Spend a Penny
- Source: The List (Issue 559)
- Date: 18 September 2006 (updated 13 July 2007)
- Written by: Steve Cramer
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Arches, Glasgow, Tue 26 Sep-Sat 7 Oct
SITE SPECIFIC
WH Auden called it the “porcelain cabin of contemplation”. For him, the one place where you could ponder the events of your life without fear of interruption was the cludgey. Let’s face it, if you’re having a Barry White, not only would you not wish to interact with other people, but the feeling would generally be mutual. So the idea of interrupting someone in mid poo is bound to be a novelty seldom tried before. Which is perhaps why Andy Arnold’s mob at the Arches are so keen to do it.
In what can only be called a shite specific piece, eight different writers have been asked to contribute to a series of short monologues to be performed one-to-one in the club toilet cubicles of the Arches. Writers as distinguished as Liz Lochhead, James Kellman and David Harrower are among the big names contributing while ever-witty Daniel Jackson is one of four young writers involved. And, in case you’re getting squeamish, it’s not just about distressing someone in the middle of straining the potatoes. Public cubicles, it should be pointed out, are also the focal points for erotic, violent and sometimes quite tensely emotional encounters, and this piece runs the gamut. What it all has in common is an acknowledgement of the body, something we’re loathe to do in western culture, as perhaps the series of gags made above might indicate. Pee there or be square.
More: Theatre, Previews (Theatre), Andy Arnold, Daniel Jackson, David Harrower, James Kellman, Liz Lochhead, Site-specific, toilet cubicles
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