Theatre group defies tough year

Marat-Sade opens at the Tramway in Glasgow before touring Scotland

By Pauline McLean
BBC Scotland, arts correspondent

A lot can happen in a year. At the start of this one, Edinburgh's Theatre Workshop was in the doldrums, their plans thrown into disarray by the decision by the Scottish Arts Council to withdraw their funding.

By June, the company - which specialises in working with professional disabled actors - was bullish. Not only was their proposed theatre show going on, but they were expanding into film.

Trouble Sleeping - which was set in Edinburgh's refugee community using a mixture of amateur and professional performers - was screened at various film festivals including the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Since then, its female lead, Alia Alzuogbi, has been nominated for a Bafta Scotland award.

And by July, with rehearsals for their latest production - The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade - under way, the company also learned its funding appeal to the arts council had been successful.

The production touches on sexual perversity and politics

"After a year of making a film and then battling the arts council just to get a fair hearing - it's great to get back into production," says Theatre Workshop's artistic director Robert Rae.

"I love the rehearsal process. I'm very excited as to how Marat-Sade is developing - the decision to set the play in 1968 feels good and helpful in making the play live again for today's audience and with capitalism self-destructing before our eyes - what better time to talk about revolution and idealism.

"It's a fantastic play - reminding me every day why I'm passionate about live theatre. I've got a fantastic cast - the most talented and the most diverse I've had the pleasure of working with - the music rocks and every day we get to contemplate revolution and 'deviant' sexual practices - what fun!"

The original play is set in post-revolutionary France - but as Rae says the new production is time-lined to 1968, the year before the assassinations of two more public figures - Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.

The new play is set in 1968

Like their version of the Threepenny Opera in 2004, it's a large-scale production and reunites many of the cast and crew. Among them Nabil Shaban who plays the Marquis de Sade alongside Andrew McLay as Jean Paul Marat.

And a large-scale production requires a large-scale set, something which brought about its own problems. The set they'll use this week in Glasgow's Tramway and on tour in Lochgelly and Edinburgh is half the size of a football pitch - and too big for their normal rehearsal rooms, so rehearsals have been taking place at Ocean Terminal.

But the arrival of the 35,000 tonne cruise ship Balmoral last month caused a bit of a squeeze and meant rehearsals had to be suspended while the company packed the whole set into storage for the day.

For the company, it was a minor setback in a challenging year, making the opening of their latest show even sweeter.

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade opens at Tramway on Thursday and then tours Scotland.