April In Paris

Kenny Miller, in rehearsal somewhere

While I am not quite at the point of becoming an economic dramaturge, I am noticing that there are far more cross company productions knocking about at the moment: if it isn't The Lyceum teaming up with The Citizens for Taking Over The Asylum, it's Horsecross Arts getting cosy with The Tron for April In Paris.

What Asylum and April share is the emphasis on popular theatre: Asylum rejigged a TV series, April  was written by John Godber. The son of a miner, Godber's plays have been Fringe staples for years and Up'N'Under was made into a film in 1998.

April in  Paris is a bitter sweet romantic comedy - despite the romantic location, it is driven by Godber's distinctive northern humour. Since the married couple on their dream holiday are battling poor job prospects, financial hardship and emotional exhaustion, it's heavier on the social realism than most Hollywood rom-coms, and has a relevance to the abject misery provoked by the web of deceit being woven by the state to convince everyone that times are hard and austerity is necessary.

Godber notes this himself in the press release. "On the one hand a romantic comedy, on the other a play for our times," he says. "Redundancy, austerity and eating horse meat: what could be more current? Except it was written in Hull in 1992!”

They've enlisted Kenny Miller as director - a man who has shown his ability to match the play to the scene, as he is a fantastic and imaginative designer - and he knows his way around dark comedy. It's tempting to go for easy fare when times are hard - Godber has a bit of an edge.

 

Venue:  Perth Theatre

Dates:  Fri 15 – Sat 30 March, 7.30pm + Matinees Sat 16, 22 + 30, 2.30pm

Tickets:         Tue – Thu £17.50 (£12.50) / Fri – Sat £19.50 (£14.50)

 

Venue:  Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB

Dates:  Wed 3 – Sat 13 April 2013, 7.45pm

Tickets:        Tue – Thu £12 (£7) / Fri – Sat £15 (£12)