Greg Holstead, Author at North West End UK

14Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

In Two Minds – Traverse Theatre

Joanne Ryan’s delicately observed portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship complicated by mental illness is beautifully brought to life by Pom Boyd (The Dry), as Mother and Karen McCartney (A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings) as Daughter. In Two Minds finds insight in the darkness, humour in the pain, and tenderness in difficult family dynamics. But don’t expect dramatic revelations or grand gestures, its simply not that kind of play. Sarah Jane Scaife’s unhurried production for Dublin’s Fishamble is light and practical and dwells on the ordinary rather than the extraordinary, a semi-autobiographical scenario, of Ryan’s relationship with her own mother. Set during the extension of her house, Mother has to share a small studio flat with her grown up Daughter for howev...

14Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

BATSHIT – Traverse Theatre

BATSHIT is an unexpectedly funny, but also deeply intimate story of female madness. Created and performed by Leah Shelton (AU) and directed by Olivier award-winning performance artist Ursula Martinez (UK), this is a portrait cum-memoir of Leah’s grandmother Gwen, who was incarcerated for seeking personal independence from her husband in 1960s Australia. It looks like Gwen just didn’t like her husband very much anymore, but in this era that constituted a mental illness which required serious medical interventions. Using Gwen’s actual medical records from the period, real voice over clips, video clips and television interviews, this highly technical show transports the audience back in time to consider what now seems clear, from this evidence, the sexual inequality, of a deepl...

Natalie Palamides: WEER – Traverse Theatre

14Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Natalie Palamides: WEER – Traverse Theatre

Clown princess Natalie Palamides has become a force to be reckoned with, scoring huge acclaim with her first Edinburgh outing, Laid, in 2017, which won her Best Newcomer award, and Nate (Netflix special 2020). Last year she directed Bill O’Neill’s superb The Amazing Banana Brothers, a Fringe highlight. Any new work by this performer is now very much on the radar. So, it was an absolute delight to see that the 34-year-old LA-based performer was returning this year with a solo show to world premiere at the Traverse. The show does not disappoint. It’s a hilarious hot-mess of clown mayhem in the style of a ’90s-style romcom, which stars Palamides as a pair of star cross'd lovers, having a quarrel at a party cabin in the woods, before midnight as the millennium fast approaches. Y2K ma...

13Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Cyrano – Traverse Theatre

European Premier Virginia Gay writes and stars in this acclaimed Aussie deconstruction of the classic romance. Portrayed as a gen-Z, gender-flipped take on Edmond Rostand’s classic story of a shy poet who lends his words to a handsome young man to woo Roxanne, the object of both their desires. The first act of this play promises much, as the chorus, a hilarious double act of Tessa Wong and David Tarkenter, play their unnamed roles like an attentive PA and an aging thespian on his way to a King Lear rehearsal, to a tee. The talented and versatile Tanvi Virmani also wanders onto the stage at one point like a deer in the headlights. The trio are highly amusing as they never leave the stage and query what they are doing in this play, bickering continuously or offering unhelpful advi...

13Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Sound Inside – Traverse Theatre

Bookish brilliance! The new Dead Poets Society. Nominated for six Tony Awards, this UK premiere of Adam Rapp’s spellbinding play stars Merchant Ivory’s Madeleine Potter and The Kite Runner’s (Broadway) Eric Sirakian. From director of Psychodrama Matt Wilkinson. Beverley Baird is the unmarried and childless, cat lady, Yale creative writing professor, who tells her students to write with economy and let the reader’s imagination do the heavy lifting. Writing that your character has the ‘eyes of a star-faced mole’, or ‘a mean mouth, like a half-healed axe scar’, will tell your reader more than a page and a half full of flowery description. In reality, she is resigned to the fact that creative writing is all but dead and that her students are more interested in social media than Dostoe...

12Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

So Young – Traverse Theatre

World Premier From the celebrated writer of Decky Does a Bronco and I Can Go Anywhere, Douglas Maxwell’s So Young is an often hilarious, but equally pathos-tinged coming-of-middle-age tale. 40-somethings Davie, Liane, Milo and Helen were once inseparable, three of them studied at teacher training together, but that all changed when Helen died from COVID. Set up as a classic sitcom, like a latter-day kilted Abigail’s Party, nicely constructed traditional sets transport us, with the swish of a curtain, from the bedroom of long-time married couple Liane (Luciano McEvoy) and Dave (Andy Clark) to the faux-chic lounge of recently bereaved pal Milo (Nicholas Karimi) and his new, much younger, girlfriend Greta (Yang Harris). The cliché of the older man’s ch...

11Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

VL – Roundabout @ Summerhall

Hilariously parochial! VL stands for Virgin Lips, a label that no teenager wants to be saddled with. When Max and Stevie, two wee Scottish F…., oops lads, miss the bus to the end of year 2 school disco at the local ice rink, they are in two minds to just go home to watch telly instead. After all, Robin Hood Prince Of Thievesis on! But no, they have to go, because at least one of them is a VL and this might just be his last chance to pop that cherry. And if your still a VL after tonight, before you go into 3rd year, you just might be a VL forever! Seasoned comedy writers and performers, Kieran Hurley and Gary McNair play it just about perfect as the day-glow-clad youngsters trying to navigate romance in the hormonal pressure cooker of Hammersten High School. Stevie has, tech...

11Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Edinburgh Liminal – Museum of Edinburgh

On a, thankfully, sunny day, the Holstead family are Team 4 and directed by the delightful Carmel Calvin, to go forth and make some sweet music at a specific location, located by solving a puzzle. We have exactly an hour to return. Brains suitably tested, puzzle solved, we set off with Steel tongue drum, thumb piano and maraca into the Edinburgh throng. It’s a hot day, but the kids, plinking on thumb piano and shaking maracas (carnival style) are not complaining, yet. In fact we draw some admiring glances, heads turn and smile. I’m sure if we had a hat we could make some money here! A short walk and ice cream stop later we arrive, the kids miraculously still not complaining. Water tinkles in the background and we decide that this should definitely be part of our soundscape record...

The Dreamer: Live – Underbelly Circus Hub

11Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Dreamer: Live – Underbelly Circus Hub

One of the most heavily (and successfully) promoted shows I’ve ever seen on the Fringe, the ubiquitous posters have foretold of the coming of the boy wonder, James Phelan, long before his arrival. But is it and is he really up to the hype? Well, yes and no. Without wanting to give too much away – no spoilers here – the show is certainly entertaining. In Underbelley’s giant Spiegeltent know as ‘The Beauty’, Phelan holds court from a raised ‘in the round’ centre stage, which suits his style of friendly bonhomie. His quick wit plays on the answers from various audience volunteers and draws easy and relaxed laughs, and never in a nasty way. The biggest surprise and to some extent, disappointment, here, is that this is not really a magic show at all, in the traditional sense, but m...

Divas of Jazz – theSpace @ Symposium Hall

11Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Divas of Jazz – theSpace @ Symposium Hall

Singer Hannah Hay exudes youthful appreciation of her genre, swaying barefoot before an excellent five-piece in the comfortable and intimate space that is quite possibly the best appointed live music venue in Edinburgh in August. The great acoustic, leather seats and ample legroom usually make it an easy and clever choice for music lovers. Particularly those of a certain age! Unfortunately, the music of jazz so often borne of toil and pain and heartache, and at home in happy, low-lit backstreet bars or clandestine hotel lounges, struggles to sound authentic or nuanced in this luxurious a setting and between these so directionally well lit walls. There is no atmosphere. Which is a shame, because Hay is an accomplished singer and the musicianship behind her is also excellent. St...