Focus on: The Tron
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‘Just as you get boutique hotels, so you get boutique pantomimes. The Tron is taking on the glamorous main stage shows at their own game and coming out grinning’
(The Guardian, 10 December 2003)
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The Tron Theatre in Glasgow has been going wholeheartedly into Pantomime territory during Christmas. Aladdie was the Tron’s centrepiece for Christmas 2004, based on the classic children’s story, Aladdin.
The Tron is just yards from Glasgow Cross and easily identified by its 16th Century steeple. It has been a familiar landmark in Glasgow's Merchant City for centuries and a popular cultural venue for over 20 years. A thriving presenting theatre, it is also home to highly regarded Tron Theatre Company. The company has achieved successes in the last couple of years, including Iain Heggie's Love Freaks; Possible Worlds by John Mighton, the centrepiece of the Canadian Six Stages Festival; and Chris Hannan's Shining Souls, a co-production with v.amp productions which won Best Production in the first Critics Awards for Theatre In Scotland in 2003.
In 2003, the company staged the world premiere of David Grieg’s San Diego for the Edinburgh International Festival to huge acclaim and for the 2004 festival collaborated with the Theatre Royal, Plymouth on Anthony Neilson’s The Wonderful World of Dissocia.
Over Christmas, the Tron staged a brand new pantomime. Fuelled by past successes, the Tron panto is fast becoming a Glasgow institution.
| 2004's panto is the third in a row written by Forbes Masson. Together, they have brought ‘souped-up’ versions of classic pantos to a keen audience. The traditional tales are rejuvenated with fresh plot twists – ‘refreshing them for the Pop Idol generation’. The outcome is a very funny script and a flamboyant show for today’s audience. |
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Forbes Masson’s version of Jack and the Beanstalk was the Tron’s pantomime for 2002, and his take on Cinderella was the 2003 panto. Both shows were enormous successes. The sell-out performances were wonderfully received by audiences. The press has also lavished praise on the Tron panto – ‘you could do no better than head for the Tron in Glasgow, where Forbes Masson has given a sharp and hysterical 21st-century reworking to his ten-year-old hip-hop version of Cinderella’
(The Scotsman, 10 December 2003)
To get a taste of the twists in 2004's panto:
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Aladdie is the tale of ‘a poor wee laddie, so poor he hasnae got a name, he’s just Aladdie. His only friend is Peely Wally, his pigeon pal, who cannae fly. Aaaw! Aladdie works in Pantoland Market helping his mother, Widow Manky, manageress of the local laundrette Manky Washers. But times are hard. Aladdie’s evil Uncle Rab Anazer wants to close Pantoland Market down for redevelopment. Boo! How can they stop him?
One day Aladdie finds a dusty, out of date mobile phone, with a magic sim card inside. When it gets switched on, out pops a hi tech 3G Genie who grants him wishes: fame, riches and love! Hurray!’ |
Traditional elements of panto are honoured, as ‘it’s all pantotastic fun with laughter, songs and scary stuff and handfuls of sweeties thrown at the end!’
As with previous years, the Tron did more than just performances during the Christmas 2004 season. As part of its Education and Outreach programme, the Tron hosted two ‘Pantotastic Workshops’. Extending the premise that involvement is key in Pantomime, the workshops invited anyone from the ages of five to ten to participate in ‘finding out ‘the recipe for the perfect panto’.
| For dates and times of other performances and workshops, visit the Tron's website. |
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