London Beckons for Black Watch, But Where Oh Where???
Date: 15 August 2006
Black Watch is not only the hit of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe so far, but also the first big hit for the fledgling National Theatre of Scotland, which, after years of talk and preparation, launched this past February (See News, 2 Nov 2005). The new play by Gagarin Way’s Gregory Burke, billed as an unauthorised biography of the Scottish regiment of the title, is based on interviews with former Black Watch soldiers who served in Iraq and offers some very personal accounts of that conflict. In Edinburgh, John Tiffany’s production is played out in the terribly fitting, found space of the University of Edinburgh’s drill hall, where the actors are often climbing scaffolding, performing on various levels and running rings in some stunningly choreographed battleground sequences. The challenge in bringing the show down to London – and there’s plenty of interest in doing just that – is finding a suitable venue to accommodate its scale. In Michael Coveney’s Edinburgh Diary, he reports that Michael Kustow is hoping to mount Black Watch near King’s Cross. In 2001, the Almeida had a hugely successful season at a disused bus shelter in the same area. Having seen the production, we at Whatsonstage.com think the Roundhouse would also be suitable, but the ideal would be the turbine hall at Tate Modern. Why not take a break from installation art for awhile and install some invigorating live theatre instead?
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