CLUB ASYLUM. Scotland tour to 14 March.

Scotland tour

CLUB ASYLUM
by John Retallack

Company of Angels and MacRobert Centre Stirling, on tour to 14 March 2002
Runs 1hr 5min No interval

Review Timothy Ramsden 10 February at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow

Glasgow, which has welcomed asylum seekers, should also delight in this refreshing, invigorating dance-drama.In little over an hour John Retallack, aided by a superb company of performers, presents a deeply moving, dramatically riveting picture of the issues and experiences facing the many refugees from trouble who have been welcomed in recent years to Scotland's greatest city.

The documentary origins of the piece become evident only near the end. Amid a sophisticated, liberal-inclined Tron audience they seemed slightly flat after the inventive material that had come before. But out on the road, where some audience members might be more challenged by what's being said, the late switch to direct experience could climax well what's gone before.

That's included only one near realistic scene, showing a young asylum seeker robbed by a threatening street gang. Otherwise, the piece is a whirl of music, surprisingly varied in style, and movement-based scenes, like the delicately picked-out scene of travel to Glasgow, a stately vehicle progression set to a Kronos Quartet number.

And the familiar argument that England is a country formed from waves of ethnic newcomers has an equivalent in the framing device of St Mungo, the ancient orphan who founded the 'dear green place' Glasgow, and whose name is linked to places of refuge and shelter in the city.

Pace and mood are satisfyingly varied and the five strong cast are very strong, not just technically accomplished in speech as well as movement, but having strongly characterised personalities which play successfully off each other. Retallack's other asylum show with his new Company of Angels, Hannah & Hanna, is a more realistic piece about the Kossovans in Margate. Both plays demonstrate that work for young people can be stylistically adventurous, with the dramatic strength to appeal to a full audience range.

Cast:
Umar Amed
Martin Docherty
Lee Hart
Jane Howie
Cathleen McCarron

Director: John Retallack
Designer: The Company
Lighting: Kevin McCallum
Choreographer: Andy Howitt

2002-02-14 07:56:04