CCA, GLASGOWWHEN the Scottish Arts Council announced last week that Suspect Culture had lost its funding as one of the nation's top touring companies, it seemed like the end of an era in Scottish theatre; a time of cool, good-
looking Scottish-made shows about the universal problems of urban life in an age of emotional isolation and global unease.
Not, though, if Nicholas Bone and the CCA have anything to do with it; for Bone's latest show, a work in progress from the CCA's Creative Lab programme, represents a heartfelt reworking of the same themes and impulses for 2008. Beautifully written by Clare Duffy, Local Reality Expo takes the form of a 65-minute cantata for three actors, set in the heart of Glasgow, at the corner of Sauchiehall and Hope Streets. In true Wim Wenders style – or like a benign Google Earth satellite – it casts a kindly, angelic eye over all the hope, despair and eccentricity of urban life as revealed on that busy corner; then it homes in on a group of converging characters, and begins to spiral towards a strange moment of tragedy and revelation.
As performed, script in hand, by David Gallacher, Maryam Hamidi and Linda McLaughlin, this is not ground-breaking material; and its occasional little ventures into meta-narrative are plain irritating. But the script has a powerful, looping structure, and some exquisite moments of insight into the profound loneliness and occasional ecstasy of the human condition; and Bone stages it with all his trademark sensitivity and grace.
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