THEATRE NEWS

PUBS have long provided the backdrop for film and theatre – even pop songs – the range of characters, the colour, the drama offering up the chance to reveal real characters and stories.

From Casablanca to Cheers to Billy Joel’s Piano Man, we’ve been able to take a detailed look inside this specimen jar of human life.

Now, writer/performer and theatre legend Dave Anderson has turned his eye on this world to create a new theatre musical Opening Time.

Starring Alan Orr, Lola Aluko and Steven Wren, Anderson has focused not on those who shuffle out reluctantly at the end of the night, as desperate glasses are being drained, but on those who are there from the moment the doors open.

Thanks in particular to the pandemic, there are those who simply need to be there to make contact with humanity.

“There’s the Old Guy, let’s call him the Ghost, who has been locked down for too long, who finds himself shouting at the contestants on Tipping Point and weeping during Repair Shop.

“He goes to the pub and meets an array of characters. It’s a story told in song, which wonders what the ‘New Normal’ might look like.”

There is little doubt Dave Anderson has the credentials to offer a poignant theatre play but which reveals a range of musical delights.

Anderson was one of the co-founders of the legendary 7:84 theatre company and went on to co-found Wildcat with the late David MacLennan.

Along the way he found time to star in sitcom City Lights and appear in a huge range of productions, from Taggart to Still Game. And of course, his panto appearances in Oran Mor (his Dames are so dry they could complete a hairdresser’s perm in seconds).

Opening Time, Oran Mor, April 18 – 23.