Gail Wylie Pre-Theatre Talks - Spring 2025
BOOKMARK Chair, Gail Wylie, is returning again this year to deliver her very successful pre-theatre talks in Perth Theatre. The programme this year is both diverse and invigorating and to tempt you to come along and join her, here is a summary of all the plays she will be discussing:
March 26 – 29 - Animal Farm
Orwell’s classic anti-Stalin fable, written in 1943, has stayed fresh for 80 years. Gail will discuss how Orwell turned politics into art with his deft use of satire, unforgettable characters and situations, allegory and wit. For a perfect illustration of how absolute power corrupts absolutely, you need read no other novel – and a story which also makes for unforgettable theatre.
April 24 – May 10 – Restless Natives
Two Edinburgh youths, tired of having no money and living in a city full of wealthy tourists, hatch an ambitious (and somewhat illegal) plan to change their lives. Using the music of the Scottish band Big Country as a background to their dreams, what can possibly go wrong? Gail looks at what the play, and the music, tell us about the hopes and dreams of today’s Scottish young people?
June 4 – 7 – Keli
This National Theatre of Scotland production celebrates the world of Brass Bands and their impact on the vulnerable Keli. She’s desperately looking for something to give her life some purpose – can being in a brass band really give her what is missing? Gail's talk will be discussing the importance of the world of the arts in general: how we are all winners or losers if we lose the connections between us.
June 11-14 – Just Between Ourselves
One of the UK’s most successful contemporary playwrights, Ayckbourn manages to walk the difficult line between tragedy and comedy. This play returns to a major theme of Ayckbourn’s; how domestic unhappiness happens because of a major character’s blank (or willingly blind) incomprehension of what is going on within the four walls of a house. Allan Radcliffe, Theatre Critic, and a guest of BOOKMARK 2024, will be joining Gail to shed light on what a critic brings to the world of theatre.
For more information on Gail's talks, the plays and other events in Perth Theatre, please click here