Tonight (14 March) until Saturday (17 March), 9pm, £15 (concs £11), Tron Theatre, Glasgow. Tel: 0141 552 4267. www.tron.co.uk
It’s a highlight of Tron Theatre’s spring season, but Barflies stands out for another reason.
Yes – this award-winning play represents a fleeting moment in my career where I can enjoy a bottle of wine as I write a preview and call it ‘research’.
You see, Charles Bukowski – whose short stories and poems this piece draws from – was a pretty big drinker.
The late author often credited whichever beverage happened to be sat next to his typewriter for the successes of his gritty works, which illuminated the routines of the lowlives he encountered during his many years working menial jobs in Los Angeles.
These boozy tales stagger from the page to the stage this evening, as a moving exploration of drunkenness unfolds around Bukowski’s alter-ego – depraved nihilist Henry Chinaski.
Presented by Edinburgh theatre company Grid Iron, Barflies captures all the humour, horror and hope of intoxication in gripping fashion. Just ask any member of its sell-out audiences at the 2009 Fringe.
‘We’re really looking forward to bringing Barflies to the Tron, not just because its Victorian Bar is a fantastic setting for the play, but also because it’s been eight whole years since Grid Iron last performed in Glasgow – so we’re delighted to be back,’ said Grid Iron chief executive Judith Doherty.
‘And it’s great to finish off the Scottish bit of the tour in a city with Bukowski-related bars, like Chinaski’s and Black Sparrow.’
So here you have a preview, and I an empty bottle. But does that mean you owe me one? Nah, I’ll just settle for seeing you at the show tonight – after my post-daytime drinking nap, that is.
