Theatre
The Empty Charcoal Box
Oran Mor, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
three stars
THE past is not only a foreign country, it is one that you should avoid obsessively revisiting, especially if the souvenirs you’re still holding onto are guilty memories and unreconciled regrets. For Billy, however, it seems as if the past is determined to repatriate him, make him relive the mistakes he made some 45 years earlier when he was a fifteen year old lad out to humiliate a school-mate he blamed for getting him expelled.
That school-mate, Eddie (James Mackenzie), is the preternaturally cool teenager whose best pals probably envy him as much as they like him. No doubt they wish they had the confident charm to way-lay Sonja Kristina – the seriously gorgeous lead singer with 70’s progressive rock band, Curved Air – but they’re willing to live vicariously as Eddie feeds them details of his exclusive interview, and his plans to send it to the NME. So why does the friendship between Eddie, Billy and the slightly geeky Deansy (Gavin Wright) come so drastically unstuck? Because Billy (Ryan Fletcher) jumps to a wrong conclusion, and to elaborate on that would turn writer/director Stuart Hepburn’s stream of consequences into a trickle of improbabilities.
Even so, there’s fun to be had from Hepburn’s droll nod in the direction of late 80’s agit-prop theatre, with Billy’s right-on agendas the very stuff of yesterday’s tub-thumping productions. Pop culture, too, shades in a useful timeline, with the cast harmonising superbly on a live rendition of the Proclaimers’ Letter From America. As we’re fast-forwarded through Billy’s life, he still remains something of a two-dimensional cipher, uneasy in himself because of his past actions. The final twist doesn’t bring him much comfort, or us a real sense of dramatic closure in what is the first production of the Autumn Play, Pie and Pint season
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here