Greg Holstead, Author at North West End UK

16Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

OCD Me – Hill Street Theatre

A fine collaborative effort between writer and director, Aisling Smith and actress Laura Whelan, and with the timely help of an award from the Irish Arts Council – all come together here to create a beautifully constructed and at times scary insight into the debilitating fear of fear itself. Set within the very appropriate claustrophobic airless confines of a tight 60-seater black box theatre, a small but rapt audience are treated to a thankfully short view into the world of OCD, a condition that perhaps 2% of us suffer from. The other 98% should be damn grateful they don’t! We are told OCD does NOT stand for Obsessive, Christmas, Cleaning or Chocolate Disorder, as some comedians might have us believe. Nor is saying, I’m a little bit OCD acceptable, it’s not. This is no laughing matter....

16Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

9 Circles – Assembly George Square

To a comfortable lecture theatre of Edinburgh University, comes the uncomfortable truths of war, and war crimes, orchestrated under the very capable hands of Director, Guy Masterton. The 9 circles, refers to the nine rings of Dantes inferno. The interesting set and lighting design features a five metre wide light ring on the floor and a similar large light ring behind the stage. Rings that the central character can never escape, perhaps representing the truth of the past and the punishment of the future. The play is based on the true story of Texan Stephen Dale Green, a US army private who went on a rampage in Iraq, murdering an Iraqi family and raping then burning the 14 year old daughter. Playwright, Bill Cain, explores the justifications for Green’s actions through the nine ci...

12Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Johnny Got His Gun – ZOO Southside

This timely monologue highlights the brutality of war through the story of one soldier. It exposes the dissonance between ideals like freedom and democracy, and the means we use to enforce them. The first world war is raging. Joe Bonham (Johannes Holopainen) lies on a hospital bed, his face covered with bandages, his body hidden by a bedsheet. He taps his head on a guitar. Gradually, we understand that he is communicating in Morse code. Joe has a story to tell. Joe pulls up his bandages to create a bandana, and suddenly is animated and moves freely and fiercely within the black box space, which represents his vibrant imagination. He uses his guitar as well as his voice and movement to express himself and interacts directly with members of the audience. In contrast, the set is star...

Something About George – Assembly Rooms Spiegeltent

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Something About George – Assembly Rooms Spiegeltent

The songs of George Harrison are something of an enigma to many. More known as a member of The Beatles, the ‘greatest band in the history of the world’, than a solo artist. This show aims to set the record straight, and does a pretty good job of that, although it falls short on other fronts. Through songs like, All Things Must Change, Something and My Sweet Lord, Daniel Taylor, tightly accompanied by Jon Fellowes on Guitar and backing vocals and Jon Thorn on Keyboards takes us at a swift pace through Harrison’s extensive solo repertoire. Along the way Taylor also fills in many of the blanks that few of us were aware of – his difficult marriages, his legal battles, his part in the creation of the worlds first super group, The Travelling Willburys his work in film production, and hi...

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Something About Simon – Assembly Rooms

The songs of Paul Simon are embedded in all of us - The Sound of Silence, Homeward Bound, The Boxer, and of course Bridge Over Troubled Water. Gary Edward Jones turn musical shaman as he draws Paul Simon classics from our very souls, in the almost mystical surroundings of the Assembly Rooms George Street Spiegeltent. Perhaps the only things missing are giant beanbags and joss sticks to make this a truly heavenly experience. There is no doubt that Jones has an innate talent for relaxing his audience – his measured, almost whispered, hypnotic delivery and his great stillness anchor him in front of a rapt audience. You could see this retelling working equally well – perhaps even better - in a church. There is a reverence here, and it is not lost. Having spent twenty years as a singer...

Becoming Chavela – theSpace on North Bridge

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Becoming Chavela – theSpace on North Bridge

Stephanie Trudeau is a one woman tour de force as she serves up an informative and transformative docu-cabaret following the life and songs of legendary Latin American ranchera singer, Chavela Vargas, accompanied by a simple solo acoustic guitar. Having overheard two Americans beforehand complain that they had missed Trudeau’s performance in LA and New York, I expected much from this globe-trotting show - I was not disappointed. But who you may well ask, or rather was, Chavela. Well, from the sound that comes from Trudeau it is clear from the start that she was firstly an extraordinary singer. Trudeau has the ability to modulate her voice from a teenage girl, to an ancient husky (male) ranchero, sometimes in the same song! Perhaps it is the liberal quantities of Tequila that help to loo...

Dreamboats & Petticoats – King’s Theatre Glasgow

20Jul

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Dreamboats & Petticoats – King’s Theatre Glasgow

On the hottest day ever (so far!) I hauled myself along the M8 to Glasgow to this touring show. The question was – would it, could it, bring back the good times at the King’s this week? The third instalment of Bill Kenwright’s Dreamboats and Petticoats franchise, set in the mid 1960’s and following the trials and tribulations of rock ‘n roll band, Norman and the Conquests, from youth club dive to Butlins at Bognor Regis, aka ‘bonking by the sea’. At the centre of the story is the ongoing relationship of Laura and Bobby played by Elizabeth Carter and Jacob Fowler, can their love survive a Summer apart, can Bobby resist the wall-to -wall crumpet of Butlins and will Laura escape the clutches of Frankie Howard where she is booked for the Summer season at the Palace Theatre Torquay? This ...