Image by Douglas RobertsonCivil unrest, rioting and a society in turmoil as an impoverished working class feels disconnected from the roots of authority. Power is in the hands of the powerful; job losses, austerity measures, pay cuts and fear of poverty bring angry protests to the streets.… the Britain of 1931, an uncanny reflection of events in 2011.
Singing Far into the Night, a stylish, profound and moving play, based on real lives and real events in Scotland and Russia in 1931, will be touring Scotland this autumn. Caught in a sweeping narrative, from the volatile streets of Glasgow, to Invergordon, Stalinist USSR and on to present-day Scotland, through riot, asylum, prison and gulag, this is a play about courage, identity, separation and loss, and shows what can happen when the high hand of authority is ultimately disobeyed. Read more …
The second act is less obscure and the actors in Alasdair McCrone’s production make of the material what they can, but it’s a story that remains more interesting in theory than in practice.
It’s inspiring, though, to see a new Scottish play with such a strong sense of political and historic perspective, and such a determination to do justice to forgotten aspects of history; and Alasdair McCrone’s four-strong cast – Harry Ward and Barrie Hunter as the brothers, Greg Powrie as various British establishment types, and Helen McAlpine as the woman both brothers love – bring terrific energy and understanding to a complex text, that still seems, in places, like a work in progress.
Sadly unfocused.
It's all hands off deck for mutiny
Hamish MacDonald discusses the genesis of Singing Far Into the Night
On Tour, from Friday September 9, 2011, until Friday October 28, 2011.
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