The venue of these lunchtime plays with accompanying Pie ( Quiche if you are a veggie) and Pint ( Irn Bru or Ginger Ale or some other soft drink if you are a non-alky) is in the basement of an old converted church on the corner of great Western Road and Byres Road.
The inside resembles the description in The Tin Drum when Gunter Grass describes a club in post War Hamburg in which the patrons go in and are served with a Plate;a Knife and an Onion.They find a suitable spot in which to sit , cut the Onions with the knife and start bawling their eyes out.The Glasgow lunchtime audience are a little more discerning than that , sure they take a plate no problem , can even be entrusted with a knife ( and fork to boot for that matter) without to many messy mishaps , but a pie and a pint has definitely got to take the place of a raw onion before they will part with the money.
Where the creators of this entertainment really hit the mark is , and where they follow away from the Hamburg model , the copying of an idea that really kicked of in Dublin of having a play rather than self-induced bawling and the Central piece of gratifying entertainment.
Director of the Glasgow Lunchtime Theatre Company David MacLennan , a veteran of superb Glasgow Theatre companies 7:84 and Wildcat , as well as the MayFest Festival which helped put Glasgow on the International cultural map explains the History behind the gloriously successful project in the video below:
A real point of success for this project which has now well over 200 successful production under its belt is that is is not an amateurs charter for a superficial form of blase entertainment , but rather a high calibre quality showcase for the very best experimental work of Scotland finest cutting edge creative writers;actors;producers to put to the public work which has profound deep-meaning ful value in a setting away from the self-censorship they would be obliged to give themselves to win the kind of funding from the ever-increasingly corporate bodies which are not partial to highly radical and hard-hitting politicised social dramas which the creators would ideally like to bring to the mainstream Theatre Market.
Todays production was a superbly adapted , incredibly acted , stunning piece of drama of Chekhovs Seagull.The production captured all the humour of Chekhov which is sadly the first casualty of any translation without allowing any of the profound points and themes to be lost.A very delicate and superbly carried of undertaking.
Because of the very high standards of commissionment and actors this project attracts , a large part of the audience is from within the theatre industry which helps fuel an ever self sustaining cycle which makes the project not only successful in the fields of substance and quality of themes , but also a very welcome inducement for all the community of actors and public to continue providing and attending work which is ever pushing out the boundaries.
You can get more details of this wonderful project in their website.
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