5.6.13

Theatre preview: Dìreach Dathan Dealrach / Bright Colours Only / Dathanna Geala Amháin
@ Tramway, Glasgow

Published by Metro

7-8 June 2013, 7.15pm, £6-£8, Tel: 0845 330 3501 www.tramway.org


Contrary to popular belief, not all of Scotland’s Gaelic speakers reside in the Highlands and the Western Isles. There's a community in Glasgow that is thriving beyond the bilingual name-boards at its subway and railway stations.

In February, it was announced that the city’s second Gaelic school was to open in the Pollokshields area as part of the Scottish Government’s five-year plan to revitalise the language. Now, just down the road at Tramway, one of the country’s most popular plays of the past decade is marking its tenth birthday with a unique translation into Scottish and Irish Gaelic.

Bright Colours Only is an interactive one-woman show that takes a darkly comic look at death. Set in a Belfast living room, it examines the wake ritual, as mourners are offered tea, sandwiches and whisky before attending a funeral procession.

Having began life at Tramway in 2003, this hilarious and heartfelt piece went on to tour the world from Northern Ireland to Brazil – memorably, in a hearse.

This anniversary production is performed in Gàidhlig and Gaeilge by Muireann Kelly – who last year won critical acclaim for her work in Tron Theatre’s production of Ulysses – and in English by writer, director and creator Pauline Goldsmith.

It's yet more evidence that Glasgow’s celebrated South Side venue simply doesn't do run-of-the-mill – only challenging, innovative, and ultimately unmissable.

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