The Durutti Column has popped up (no pun intended) in some strange places over the years, but this is taking it a bit far. Tonight, Vini Reilly & Co. are to be found lurking at the back of the stage at Glasgow’s Tramway theatre, providing incidental music for a performance-art play entitled “A Treatise on the Steppenwolf.”
Unexpected surroundings, perhaps, but Reilly’s laid-back melodies and tuneful fingerpicking are actually quite well suited to the job in hand. He’s mostly on his own, joined on occasion by keyboard player and drummer. The band is situated on a small square stage, to the front of which are two catwalks where most of the action (if you can call it that) takes place.
The performance is based on Herman Hesse’s “Steppenwolf,” the tale of a man who is allegedly half wolf, or has at least been raised to believe so, and his internal struggle to balance the conflicting sides of his nature. It consists mainly of two young actors quoting lines from the book, and from the treatise that inspired and named the performance, while adopting various positions and movements, presumably to represent the conflict of man and beast. There’s no dialogue, all the talking taking the form of monologue and soliloquy. In fact there are only about six or seven lines in the play, with much of the effect provided by dramatic repetition. It’s all very symbolic and suggestive, incorporating at points drama, performance art, physical theatre and vocal delivery verging on poetry.
The music is central to the development of the play. This production is all about mood, and the change in sounds is one of the main symbols used to convey this. For the most part, it’s typical Durutti Column; mellow, down-tempo tunes with Reilly, sometimes rather ponderously, strumming away behind the actors’ monologues. At pivotal points, however, the level of intensity increases, and it’s at these times when the music becomes the focal point, the actors blending into the background as programmed beats, synths, and loud guitars work in tandem with the lighting effects to turn up the heat both musically and theatrically. At their best, these points in the play have a sweeping cinematic effect, despite the lack of dialogue. At their worst, they do drag a little.
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After an hour and five minutes of strumming, drumming, monologues and striking poses, it’s all over; leaving a somewhat confused expression on many faces in the audience. About half of them are here for the play, but the other half have obviously come to see The Durutti Column, and it’s these people who, for the most part, don’t know quite what to make of it all. It’s not really theatre in the accepted sense of the word, and it’s certainly not a gig, but at least it’s something different to do on a Saturday night!
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