Dundee College students on stage

Jan 19 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

PERTH and Perthshire are well represented as acting and performance students at Dundee College present a double bill of two 45-minute playlets with Bedlam and Lies? at The Space this week.

James Beck (Blairgowrie), Angus Macgregor (Perth), Arlene Cumming (Comrie) and Ella Duncan (Ruthven) are all taking part in Lies? which explores the timeless issue of fibs, fiction and falsehood.

Under the auspices of visiting director Raymond Short the students offer a close examination of the world of lie – from the little white category to the soul-damning black variety.

While drilling down to the darkest deepest secrets throughout the ages the production, while remaining wry and sometimes even comic, reveals that not only have lies been with us always but are ultimately a necessary evil.

Both the pieces have been created by the HNC acting and performance students themselves and both explore topics of a dark and, sometimes harrowing nature with Bedlam offering a visit to an abandoned psychiatric institution, haunted by the ghosts of patients past.

With director Jonathan McGrath at the helm, Bedlam takes the audience on an exciting and sometimes frightening journey through years gone by on the ward as patients return to the present and demonstrate their mental status.

Bedlam and Lies runs on Thursday and Friday. Tickets (£6 and £4 concessions) from The Space Box Office, Dundee (01382) 834934.