubled past, until news of a missing child brings back unwelcome memories.
Richard Dormer stars in this compelling drama, alongside Alexandra Ford and Abigail McGibbon, in what promises to be a challenging and absorbing new work.
Transparency plays at OMAC until October 10.
grania.mcfadden@ntlworld.com
