Shallow Water, the first work from Third Angel to appear at Tramway was an installation in the Project Room. A bathtub, half-filled with water, was surrounded by towels, “too many towels” and six thousand bars of perfumed soap. A single metal chair is lit by a single light bulb.

I think that the artist was submerged in the water- the press release talks about an exploration of the idea that cleanliness is next to godliness (an idea that, as a believer, I don’t think deserves any exploration). Perhaps it is best to ignore the commentary- even in descriptions, the visceral impact of this performance-installation is obvious. The smell of the soap, the silent threat of the chair in the harsh light, the body cleaning itself sick.

Experiment Zero, which toured to Tramway in the same year, bounced between cinema and performance. The three characters believed that they were movie characters, living life as if it were a film. The clear distinction is made: they do not see themselves as actors, but the characters. They dress and behave accordingly.

Something must have happened in the piece- perhaps a murder, perhaps a suicide. The three tell their version of events, the blurred lines between reality and film become more difficult to discern.

The version of Experiment Zero that reached Tramway was a version of an earlier work, redesigned for touring. With a title taken from long-forgotten indie-rockers Man or Astroman, an interest in 1950s Science Fiction and a desire to use film without having a big screen at the back, it was staged in gallery over three nights as a work in progress. Despite the bundling together of diverse concepts- flying saucer attacks, endless journeys, cold war paranoia and the disjuncture between the image on film and the live person- Experiment Zero has the appeal of theatrical formalist experimentation exploring engaging subjects. By the time it reached Scotland, the cast had changed. It was already moving away from its original format.

I have the poster for their next work, Where From Here on my wall. It is one of the posters that receives admiring glances from my few guests. A woman is seated at a table, a man is blurred as he stands by the window in sunlight. There is a wooden table, a rose and breakfast items. It reminds me of the relationship that I had around that time (2001). I am not sure whether it is deeply melancholic or just natural.

It was a two-hander, a man and a woman. They were remembering happiness, then sadness- times together and times when they were homicidal. It does sound like that relationship.

Ironically, the only piece I saw by Third Angel was the result of their collaboration with the RSAMD. It was called Tiny Moments of Happiness and featured Julie Brown and Johnny McKnight, who would later become stars of Glasgay! They’d been working with the RSAMD for six weeks, and this piece happened in Tramway 4. It was early on in my experience of this Live Art business, and I can only really remember the café setting and the considerable mayhem. The performances, as far as I can tell, were uneven but mostly solid. I only remember not be bored, not really understanding and- now this is telling- beginning to realise that there was more to the theatre than scripts and plots.