May 2009 Archives

Alex Salmond "Hail Hails" the Bhoys at NLP
    Friday - 29 - May - 2009 - 11:02 PM - Posted by Scott Kyle ()

 

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 Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP, First Minister of Scotland.

 

 


"The Scottish Government is totally committed to tackling sectarian bigotry regardless of how it manifests itself, and I wish the tour continuing success.  I would like to thank the artistic director, Scott Kyle, and all those involved in the production for their important contribution to overcoming sectarianism.  By working together we can create a One Scotland of many cultures in which the blight of sectarian bigotry is banished once and for all."

Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP, First Minister of Scotland.

Scottish Government

Jack McConnell says "We are the People"
    Friday - 29 - May - 2009 - 09:21 AM - Posted by Scott Kyle ()

 

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Jack McConnell MSP 


 



"I would like to congratulate NLP Theatre Company on taking the initiative to challenge sectarianism by performing this great play. I am sure that the performances will make a real impact on every audience and will help challenge the sectarian problems still facing Scotland today. Given recent incidents, it is important to continue the battle to isolate those with out of date and dangerous attitudes. NLP Theatre will help build this movement through this production."

 
Best wishes
 
Jack McConnell

 

Old Firm play is surefire winner with audiences
    Thursday - 28 - May - 2009 - 06:55 PM - Posted by Scott Kyle ()

Old Firm play is surefire winner with audiences

Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser May 20 2009 by Ian Bunting, 

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WHEN I clapped eyes on the toilet seat on stage I knew the audience was in for a funny ride during the 'I'm No a Billy He's a Tim' show and we weren't disappointed.

A packed Airdrie Arts Centre theatre were treated to, Coatbridge's own, Des Dillon's tale about Celtic fan Tim (played by Colin Little) and Rangers fan Billy (Scott Kyle) spending the afternoon of an Old Firm game in a jail cell together.

The two leads are joined by James Miller, playing prison guard Harry, in a superb three man cast. All of the proceedings also played out on a small stage with minimum props so all three men deserve immense credit for holding attention throughout.

The authenticity of the two fans was spot on, with both representing each side of the footballing and religious side of the Old Firm extremely well, from their strips to their singing.

Kyle goes for a louder, in your face style as Billy and he would have no problem being heard in a crowd. He is very funny, though, and shows some impressive acting chops during some late emotional moments.

Little plays off him very well as Tim. He huffs and mutters his way through the early stages, before Billy's arrival inspires his frustration.

The two men share some superb scenes, including a funny pull-apart 'brawl' and the rather surreal sight of each one singing the other club's sectarian songs.

It must be said that the dialogue, whilst very realistic, is not for the faint-hearted. Every swear word imaginable is in there and some of the religious and footballing references may go over the heads of some.

Miller deserves great props for his performance. Prison guard Harry is the heart of the show and his emotional breakdowns really make you feel for him. His family tragedy also helps to show Billy and Tim, and the audience, that there's more important things in life than football.

The show takes in sectarianism, racism, religion, family splits and Donald Finlay impressions and all of this helps to educate as well as entertain. The two digs at Airdrie United's expense were, however, a little below the belt.

The ending is slightly predictable and both men exchanging strips felt a little unrealistic. This is a minor quibble, though, and Little and Kyle's collective rendition of the song 'Caledonia' got the foot tapping.

'I'm No a Billy He's a Tim' was a great night's entertainment and the high level of audience participation showed how into things the crowd were.

You don't have to be a football fan to enjoy it and everyone involved deserves great praise. Its funny, touching, debate-raising stuff with three actors on top form and, with a bit of luck, may help to defuse the tension on future Old Firm match days... or maybe not.

'I'm No a Billy He's a Tim' is showing at Hamilton's Town House Theatre on Saturday, June 13. Check it out if you can.

The Times Review Robert Dawson Scott
    Thursday - 28 - May - 2009 - 06:38 PM - Posted by Scott Kyle ()
The Times May 26, 2009
 
"Singin` I`m No a Billy, He`s a Tim" at Paisley Town Hall
 
By Robert Dawson Scott
 

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Two Scottish football bigots discover they have far more in common than they have apart in this no-frills production

As it happens the Scottish Premier League title went Rangers' way this time, but in a sense it doesn't matter; just ask the families of the young men who regularly get killed in fights for little more than wearing the wrong colours. Sectarianism in the West of Scotland, and its expression via the country's two biggest football teams, is no laughing matter.

And yet what else can you do but laugh in the face of the absurd historical bigotry that each side parrots, all of it long since detached from whatever historical legitimacy it may once have had?

Des Dillon's simple play, in which a Celtic supporter and a Rangers supporter find themselves in a police cell during the course of an Old Firm derby, certainly gets a good few laughs out of the situation. That the former really is called Tim and the latter Billy is just the beginning. As well as Dillon's script, new gags are being inserted daily to keep up with events. But just to point up the pettiness of their squabbles, Dillon contrasts these two with the preoccupations of their jailer, who is waiting to hear the outcome of the surgery that his grandson is about to undergo.

