Jessie Martin, Author at North West End UK

17Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Swan Song – theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

Swan Song, produced by Irish theatre company Jilted Bride Productions, is a camp melodrama providing commentary on the hypocrisy, corruption and egos of the entertainment industry. Big Media, and their subsidiary Big Film, are the biggest conglomerate around. Headed by the evil Big Media Boss, she is on a mission to shut down anyone who disagrees with her. In an attempt to return to the spotlight, director Oswald recruits bygone diva Heidi Hole to star in his new play. When Big Media Boss fires journalist Samira Plath for her support of liberal activism, her father and renowned critic Skandar Plath returns to confront Big Media Boss, rehashing age-old secrets and scandals. After her father is murdered, Samira makes it her mission to take down Big Media Boss f...

Amanda Knox: Cartwheel – Gilded Balloon, The Wine Bar

15Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Amanda Knox: Cartwheel – Gilded Balloon, The Wine Bar

Amanda Knox’s show has been the talk of the town at the Edinburgh Fringe. With protests calling for the show to be removed, Knox is quite the figure of controversy. Being convicted for the alleged murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher during their study abroad programme in Italy in 2009, Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Released after four years, Knox was finally acquitted in 2015. In Amanda Knox: Cartwheel, part one-woman show, part stand-up, Knox tells of the continuous impact the accusation played on her life as a young woman, and now mother. Using a voiceover of her four year-old daughter, Knox provides an imaginary dialogue showing the difficulties she has had in explaining the events to such a young child. Furthering this image, Knox te...

13Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

JLCO Plays Duke Ellington – Usher Hall

The Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra Residency brought us a night of Duke Ellington’s greatest compositions, directed by esteemed trumpeter and founder of JLCO, Wynton Marsalis. Seeing as the theme of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival is ‘All Rise’ – tied to the 250th anniversary of America’s independence – an American ensemble playing the works of one of the most prolific American composers seems only fitting. Especially when we get to the second act of the performance where the sole focus is on Ellington’s Black, Brown, and Beige, conducted by Chris Crenshaw. This suite tells the story of the hardships of the Black American, from slavery to segregation, and eventually emancipation. Alongside the JLCO, musical guests were invited to perform, including EIF’s dire...

12Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

The Global Ideas Stage – Kings Theatre

A trumpet cuts through the audience’s murmuring – Wynston Marsalis stands at the back of the auditorium playing Amazing Grace, and amazing it absolutely was. The Global Ideas Stage began as it intended to go on. Featuring Edinburgh International Festival’s Director, Nicola Benedetti as host, alongside Harvard Art and Culture Historian, Sarah Lewis. Last year’s festival also featured a talk from Sarah Lewis, but this year the structure followed a more interview-based approach. Six guests were chosen to discuss the connection between Scotland and America and its Declaration of Independence. As well as discussing how culture and media allows for minds to be changed and hope to be given. Our panel consisted of Adam Dixon, Amy Goodman, Gordon Brown, Bryan Stevenson, Ken Burns, Lewis and B...

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

12Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

Award-winning hit of last year’s Fringe, When We Were Young features at theSpace on the Mile for another year running. Consisting of the first act of a two-act play, this show sees a group of young teenagers living in Govan in the 90s caught up in the young team culture. The tone is set by group leader Mooney (played by Liam Lambie) now grown-up as he reflects on his troubled youth. When We Were Young sends a powerful message of how systemic issues impact those living in under cared for areas – how easy it is to fall into gang violence and knife crime and how it affects the community. This is such a quintessentially Scottish show, with Lambie’s writing so accurately capturing the crude and blunt essence of the ‘neds’. With sharp and quick-witted insults being...

Our Town Needs a Nandos – theSpace on the Mile

10Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Our Town Needs a Nandos – theSpace on the Mile

Up and coming Edinburgh-based theatre company Hot Mess Productions, brings their rendition of Samantha O’Rourke’s, Our Town Needs a Nandos to the Edinburgh Fringe. The play sees a group of young girls in high school work on creating a devised piece for their drama exam. In a run-down town with not much to do, this is a coming-of-age story where friendships are tested, sexuality is explored, and the girls shared experience of sexual violence is at the forefront. Each girl faces a sense of displacement, whether that be down to emigration, isolation, or repression. The cast of five work well together, clearly taking their strong bonds from the rehearsal room to the stage. Each cast member is believable as an unruly teenager finding their feet in the world, hitting ...

10Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

BearGirl – Assembly Roxy

In dealing with the death of her husband, thirty-year-old BearGirl (played by Rachel de Fontes) finds comfort in the form of a second-hand bear onesie. Day by day as the grief and guilt consume her, she retreats further into her bear persona – running away from memory and reality. Given the premise of this play, one would expect a surrealist piece of theatre that sweeps you away from realism and into true primality. BearGirl however is very much grounded in reality – perhaps too much so. In classic Fringe style, this play turns out to be your typical one-woman show, although is accompanied by Jimmy Kavanaugh multi-roling a number of characters, including BearGirl’s narcissistic husband, her elderly neighbour, and the grandiose fortune teller. Kavanaugh transit...

9Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

[Seagull] – Studio Theatre

[Seagull] directed by Stijn Van Opsatal is a bold new take on Chekhov’s classic play The Seagull. Running consecutively for two and a half hours, this is an adaptation unlike any you have seen before. At the forefront of [Seagull] is the performance of the text in Flemish Sign Language. This production truly highlights the ingenuity and championing of accessibility as not just a requirement, but as a medium in its own right. Performed as part of the Edinburgh international festival, [Seagull] is brought to us by two Belgian theatre companies; Toneelhuis and Olympique Dramatique. [Seagull] follows the story of a young aspiring playwright and the relationships around him. Featuring four acts, each exploring the themes of unrequited love and creative ego, tensions rise and fall b...

2Jul

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Twelfth Night – Bard in the Botanics

Bard in the Botanics remains one of the most prominent Shakespeare-forward festivals in Scotland having performed 25 Summers in the beautiful Glasgow Botanic Gardens. Their well-established reputation and years of experience are clear as they present us with a schedule of both Shakespearean works and more contemporary classics such as Jane Austen’s Emma. Using the gardens to their advantage, there is both an open-air main stage, and a separate performance space within the Kibble Palace glasshouse. This time around I saw Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the main stage, directed by Jennifer Dick and it's safe to say I would happily rush back to see it again. This season of Bard in the Botanics is titled Lovers & Madmen and really is there a difference? Of course...

1May

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Tomorrow – Traverse Theatre

Hereford based dance company, 2Faced held the Scottish premiere of Tomorrow at The Traverse this week. Directed and choreographed by Tamsin Fitzgerald and devised with dancers Lew Baker and Sam Buswell, Tomorrow is a striking portrayal of men’s mental health displayed using contemporary dance. This show was devised in collaboration with Mind, a charity dedicated to providing mental health support for anyone who needs it across England and Wales. 2Faced partnered with Mind to create Men in Motion - a dance class specifically for men struggling with mental health issues. It was through this group’s sharing of their lived experiences, as well as the performers own experiences of mental health that Tomorrow was devised from. Fitzgerald’s direction is raw and in your face -...