Oliver Giggins, Author at North West End UK

17Dec

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

White Christmas – Edinburgh Playhouse

Veterans Bob Wallace (Matthew Jeans) and Phil Davis (Dan Burton) have had a successful musical career since being discharged after World War II. But instead of continuing on with an engagement in Florida, they decide to follow female double-act the Haynes Sisters, Betty & Judy (Jessica Daley & Emily Langham) whom they have just met, to a Vermont lodge for a special Christmas show. There they discover the lodge happens to be owned by Bob and Phil's old Army General (Duncan Smith) and is in desperate need of their help. Though the original show has been cancelled, a whole new show must now be organised to save the place from ruin and the General from his mood. White Christmas was directed by Ian Talbot, based on the original direction by Nikolai Foster (Annie) and two-time Olivier...

Sleeping Beauty – Edinburgh King’s Theatre

2Dec

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Sleeping Beauty – Edinburgh King’s Theatre

Allan Stewart and Grant Stott star in the King's Theatre Panto as Queen May and Carabosse. with Jordan Young as Muddles; Sia Dauda as Princess Beauty, Nicola Meehan as The Good Fairy and Clare Gray as Narcissa. It was written by Alan McHugh and directed by Ed Curtis. The programme says that production company Crossroads Pantomimes has spent £1.5 million on sets and costumes (which necessitated 20 makers) for this year's London Palladium pantomime, which will be seen in cities such as Birmingham, Wimbledon and Bristol in the years to follow. In the King's Theatre's Sleeping Beauty the budget is definitely on show through its multicoloured costumes (by Mike Coltman), lavish sets (designed by Ian Westbrook) and the odd Giant Flying Vampire Bat, motorcycle and pyrotechnics (special effects ...

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Edinburgh King’s Theatre

9Nov

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Edinburgh King’s Theatre

In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane arrives in the eerie world of secrets and unsettling tradition of Sleepy Hollow to become the town teacher. But not all is as it seems, for Ichabod Crane harbours his own dark secret.... The play is based on the 1820 gothic story by American author Washington Irving, contained in his collection of 34 essays and short stories titled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Though the story is commonly accepted as having popularised the use of the pumpkin head at Halloween (replacing the turnip), it might be more familiar to most through its 1949 Disney adaptation and Tim Burton gothic nightmare. No, not the Dumbo remake. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) adapted The Legend into a half-hour short packaged with an adaptation of ...

An Unexpected Hiccup – The Studio, Edinburgh

28Oct

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

An Unexpected Hiccup – The Studio, Edinburgh

“An Unexpected Hiccup” was directed by Ian Cameron and Maria Oller and produced by touring theatre company Plutôt La Vie and Lung Ha Theatre Company, an Edinburgh-based theatre company for people with a learning disability. It tells the story of Murdo, a musician who, caught in a storm, is forced to take refuge in an isolated house whose inhabitants he may or may not have mutual friends with. They also seem to have quite a lot going on, including an apparently dying father in the next room and a fair few conflicting stories about what's going on... The play is based on a story by co-director Ian Cameron, itself apparently inspired by something that happened to him years ago. The script was subsequently developed by Michael Duke and the cast, Emma Clark, Ryan Duncan, Tim Licata, Emma ...

The Woman in Black – Edinburgh King’s Theatre

13Oct

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

The Woman in Black – Edinburgh King’s Theatre

To put it simply, Susan Hill's 1983 novel The Woman in Black is both a masterpiece and a classic, and we are not only fortunate to have it but also the masterpiece and classic it has inspired... No, not the underrated 1989 TV film starring Harry Potter's dad. No, not the 2012 cliché starring Harry Potter. No, definitely not the execrable 2014 sequel Angel of Death. Why don't you stop saying these stupid things and just let me finish? I am of course referring to Stephen Mallatratt's 1987 stage version, now the second longest-running non-musical play in West End history (after The Mousetrap). In it, and in every other version of the story, a lawyer named Arthur Kipps finds himself in deep marsh-water when he is sent off to foggy Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral and sort the papers...

Gash Theatre Gets Ghosted – Gash Theatre

18Apr

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

REVIEWS

Gash Theatre Gets Ghosted – Gash Theatre

Gash Theatre Gets Ghosted works not only as a title but also a production credit. The show is produced by Gash Theatre, the brainchild of Maddie Flint and Nathalie Ellis-Einhorn, two theatre makers with a shared interest in form, femininities, pop culture, and the ridiculous. The “Ghosted” part reflects the show's horror/haunted side but also its discussion of romantic and physical relationships, from the film, TV and music samples played or spoken by pieces of furniture, vinyl records and a television to the recorded conversations about porn and ghosting dates which punctuate the main action and yes, are also spoken by furniture and household appliances. Early on the show seems a mix of the Evil Dead (possessed furniture) and Aardman's Creature Comforts (real-life conversations perform...

16Apr

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

REVIEWS

A Splinter of Ice – Original Theatre

This is story of two friends, Kim Philby and Graham Greene, two ex-spies, one turned traitor and one turned author. If you're interested in the story of these two men and their friendship but don't know many details, don't worry: this three-hander tells pretty much the entire story of Kim Philby's part in one of the biggest spy scandals of the 20th Century through one conversation between them. Written by Ben Brown and directed by Alastair Whatley with Alan Strachan, the team behind the play which inspired the Oscar-winning film Darkest Hour, the play imagines the final reunion between them just a year before Philby's death, their only meeting since the latter was revealed as a member of the Cambridge Spy Ring and fled to the USSR. I say “imagines” because, though the circumstances behi...