Past Events
THE DUCKIE BY DC JACKSON (2009)
Two years is a long time in a
teenager's life...
Michelle has returned home from university to spend some time with her great-gran while she can... Minnie Malloy is dying. In spite of the circumstances she's glad to be back - university isn't all it's cracked to be. Same people, same pubs, same Clare’s Accessories - Michelle isn't having the experience she was promised.
Rab is back from Cambridge and now Stewarton feels alien to him. Which is funny because Rab feels like he's at university on the moon with Martians. Norma has left school and is sweeping up hair in Krazy Kutz while she works out what to do.
It isn't as easy as it seems - working out what to do, not sweeping up hair!
The Ducky is about love and death, families, homecoming
and growing-up and realising that nothing is forever.
...and it is very funny!
The sequel to 2008's award winning production of DC
Jackson's
The Wall
Written by DC Jackson and directed by Jemima Levick. Designed by Becky Minto and lighting design by Jeanine Davies
side-splitting humour and excellent dialogue ... The Ducky while set locally, has universal appeal ... The Metro****
The Ducky is every bit as funny as its predecessor ... The Herald ****
There's much to enjoy in The Ducky, the second instalment - following last year's success with The Wall - of D.C. Jackson's thoughtful tale about growing up in small-town Ayrshire... The Scotsman ****
...packing tender home-truths behind a shield of first-rate one-liners ... Roll on part three ... The Guardian ****
THE WALL BY DC JACKSON (2008)
In association with the Tron Theatre
The school holidays are like a microwave. So much happens and it all happens so fast.
Norma Gordon has got a problem. She's going to be in big trouble if her Dad finds out. Norma needs to find Rab McGuire fast. Her big brother Barry's no use. He's in love for the first time. Michelle Montgomery loves Barry back but her mum and Aunt Alice just won't let them be together.
This summer everything's changing in Stewarton.
The Wall roars out on a surge of fierce comic and dramatic energy that never lets up, through two hours of solid-gold banter and perfectly structured narrative development. Joyce McMillan, Scotsman ****
It is funny and true and hugely enjoyable...The theatre was already full of the near mythical demographic, teenagers and young adults Robert Dawson Scott, The Times ****
LOSING LOUIS BY SIMON MENDES da COSTA (2006)
Secrets refuse to remain buried, as one family is brought together to confront their past in the bedroom where all the confusion began 50 years before. As the past impacts on the present, Louis' impending funeral sets the scene for this sparkling, yet touching, comic tour de force.
The rivalry between Louis' two boys, now grown into middle-age, soon becomes apparent when they meet up again. One drives a Ferrari, one drives a Rover. Both are married, both have kids, but very different lives.
Borderline's pacy, surefooted production steers a confident course between bedroom farce and
moments of self-discovery and reflective pathos as the Ellis family assemble to bury their
lustful old dad, Louis.
John Di Falco, The Stage
SPENDING FRANK BY ALISTAIR HEWITT (2006)
Anna's body clock is on fast-forward and she is desperate for true love and a baby.
She's managed to find the former but when the patter of tiny feet doesn't materialise due to circumstances beyond her control she exacts revenge on her husband.
In addition to "dealing" with husband Frank, Anna has to cope with yuppie estate agent Victoria, sex- mad Margaret, Bobby the hilarious bereavement counsellor and a host of other characters that cross her path.
As Anna tries to get what she wants she swings from frenetic comedienne to emotional wreck.
...a girls’ night out show just the ticket for relaxing after a
hard day's work.
Joy Watters, Dundee Courier
...a laugh-out-loud comedy...Marisa de Andrade, Edinburgh Guide
ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST BY DARIO FO (2005)
Written by Nobel Prize winning playwright Dario Fo this great farce is set against the true story of an anarchist who mysteriously threw himself to his death from a police HQ window whilst being interrogated.
The 'Maniac', who is himself being interrogated by the police on another matter, is a man on the edge who through a series of various guises probes and exposes his interrogator's highly questionable techniques.
The 'Maniac' runs rings round the twisted logic of the police officers in this the new Scottish adaptation of one of the classic twentieth-century farces.
...a rip-roaring night out! Robert Dawson Scott, The Times
Expertly performed by Alan McHugh, this madman is a joyful subversive,
using quick-witted mirth instead of righteous anger to unseat the powerful.
Mark Fisher, Hi-Arts
PASSING PLACES BY STEPHEN GREENHORN (2005)
When Motherwell boys Brian and Alex steal a prized surfboard they are forced to make a quick departure north in a clapped out Lada Riva with the psychotic gangster Binks in hot pursuit.
As they wind their way up the single-track roads from Motherwell to Thurso they encounter a diverse range of characters in this hilarious, extremely well written and enlightening road movie for the stage.
Borderline Theatre likes a good laugh, and Passing Places is
a pretty good follow-up to Liz Lochhead’s romantic comedy Good Things.
Sunday Herald
...a nigh on irresistible piece of comic theatre.
Mark Brown, Sunday Herald
GOOD THINGS BY LIZ LOCHHEAD (2004)
Co-production with the Byre Theatre and Perth Theatre
Ever felt like a walking cliché? Susan, suddenly single and with the dreaded big Five O glaring her in the face, has an Old Dad in his second childhood, a daughter in the throes of aggravated adolescence and an ex who, unfortunately, still has the power to wound...
Should she try again? And HOW? Or give up on love all together and get a cat?
Set exclusively in the Charity Shop where she's a volunteer, GOOD THINGS, with its cast of only four, introduces us to the host of characters, male and female, who have their part to play as romantic farce becomes romantic comedy.
Poignant, hilarious, and with a lot to say about love the second time around, GOOD THINGS will deliciously remind you what a difference a year -- sometimes -- makes.
...popular theatre that tackles a real contemporary issue with
terrific theatrical energy and skill...
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman ****
...the artful way Liz Lochhead takes us there in her delightful new
play is as funny, as touching, and yet as emotionally true as anything this supremely humane writer
has yet produced.
Robert Dawson Scott, The Times *****
...a pan-generational smash hit in the waiting.
Neil Cooper, The Herald *****
Damn Liz Lochhead! Just when we thought we could safely consign romantic comedy to the box
of cultural keepsakes, she comes along with another of her poignant, unapologetically sentimental
and utterly undeniable comic plays.
Mark Brown, Sunday Herald ****
Finn den Hertog and Sally Reid
Robin Cameron and Crawford Logan
Julie Austin, Angela Darcy and Barrie Hunter
Anita Vetesse, Andrew Murray, Sean Hay and Jim Byars
Kevin Lennon, Jim Webster-Stewart and Clare Lamont
Annette Staines, Molly Innes, Kenneth Bryans and Vincent Friell