Beth Eltringham, Author at North West End UK

The Twenty Sided Tavern – Pleasance Dome

19Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Twenty Sided Tavern – Pleasance Dome

There are very few shows quite like the Twenty Sided Tavern, a choose your own adventure for theatre goers and dungeons and dragons fans alike. Step into the game with your own selected dice picked blindly from a bag determining your designated player. Are you a Fighter, a sorcerer or a Rogue? Either way you are in for a treat. Three professional improvisation artists take to the stage bringing the crazy world of Dungeons and Dragons to a live audience, determining their character’s movements with a combination of audience choice and the spin of the twenty sided dice. They are silly, bold and utterly hilarious. Guiding the gang is the “Game Master”, the dungeon master of the game. If you choose to embark on this quest adventurer, be prepared to use your mobile phone. Upon arrival...

18Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Dorian – Venue 21 C Arts

The Oscar Wilde sensation “The Picture of Dorian Gray” takes to stage once more with King’s College School’s performance of Dorian. This one-hour play uses physical theatre, choreography and some outstanding acting to bring to life one of Oscar Wilde’s darkest tales beautifully. Dorian Gray (played tremendously by Tom Conroy) finds himself on a journey of love, power and evil when Basil Hallwood (Sebastian Pavin) decides to paint a portrait that will encapsulate Gray’s beauty forever. Little known to artist or subject, a powerful force of evil would make Gray’s wish of staying youthful and beautiful a reality. Egged on by Lord Henry Wotton (Roemer Lips) and the forces of this dark magic, Gray transforms from a naive hopeless romantic to a monster with little regard for love or the lives...

Christof Epaminondas and Friend(s): Too Much Encouragement – Just The Tonic at the Caves

11Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Christof Epaminondas and Friend(s): Too Much Encouragement – Just The Tonic at the Caves

60 Minutes of pure comedy hosted by Christof Epaminondas and guest comedian Farah Sharp. In the small hot stuffy room of the Caves venue Christof and Farah had the room erupting with laughter from start to finish. I’m not sure if the guests change from day to day but Sharp was a fantastic warm up act. It’s hard to describe a comedy routine without too many spoilers but one can certainly say this one is not a “bust” (winking face). Epaminondas has the perfect level of charisma which makes him immediately likeable and knows exactly how to poke fun at himself for the audience without going too far. You don’t need to be Greek to relate to the friendly chaos that is his over encouraging family and I think we will be seeing a lot more of Christof in the coming years. He’s a natural at ...

The Return of Sherlock Holmes – theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

11Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Return of Sherlock Holmes – theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

Sherlock Holmes (Nigel Miles-Thomas) the world famous detective and his partner in crime Watson (Michael Roy Andrew) are at it again but this time it’s Watson who comes across the clues. It’s been three years since Sherlock’s believed demise at the hands of arch nemesis Moriarty and Watson finds himself lost. Returning to Baker Street to wander the old flat Watson find a letter addressed to himself from a strange source warning him of a murder that just so happens to be in the paper that day. Andrew plays of the role of Watson tremendously, a man in grief who still possesses the curiosity of a detective but displaying himself as a nervous mouse of a man. His comedic timing is on point, and he never misses a beat. Nigel-Thomas is impeccable as the famous detective carrying Sherloc...

11Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Eglantyne – Gilded Balloon Teviot

Eglantyne is a one woman play written and performed by actress Anne Chamberlain which follows the life and story of Eglantyne Jebb. This 75-minute documentary play delves deep into Chamberlain’s love and respect for the woman who fronted and fought for the charity campaign ‘Save The Children’ exploring what made Jebb the woman she was. You can feel the love and admiration Chamberlain has for Jebb, it radiates from her, giving her a glow that shines through her eyes rather than just the stage lights. She uses a range of storytelling tactics jumping from first person into third and even taking time to explain her own emotional connection to the historical figure and a few costume changes. Eglantyne’s story is one of triumph and failure and unfortunately this production is too. Whil...

Seven Minutes in Heaven – Traverse Theatre

11Jun

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Seven Minutes in Heaven – Traverse Theatre

Strange Town Youth Theatre brings us a 1-hour short play written by Edinburgh writer Shelley Middler exploring the struggles teenagers face in this current world. We get a glimpse into serious issues such as the sharing of personal pictures, the sexual pressures on young people today and discovery of sexuality, all of this is brought together in the setting of a small house party. Every cast member has a chance to showcase their skills with an overwhelming abundance of characters, demonstrating some brilliant mime work and use of freeze frames and monologues. There’s an overall story that someone has been attacked and each of the characters have moments in which they are questioned by the police in their own spotlight. This is designed to keep the audience on their toes allowing them to...

Wuthering Heights – King’s Theatre Edinburgh

26May

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Wuthering Heights – King’s Theatre Edinburgh

Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights takes its form as a creative and all together magical adaptation of the 1847 Emily Bronte novel: Wuthering Heights. It’s serves to tell the story of two young lovers whose social status, race and upbringing become their own downfall. Heathcliff (Liam Tamne) is a young man found and adopted at Liverpool docks only to live his life in the shadows due to his ethnic background and darker features, when he meets adoptive sister Catherine (Lucy McCormick) he falls in love with the strange and mentally unstable young lady. Unfortunately, Catherine has other ideas and instead of pursuing her romance with Heathcliff she marries another man to attain her rank in society and so Heathcliff vows to get his revenge on those he blames for the loss of his happiness. This ...

11May

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Rock Of Ages – Edinburgh Playhouse

Rock of Ages is a cheesy jukebox musical that plays as the perfect throw back to everyone’s favourite 80s and 90s rock anthems such as “Here I Go Again”, “Dead or Alive” and “Don’t Stop Believing”. There are several stories told throughout by fantastic narrator Lonny (played by Joe Gash), the main one being of star crossed lovers Sherrie (Gabriella Williams) and Drew (Sam Turrell) who both moved to the Sunset Strip to find fame but instead found each other however the one and only Stacee Jaxx (Matt Terry) proves to become their biggest obstacle. There is another secondary plot concerning the demolition of the Sunset Strip. It goes without saying that this production is near perfect! The cast are all incredibly talented and perfectly cast, we all already love the music, an...

21Apr

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Waitress – Edinburgh Playhouse

A story of baking, infidelity and finding love, waitress is a problematic musical surrounding a waitress who bakes pies to avoid talking about her feelings. Jenna (played tonight by Aimee Fisher) is a waitress for a small diner who specializes in making the best pies in town whilst avoiding dealing with her unhappy marriage and overall feeling of failure for the life she believes her mother would have wanted her to live. When a pregnancy test proves positive, she is forced to reconsider her life choices as she begins an affair with her gynaecologist (played by Liam McHugh) and starts to save up money to enter a baking contest that could guarantee her enough money to leave her abusive husband Earl (Donal Brennan) for good. At the same time, we follow her co-workers Dawn (Evelyn Hoskins) ...

Magic Goes Wrong – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

14Apr

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Magic Goes Wrong – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Magic Goes Wrong is exactly what it says on the tin, it’s a magic show that simply goes wrong in every way imaginable. Created by Mischief Theatre famous for their West end hit ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, Magic Goes Wrong follows its predecessors in its slapstick and childish humour which is enough to make most people belly laugh their way through the show however it comes into question if that humour gets old a little too soon. The show centres around Sophisticato (Sam Hill), a rather terrible magician attempting to put together a charity night in memory of his father and other magicians who have lost their lives in magic related accidents. He honours this by pulling together a strange and equally terrible band of magicians that his father had met in the past. The Mind Mangler (Rory Fa...