With the multi-disciplinary workload of extending the run of A Play, A Pie And A Pint into the time-frame of the West End Festival, welcoming on board a new sponsor and being the first of a handful of classic dramas in the confines of the lunchtime slot, Tam Dean Burn's adaptation of Congreve's Restoration comedy cheerfully embraces two more tasks.
The first is a critique of its present-day performance context in a sharp prologue from the pen of TDB himself that owes as much to Rabbie Burns as Willy Congreve, cites many of the real-life dramatis personae at Oran Mor, and characterises the audience as "academics and the abstemious", which is probably funnier than it is true.
The second comes with designer Kenny Miller, in the form of set and costumes we thought had been lost to Glasgow. This is a pocket Citizens' show from that venue's golden age, played transverse on an opulent catwalk, with furniture, foliage and flickering candles that will transport those of sufficient vintage to the Gorbals. Mark Prendergast's soundtrack of disco classics suits the look to the beat.
With Johnny Austin, as Mirabell, in drainpipe jeans and aviator shades, and Carmen Pieraccini (Millament) sweeping on to the catwalk in billowing black satin, fearsome heels and hornrims, the production's sense of style is superb and Pieraccini, in particular, matches the look with a brilliant - and hilarious - performance.
Burn also has a history of Citz involvement, and his clowning as Sir Wilfull Witwoud - speaking in a West Highland accent but singing like Sidney Devine - is a diverting sideshow to the repartee of the sparring couple. It's a Classic Cut, but one the way the Citz might have done it.
Sponsored by Corona.
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 hereComments are closed on this article