Greg Holstead, Author at North West End UK

Ania Magliano: I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This – Pleasance Courtyard

8Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Ania Magliano: I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This – Pleasance Courtyard

This was – Very Funny, and very relatable! I have to be honest; I don’t know quite how she does it. She instantly puts the audience at ease with her laid-back delivery and razor sharp mind. The anecdotes and one-liners are faultless, there is no pause. And she is always funny. Even ad-libbing when a phone rings or when a hair clip gets caught in her shoe – which becomes a trophy to win for the best audience member – unfortunately it wasn’t me, not laughing hard enough! There is almost no point in writing this review and sending it to my editor, after all - she is completely sold out. What’s the point? But put it in your diary for next year. Make a fridge magnet, write a post-it note, write it into your iPhone Calendar, become a Fringe Reviewer for fecks sakes!…. get creative. Just do...

Alan Turing Guilty Of Love – Hill Street Theatre, Edinburgh

8Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Alan Turing Guilty Of Love – Hill Street Theatre, Edinburgh

A decent sized crowd half-fill this nice little raked traditional theatre venue for a brand new musical, Produced and Directed by David Kettle. Seeking at its core to expose the disgraceful torment and shame piled on the code-breaking genius by the British establishment due to his homosexuality. Jamie Sheasby is simply electrifying in the demanding lead role, rarely off stage with a sheath of lines and multiple songs and a massive arc to accomplish, from nervous schoolboy to war code-breaker at Bletchley Park to persecuted adult, he is completely committed and utterly believable. I enjoyed the Enigma machine scene, the script, the acting, the choreography, and the song, ‘man is a machine’, which ran through it. Sheasby is again very good in delivering this scene and song. Unfortunate...

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame – The Edinburgh Academy, Magnuson Theatre

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame – The Edinburgh Academy, Magnuson Theatre

This was – An absolute Gem – a stone cold hit. Captivate have done it again! Despite, or perhaps, in spite of, the relocation from their normal haunt of Rose Theatre. Edinburgh Academy, Magnuson Theatre is transformed into Norte Dame, and the sound system which so exemplified their previous shows is just as crisp and clear, maybe even better than ever. It’s amazing! They are amazing! And how could I ever have doubted that it would not be so. From the moment that the huge chorus launch into their opening number, with smiles, brightly coloured costumes and jaunt, you know that it is business as usual! After all, Captivate do not do things half baked! It makes a lot of the servings at the Fringe look like thin gruel in comparison! I feel like I have used up my quota of exclamation...

Shamilton – Assembly George Square Studios

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Shamilton – Assembly George Square Studios

This was – Over the Line! Discriminatory, controversial, anti-Semitic. As a man (can I say that?), who lives with a Jewish lady, who’s business partner is Jewish and has many Jewish friends, you cannot say what you said today. You know the line! You know the line; the line that draws a gasp, a shriek, a howl. The line that after a while as a performer you become addicted to. The line that asks, can I go bigger, can I get closer, can I go over the line? Because crossing the line is what this show does, and what the crowd are baying to see and hear, nay demanding. But for how much longer? The blurb says, Baby Wants Candy's hip-hop Hamilton homage returns! Following sold-out runs in Chicago, NYC and LA. Expect to be wowed by an epic improvised musical based on historical fi...

Revenge For The Count Of Monte Cristo – Hill Street Theatre

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Revenge For The Count Of Monte Cristo – Hill Street Theatre

Hill Street Theatre has long been a regular haunt of Fringe goers, with the battle-hardened / extremely charismatic / miserable b* (delete as appropriate) producer/director Derek Douglas at the helm once again. Mixing a combination of brand new shows with re-run favourites, aiming to balance the books when the curtain eventually comes down. (hopefully!) Revenge, as they say, is a dish best served cold. This brand new musical written by Pete Sneddon and directed by Mark Geary-Fairbairn, set in post-Nepoleonic France, is at times stone cold and difficult to follow. However, it is saved to some extent, by some excellent singing by a talented cast. Lewis Carlton excels as Edmond, the titular Count and opens the show with the rousing number ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. So far so good....

