Sixteen, by Rob Drummond, From a Different View

Well, I finally made it to the audience, or rather an extra seat put aside for me since 'Sixteen', due to it's small audience capacity - and rave reviews I'm sure - has been sold out both tonight and last night and apparently looking that way for the rest of the week - get your skates on people as there may be a slim chance you can snag a ticket!

So back to the play - I reiterate what I suggested from last night, only this time from the other side of a crack in a door. I saw that the 3 main characters where sitting on 3 chairs, not a sofa as I had thought; I think it would have been more uncomfortable if there had been a sofa, though it would have blocked the view somewhat of the activities going on behind it.

The play was excellent - slick, well engineered, and well put together. I think I just repeated myself.

Anyway, there were beautiful little phrases that were repeated in different situations that gave them a whole new and more poignant meaning - ' Just 2 drops, three's too much'.

The power struggles and suggestiveness were illustrated through the clothes, mannerisms, posture and intonations of the words; the actors themselves seemed to have experience on their side and you felt yourself getting roped in to their worlds. I've been told that every great story has at least one adrenalin moment, and there were quite a few in this tense, morbid and electrically charged little drama.

Ah how the pride of a man can destroy what he holds dearest. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Arches Theatre Festival 08

Sixteen, by Rob Drummond

(This was the page I drew through the crack in the door - felt like such a voyeur! The top picture is half drawn at the time, half from memory and the initial sketches.)

So here I am, and here's the first two images of the day. Been sorting out technical and management difficulties - mainly my own!

Managed to clomp in at the end of one performance while 3 young lads were trying to deliver a poignant moment with a stumped head (heh heh) and they were talking about having a nice cup of tea. The Director Daljinder Singh came up to me at the end of the rehearsal and asked 'if she could help me?' in a manner that was obviously pissed off with my late entrance, spoiling the magic. - 'it put's the actors off'. I apologised and innocently replied that 'I had been told there was a 3 pm showing which I was supposed to be drawing at'.

I then realised I was late for the real 3pm showing and once I'd located it in the mass of corriders in the Arches, there was no chance in hell I was going to squeeze my way subtly into that!

Rob Drummond's play 'Sixteen' is played out in a tiny claustrophobic stage/theatre with 3 out of the four main characters all sitting together(what appeared to be one couch, but that was out of my view!), no-one really listening to each other, or explaining themselves properly. It's a stomach churning toe curling cringeworthy experience of a father's bid to stop his 'about to be legal' daughter openly committing the act under his own roof, with this charming good looking but 'foreign and 30 something' chap once midnight has chimed.

From the father's point of view, his bid to get rid of the unwitting 'young' man, has about as much speed, efficiency and disgust you might have at trying to squeeze a skelf out of your own skin.

I'm looking forward to seeing it properly before Saturday hopefully - it looks really good, and I don't think my viewing it through the crack in the door will ruin seeing it again from the specifically designated audience seating!

And just for a little throwback -

I've learned to use the old digicam somewhat, so here's some images from that fab chap Aidan Moffat's performance at the Arches on April 1st - no joke! He'll buy a picture from me one day so he will...!

The Support 'Band' - Remember Remember - Very very impressed with this chap and his saxophone playing sidekick. It was like the Desktop Symphony with the main man sampling bubblewrap, a lighter, scissors, hole punch, stapler, sellotape; seriously, I don't know if this guy has a desk job, but someone's missing their life's hoard of stationary! He meanwhile clapped, sang and played the electric geetar over it. Yep. I very much enjoyed the 'warm up' to Aidan. Much slicker too. But that's also what I love about Aidan's performances/music.

Anyway, time to go people. A festival to draw at/see etc. Come along and check it out!