the citizens theatre

We want to put the theatre back into pre-theatre we also want to let you wine and dine after the show.

We offer a 15% discount to any one who has a valid ticket to a performance.

Our 2 course set menu costs only £10 for pre-theatre dining for patrons and we will have a taxi waiting for you.

For full show listings visit:
http://citz.co.uk/whatson

The Monster in Macau

The Monster in the Hall cast and crew are in Macau preparing to take part in the Festival de Artes de Macau. David Carlyle sent me an up-date from the road:

"...getting wifi access has been tough - the only place we've found with it is a swing park down the road from our hotel....and it's hard work sitting out in the baking sun - your iPhone actually starts to burn your hand. [Ed. oh it's a hard life!].

Beth, Gemma, Guy (Director) and David.

So Macau is hot. Like, really hot. You can imagine a bunch of pale blue Weegies wandering around in 30C heat with 90% humidity...I swear the locals are laughing at us. :-) Today in fact, Mr Hollands and I stopped to consult our map and one man stood next to us, looked us both dead in the eye and laughed and pointed....fair play to him, we must look ridiculous. The people of Macau are so friendly and helpful - we don't understand a word of each other but both willing to engage in some primitive mime and look and feel silly and we get through to each other in the end!

Diverse architecture in Macau

We're only on our third day here so not actually had a great deal of access into the theatre - did a full run through yesterday and it went fine! Tonight is our first show so should be interesting...hopefully the audience aren't too confused and follow the story...will keep you posted! :-)

Spot Gemma

All just getting used to this new world so the first couple of days have been a lot of exploring and a getting used to the climate and time change. There's so much to see. One half of Macau is very old and traditional (Portuguese and Chinese influenced architecture) and the other half is Casino heaven

- bright lights, skyscrapers, expensive shops, glamorous cars...It's amazing. There are times when we all stop and stare open mouthed at the scale of the buildings and parks. The four of us cast members went up the Macau tower for a sky high 360 degree view of Macau, Taipa Island and mainland China. Beth got a bit jelly legged on the glass floor...

Beth, Keith and Gemma coping with the dizzying heights.

I'll keep you updated as we move into the theatre and start doing some shows and discussions and workshops.

Hope all is well back home! I'm off into go into an air conditioned room... :-)

David"

We'll keep you posted on any more news from Macau!

CATS Award - 5 nominations for Citz

We are absolutely delighted to receive 5 nominations in the 2011-12 Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland: Best Design, Best Ensemble, Best Director, Best Music and Best Production.

BEST DESIGN | Colin Richmond/Chris Davey, Betrayal

BEST ENSEMBLE | King Lear

BEST MUSIC AND SOUND | Paddy Cunneen, King Lear

BEST PRODUCTION | King Lear

BEST DIRECTOR | Dominic Hill, Betrayal

We're very proud to have received so many accolades in this, Dominic Hill's first season as Artistic Director. The nominations, which were announced today will be presented in a ceremony at the Tron Theatre on Sunday 10 June 2012.

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to find out if we win or buy some tickets to come along and find out first! Keep your fingers crossed!

See the CATS website for a full list of nominees.

Betrayal Pics: Richard Campbell | King Lear Pics: Tim Morozzo

Reactions to King Lear

This is a work-in-progress which is being added to over time. This represents just a small sample of what's being said online!

50p tickets are back!

It's that time again. Set your alarm clock, find a keen friend and look out a warm jacket.

At 10am on Saturday (14 April)

100 King Lear tickets

go on sale for just 50p

There are 10 available in each of the first 10 performances of the run, so the earlier you get here, the more choice you'll have. It's very much first-come-first-served, cash only, up to 2 tickets each.

At the time of publishing this blog, it looks like it'll be dry until lunch, so queuers should be safe, but given our recent change from hot summer to winter weather conditions, it's best to check up-to-date info:

See the Met Office's forecast for the Gorbals.

Some people have been asking what happened last time - so here's the insider info - for Betrayal the first person in the queue arrived around 8.45am, with a steady build up after that. Once on sale at 10am, it took 35mins to sell out, but we do expect that King Lear might be busier.

If you're first to arrive, please queue against the wall from the right-hand-side of the front door (with the queue filling back towards the car park...as shown above).

Our front doors will be open from 9am (to allow our Easter Academy participants access), but 50p tickets will go on sale at the advertised 10am. We hope to have King Lear himself (David Hayman) here to sell the first ticket!

To keep you warm and well fed while you wait, our coffee bar will be open from 9am serving frothy coffee's and a wide range of hot/cold drinks and snacks. Our special offer is buy a coffee and get one of our delicious homemade 'Speciality Scones' for just 50p.

Good luck!

Sniffles That Do Sorely Ruffle

Assistant Director, Richard Lavery continues his blog from the rehearsal room of King Lear:

Over the last week and a half the rehearsal room has resounded to the tones of sniffling, coughing and a fair few sneezes with the occasional splutter. In a cast and crew of over 30, colds just fly through the company. Add to that the fantastically theatrical weather we've had over the last few weeks and its soothers all round.

My script helper

We've now got to the stage that all the individual pieces of the production have come together more cohesively, with the music and various fight sections having been placed into their respective scenes and now we're just tinkering and running them to develop and solidify a bit further. The rehearsal room now usually rings to the tinkling of music with Paddy working on a piece with Owen (playing the Fool) at the same time as Dominic working with other cast members on a part of a scene and me working with the Ensemble on another section. It feels fantastic when the room buzzes with life and equally exciting when it quietens to focus on a particular scene or for a run of the play.

Fight rehearsal for the last scene

In the last week we've had some of my favourite moments including one from Dominic to Ewan (playing Edgar) of, "play the balloon more", an immortal snippet of direction that I adore for a special moment that may never make it past the tech next week. We've all been falling more and more in love with Shakespeare's language, often I hear little clips receited offstage with adoration and laughter. One of my favourite lines right now is a simple little line from Gloucester, "Alack, the night comes on, and the high winds/Do sorely ruffle" (Act 2 Scene 4 ln 490). And though it's in a moment of high tension, it tends to make me smile.

Dominic thinking and playing the balloon more

Now we're hurtling through the last few days, running the play at least once a day with tech week looming ahead. Not long to go but a lot more to do.

Richard

Assistant Director

WATCH THE TRAILER
featuring clips from rehearsals and interviews with Dominic Hill and David Hayman:

DON'T FORGET

Sat 12 April - 100 50p tickets go on sale for King Lear!