Lord Of The Flies – The Space, Edinburgh

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Lord Of The Flies – The Space, Edinburgh

American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF) by WorldStrides presents St Francis High School Theatre’s adaptation of this classic William Golding tale about a group of English boys who are being evacuated to a safe country in the pacific to escape worldwide war fallout, until their plane crashes on a deserted island. This certainly has the feel of a devised and improvised piece, where the boys have been left (metaphorically) on a desert island, without adult supervision. At times it could certainly have benefitted from much more precise direction, both in terms of lines and movement. Having said that, I did like the visceral energy. It starts with promise as we are introduced to Ralph and ‘Piggy’, two teenage schoolboys struggling to come to terms with their new situation on the...

Edinburgh International Festival Opening Concert: Buddha Passion – Usher Hall, Edinburgh

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Edinburgh International Festival Opening Concert: Buddha Passion – Usher Hall, Edinburgh

This was – A brilliant, joyful opening of the 2023 International Festival One of the most versatile musicians in the world, Academy-award winning (score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Tan Dun conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Edinburgh Festival Chorus in the Scottish premiere of his own extraordinary Buddha Passion (2018). And what an amazing and joyful spectacle this was, which had the massed ranks of junior and adult choristers laughing and clapping, clinking pebbles together, tinkling Chinese bells and singing alternatively between ancient Sanskrit and Chinese. And before them the spectacle of the National Orchestra in full flow. A very effective subtitling allowed the packed house to appreciate the piece fully. This is a treatise on the joy ...

England & Son: Mark Thomas – Roundabout @ Summerhall

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

England & Son: Mark Thomas – Roundabout @ Summerhall

The lights fail, but Mark Thomas does not. He shines. Performed in characteristically physical style by larger-than-life Cockney, Mark Thomas in this intimate, in the round tent setting, he gets in the mud with us, he lays out Ed Edwards words for us, and we hear them. From humorous tales of his dad’s waste metal business and his dark previous life in the British army colonising the former Malaya, we get a rich understanding of the legalised violence passed down from returning soldiers to their families, and the debilitating effect on abused partners and damaged children. At turns veering from funny to ferocious, Thomas lays out the inevitable path of his childhood, from dysfunctional home life to youth detention centre, courtesy of Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw’s controv...

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Apple of My Eye – Paradise in the Vault

This is the musical story of the life of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, set in a subterranean vaulted space (it’s chilly and slightly creepy, is this a horror?). Lit quite effectively by the steady blue light of four appetisingly shiny apple Mac computer screens, arced around to face the audience. As a self-confessed computer nerd, I’m intrigued to hear the story, get the information, read the data and the motivations that created Steve Jobs. And to some extent Joel Goodman’s script delivers this, albeit in a (perhaps appropriately) mechanical and monotone way. Using the computer screens as a power-point backcloth to Stephen Smith’s musical monologue is a clever device. However, I am struggling to understand why Smith is using a radio head mic down here in this tiny space with a s...

Alan Turing: Musical Biography – Paradise @ Augustines

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Alan Turing: Musical Biography – Paradise @ Augustines

We are asked: What does the name Alan Turing mean to you? AI champion? Inventor of the modern day personal Computer? Breaker of codes, Saver of 14M lives? Trailblazer of LGBT rights? Put that way, its probably time that a lot more of us knew a lot more. This musical, which had its Fringe debut and practically sold out in 2022, composed by two music teachers, Joel Goodman and Jan Osborne, with a new script by Joan Greening provides an excellent summary through the extraordinary life of Alan Turing. It presents experiences of his early life and motivations, including the death of his closest school friend, Alan's key role in the Second World War as well as his continuous struggle with his concealed homosexuality. This beautifully balanced two-hander has Joe...