YELLOW MOON. To 22 September.

Glasgow/Tour

YELLOW MOON
by David Greig

TAG Theatre Company at Citizens Theatre Glasgow to 15 September then tour to 22 September 2007.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Tue-Thu 1.30pm 15 Sept 2.30pm.
Runs 1hr 15min no interval.

TICKETS: 0141 429 0022.
www.citz.co.uk (Glasgow)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 27 August at Traverse 2 Edinburgh.

Poetic about the tough life.
Alongside public performances TAG’s production of David Greig’s Yellow Moon (for 15+) plays, until October, in schools. It seems mainly designed for theses performances, in both writing and staging. This isn’t to say it doesn’t work well as a public show; it does, thanks to its humour, sense of truth and particularly its richness of texture.

But the staging suggests an audience sat around the acting area in a school hall, the bare set something often on the move, and the actors’ introduction of themselves as a theatre company that they play in places where it can’t be assumed audiences know who TAG are.

Then there’s the kissing. At Edinburgh’s Traverse this passes without comment. Not so in a school, and Greig artfully contrives to undercut the smoochy moment twice. First time his troubled teenage duo nearly match lips, the action’s interrupted. Second time, just as it happens, the next scene’s announced around the time the oohs, aaghs and yucks would be beginning.

Central characters Lee and Leila are very different but both teenagers present noticeable problems; he’s building his way up the petty crime chain, she’s a bright middle-class Muslim who’s given up talking. Each has their own locked-in secret, and it’s Lee’s that motors the plot via a killing and the search for his real father.

Like Stephen Greenhorn’s Passing Places (currently at Pitlochry) this takes a youthful pair from the urban crime-scene to rural Scotland, though Greig’s remote mansion doesn’t call on the variety of Greenhorn’s various locations.

Guy Hollands’s strongly acted production picks up on the brisk manner within which moments of reflection are contained. By the time plot coincidences might stretch youthful credibility, pace and character interest hold attention and create a will to believe.

The 20 scenes, all announced by number, vary between extremely short and more extended. And in this play about inward discontent among characters whose age isn’t given to full articulation, Greig’s passages of thoughts played as dialogue allow Leila especially to express her feelings before snapping back to her silent reality. The play shows life is tough, but with humour and hope.

Cast and full credits not available.

2007-09-04 00:45:33