Sunday 28 May 2017

The Lying Dramaturgy: Andy Arnold @ The Tron

Tron Theatre Company presents
THE LYING KIND
by ANTHONY NEILSON
6-22 JULY 2017

Tron Theatre Company's summer productions have become synonymous with farcical pitch-black humour and Anthony Neilson's The Lying Kind is certainly no different - with multiple misunderstandings, a stray Chihuahua and an apparently transvestite vicar contributing to the escalating mayhem.

Constables Blunt and Gobbel have one last duty to fulfill before they clock off on Christmas Eve: to tell the old couple at number 58 some terrible, terrible news.  But what if the shock is too much for the frail pair to bear?  

Maybe they'd be better off not knowing. And maybe the hapless constables would be better off if they hadn't got themselves stuck in the middle of a lynching organized by a group of anti-paedophile vigilantes.


What was the inspiration for this performance? 
It’s a very funny and brilliantly crafted play which needs to be seen in Scotland.  I am also keen to stage an Anthony Neilson play at the Tron after a long absence.
Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?   
It depends on the performance – if it is an issue based or theatrically provocative piece then yes, certainly.  This piece is more in the realm of entertainment – a good night out – albeit in an irreverent and hopefully inventive format.

How did you become interested in making performance?  
No one factor –  The first person who inspired me about the possibilities of performance was Tony Gray, one half of a very absurdist troupe called The Alberts.  I shared a house with Tony – well, lived in a barn next to his house in my first year out of college.  
I  saw a performance of theirs, The Electric Element, at Theatre Royal, Stratford East and was mesmerised – by the totally anarchic production and by the theatre itself (still then under Joan Littlewood’s charge).  

I also recall sitting in a rehearsal before I became a director and instinctively feeling how exciting that would be earning a living doing….working in the rehearsal room.  I immediately felt that this would be my calling.  I’ve never lost that feeling of excitement in being involved in the rehearsal room process.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?   
With this show it will involve very tight staging and stage craft – with seven actors in a tight space and a number of set pieces.  Much of the work has been done by having a script that works and a cast who can deliver the lines to great effect.

Does the show fit with your usual productions? 
It fits in with our summer production schedule which has for several years focused on accessible but dark and edgy comedies – from the first one Cooking with Elvis to last year’s The Lonesome West.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?  
Great joy, laughter, surprise, shock
What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?  Nothing more than ensuring that we provide a brilliant production which audiences of all persuasions, taste, age and postcode will thoroughly enjoy.


Martin McCormick and Michael Dylan who worked with Tron Theatre Company on the 2016 Russian tour of The Loneseome West, play the hapless constables, bungling their way through every encounter with hilarious consequences; with Peter Kelly and Anne Lacey playing the elderly couple whose Christmas is about to be ruined.  

Gayle Telfer Stevens (The Dolls, River City) plays Gronya, the vigilante neighbour and Claire Gordon her chihuahua-less daughter.  

Andy Arnold will direct an updated version of Neilson's 2002 play, with design by Neil Haynes, lighting design by Stuart Jenkins and sound design by Jamie Wardrop.

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