PANTS. 8-10 July.
Dundee
PANTS
by Forbes Masson, music by Forbes Masson, George Drennan and The Pants
Dundee Rep 8-10 July 2002
7.45pm
Runs 2hr 25min One interval
TICKETS 01382 223530
Review Timothy Ramsden 15 June
Enjoy the one-liners and lyrics – they're as good as it gets.Commitment's generally viewed as a positive thing, but Masson's new musical – the third piece he's provided for Dundee's resident company – questions when creative partnership melts into over-cosy relationships. Would this piece have reached production if it had come unsolicited from an unknown source?
Possibly – just – as undemanding, end-of-season 'fun' – and the musical's main run was almost end of the 2001/2 road for Dundee. It's enjoyable enough as we shoot back to the young Pants, hopefuls of the late 70s scene, stringing their talents through any style that's blowing in the wind, be it Glam Rock, Punk or tartan patriotism (last refuge of the tuneless).
Sure, the tensions and ambitions, musical and sexual, are the stuff of several hundred previous mock rock bio-dramas – though nowhere near as many as the, all-together-now, Sellout theme, whereby lead guitarist Rikki Rintoul segues into a contract of his own with the 45rpm money men.
But the mixed-in, modern-day scenes of Pants reunited are dire, lacking any drive. Though there's one chilling moment when Andrew Clark's lithe, panther-like young Rikki faces, unaware, the sozzled middle-age wreck Alexander West – a Rikki slim as ever, but crumpled in the face and hunched at the shoulders – shows he's destined to become.
For the rest, the characters seem to have aged at alarmingly different rates – but then, people do – and have taken unexpected dead ends, never leaving Pantsville, or Falkirk as the maps have it. The drummer's become a local journalist and undergone a slight name switch to match, the predatory groupie now manages a not quite-sex agency.
And there's a kind of kidnap plot intended to restart a dead career or two, though by the time it's been explained it's lost credibility – the kind of storyline Joe Orton bequeathed us in the black farce Loot, though without his freshness or style.
Dundee's company give some strong performances, including the enigmatic, masked Monsieur X, a body-double for young singer Sylvie whose kidnap and doping are part of the present day plot (Plot? – more a conspiracy against audience intelligence), plus Irene Macdougall and Rodney Matthew, who both deserve better material. As, frankly, do we.
The Pants (Then)
Rikki Rintoul: Andrew Clark
Marcia l'Argent: Emily Winter
Hoop Scudder: Rodney Matthew
The Radge: Keith Fleming
Isla Blige: Frances Thorburn
Monsieur X: ?
The Pants (Now):
Rikki Rintoul: Alexander West
Marcia l'Argent: Ann Louise Ross
Scoop Hudder: Robert Paterson
Isla Blige: Irene Macdougall
Sylvie McLoag: Susan Harrison
'Pop God' Garrellous Feech: Keith Fleming
Director: Forbes Masson
Designer: Tom Piper
Assistant designers: Phyllis Byrne, Alan Wild
Lighting: Richard Moffatt
Soundtrack Engineer: Nigel Dunn
Musical Director: George Drennan
2002-06-19 12:06:39