Of course the two men, both fathers of young families, struggling to make their way in working-class Glasgow where jobs are scarce and pay is poor, have far more in common than they have apart. And of course in the end, after an initial bout of fighting and some confessions, not least that their own family trees are not quite as pure-bred as their rhetoric would suggest, they discover that truth.

Scott Kyle and Colin Little strut their stuff with a gallus charm in Stephen Cafferty's no-frills production. But in a way, the most interesting thing about this production, staged without any public money by NLP Theatre, is the audience. According to the company, 75 per cent of the audience during the present tour have never been to straight theatre before. Looking round a packed hall and listening to their reaction, responding to every well-trodden refrain as if it was newly minted, I could believe it. They were here to support their respective team.

But if that's what gets them into a theatre and if, at the end of it, the differences between the two sides seem a little less important, that's a respectable achievement for all concerned.

Touring Scotland until June 13, and Northern Ireland in September.

www.nlptheatre.co.uk

Billy & Tim Review By Joyce McMillan
    Sunday - 17 - May - 2009 - 03:02 PM - Posted by Scott Kyle ()

 

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SINGIN' I'M NO A BILLY, HE'S A TIM ****
ROYAL LYCEUM, EDINBURGH
By Joyce McMillan
 
 
 
 
 
THERE'S something strange going on here. Twice in a week, I find myself watching shows produced by shoestring touring companies well outside the mainstream of Scottish arts funding. And twice I am confronted by theatre that seems far more vividly connected to the real life of Scotland than most of the work I review; the NTS should be observing, and taking note. The first show was Mike Gibb's flawed but passionate Lest We Forget, about the Piper Alpha disaster of 1988 and the second is Des Dillon's populist but powerful examination of sectarianism, playing in Edinburgh this weekend.

The scene is a Glasgow police cell, where Celtic supporter Tim and Rangers supporter Billy find themselves literally thrown together - under the benign care of troubled police officer Harry - after a series of pre-match arrests. The arc of the story is simple, and the play wears its anti-sectarian heart unashamedly on its sleeve. It sometimes flirts with unthinking nationalism as an antidote to bigotry, as well as with a more robust politics of humanity and class; and it piles on the schmaltz, in the story of Harry's sick grandson.

But the sheer vitality of the theatrical writing - the seamless combination of verbal wit and raw kinetic energy, and the pure dynamic strength of the play's structure - makes Stephen Cafferty's production, with two outstanding performances from Colin Little and Scott Kyle, feel like one of the shortest and most gripping two-hour shows in current Scottish theatre. And this show not only raises issues our society urgently needs to confront, but also attracts an audience that would never otherwise darken a theatre door; unless we count those big arenas at Parkhead and Ibrox, where such an important part of the national drama is still played out, week after week.
 
 
Hi-Arts review by Mark Fisher
    Saturday - 16 - May - 2009 - 03:26 PM - Posted by Scott Kyle ()
 

MARK FISHER admires Des Dillon's handling of the sectarian divide in this breezy play

 

Mark_Fisher.jpgWHAT COULD be worse for a Celtic fan than being locked up in a police cell on the day of an Old Firm match? For Tim, in Des Dillon's raucous comedy, there is one thing worse. Not only is he behind bars with the big game approaching and no chance of his wife finding the money to pay his fine, but also he has been banged up in the same cell as Billy, a fervent Rangers supporter.

This being Glasgow, the men's collision is not just a matter of friendly rivalry, but a very serious clash of Catholic and Protestant cultures with all the bigotry that that entails. What they must figure out is whether their shared interest - the desire to watch the game on the warder's TV through a narrow window in the cell door - outweighs their mutual antipathy. 

No prizes for guessing they sort things out and come to realise their prejudices are exactly that - ill-informed assumptions that take no account of human complexity. It's hard to imagine a play on the subject of sectarianism making any other point, but there are two reasons Dillon succeeds without seeming too obvious. 

The first is he doesn't trivialise or caricature either man's beliefs. The production - by NLP Theatre - is attracting big audiences more familiar with the terraces than the stalls and they are well served by the show's recognition of the ribald chants, jokes and taunts of the football world. Even as Dillon condemns the politics of hate, he seems to celebrate the brute masculine energy of the fans. Friendly rivalry is one thing, he seems to say, songs about being up to the knees in the enemy's blood quite another. 

Coupled with this sympathy and understanding of a conflict that is long-standing and heartfelt, however misguided, Dillon has a sharp awareness of what makes an audience laugh. His gags are not sophisticated - often nothing more than an expletive - but they are consistent and plentiful and, delivered by Scott Kyle as Billy (all antsy muscularity) and Colin Little as Tim (more laid back but holding his own) they are played for all they are worth. 

The result is a breezy piece of popular theatre that makes its point without hectoring. 

© Mark Fisher, 2009


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