Review: THEM!, Tramway, Glasgow

Director Stewart Laing is here this evening to talk about his new film Them! A remake of a classic 1950's B-movie, Them! is a sci-fi horror about killer ants that terrorise a city. The stage is set for chat show host Kiruna Stamell to interrogate Stewart about the motivation behind the remake and how relevant the themes are in society today.

Kiruna Stamell is an engaging host for the evening. Arranging herself in ridiculous poses on the armchair throughout the interview, she grills Stewart with a patronising tone that is usually reserved for female interviewees on chat shows. Referring to Stewart as 'sweetie' and putting words in his mouth, it is clear that parallels are being drawn with typical chat show interview behaviour.

The music is an integral part of the performance as well, Them! has been remade as a musical horror and the music from Carla J Easton and Eugene Kelly fits the piece perfectly.

Them! is one of those shows where I'm unsure how much to give away. When picking up tickets I enquired about the run time of the performance and was given a vague "it depends how long one of the parts takes...". The first segment of Them! is the chat show which is then followed by a second and third part where you are free to go through at your own pace. Programmes are not provided until the end of the third part to avoid any kind of spoiler.

While I don't want to reveal too much about Them! - I will confess that I don't entirely know what did actually happen...! I know that I enjoyed it (despite the nearly unbearable heat inside the venue) but I'd definitely struggle to tell anybody what it was actually about.

https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/production/them/

Photo credit: Tommy Ga Ken Wan

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