H.S. Baker, Author at North West End UK

Dementia The Musical – The Sudio, Edinburgh

14Oct

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Dementia The Musical – The Sudio, Edinburgh

Written by Ron Coleman (aka The Demented Poet), himself a dementia sufferer, the inspiration for this thought-provoking musical was three people living with the diagnosis. They are James McKillop, Nancy McAdam and Agnes Houston, dementia activists, who are portrayed on stage by three 30 somethings. More of that later. Having started life as a play, it soon turned into a musical, composed by Sophie Bancroft with additional music by Andrew Eaton-Lewis. The narrative is based on the campaigning work of the three dementia activists and set in the near future when the fictitious British Bill of Rights allows the system to control individuals with dementia, deciding for them where they live and what they can do. Karen Tennent’s set design is simple and versatile,...

Blue Man Group: Bluevolution World Tour – Festival Theatre

11Oct

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Blue Man Group: Bluevolution World Tour – Festival Theatre

Where to start? Well, if you don’t like rib rattling drumming, strobe lighting and a full on multisensory happening, don’t see this show! It is an experience of epic proportions, colourful, loud, funny and stompingly engaging. The fun starts before the show begins, with public announcements being displayed on a board reminiscent of those motorway signs. Neon red letters requested us not to be annoying with our phones and announced that the flying of drones was definitely not allowed. Blue Men come in threes. They are mute, bald, blue and strangely endearing. They are curious about everything, like silent aliens they seek to connect with the unfamiliar world in which they find themselves. Essentially, I suppose the Blue Men are dru...

26Sep

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Blood Brothers – Edinburgh Playhouse

Blood Brothers is an emotional morality tale which is all about the narrative, less about the music. Poor and fecund Mrs Johnstone discovers she is expecting twins shortly after starting work as a cleaner for rich infertile Mrs Lyons. With her husband having done a bunk and too many mouths to feed already, Mrs Johnstone agrees to let Mrs Lyons have one of her twins. Conveniently Mr Lyons is away on business for nine months, so Mrs Lyons is able to create the pretence of pregnancy, fooling everybody including her husband, into believing the baby is hers. The show’s narrator constantly warns of the consequences of their actions and is the voice of impending doom throughout. Written by Willy Russell, directed by Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright (resident director...

The Accused – theSpace at Surgeons’ Hall

21Aug

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

The Accused – theSpace at Surgeons’ Hall

After taking our seats in the performance space we waited in spooky red light, listening to eerie music, knocking and screams. So the mood was set – for murder! Daniel Hindley is on trial for the murder of pretty young thing Samantha Sutcliffe (names sound familiar?), after she stole the starring role in a show in which he had been promised the lead. After the charges have been read in the court, we see in flashback, various key moments leading up to the awful crime, although stopping short of revealing the actual killer. That’s up to the jury to decide. Before the case was presented, members of the audience had to look under our seats to discover if we had been selected for jury duty in the form of the presence, or not, of a paddle with “G” on one side...

In The Sick of It – Assembly George Square

17Aug

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

In The Sick of It – Assembly George Square

In the interest of transparency, I must declare from the start that I worked as a nurse in the NHS for over forty years. But this show, which I will struggle to define adequately, is by no means of interest only to NHS workers. We all use the NHS, we all care about the NHS, we all complain about the NHS and we all agree with the values of the NHS – “free at the point of need, providing care from the cradle to the grave.” Not only would everyone be entertained, amused, informed and moved by this show, but I almost feel attendance should be mandatory! “In the Sick of it”, presented by Wake the Beast, is a fusion of laugh out loud comedy, serious drama, audio newscasts, recorded interviews, audience participation, and some pretty cool music and crazy dancing. Th...

Agatha Christie’s The Rats – theSpace on the Mile

14Aug

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Agatha Christie’s The Rats – theSpace on the Mile

Performed by Hart Players, from Fleet in Hampshire, The Rats is one of a trilogy of less familiar Agatha Christie plays known as the Rule of Three. Each play stands alone, but has links between the characters, which become apparent when all three are performed as a single production. At a little over 30 minutes long, The Rats is the shortest in the trilogy. Described as “a dark and chilling tale”, this production didn’t quite seem to know where to pitch the style, hovering somewhere between playing it straight and playing for laughs. Either would have worked, but as it was this play neither thrilled nor amused. Sandra (Helen Tyson) arrives at an apartment, allegedly the home of the Torrences, to which she’s been invited to a party.&nbs...

9Aug

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Through The Mud – Summerhall Main Hall

Opening to screened news footage of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a mixed race student (Tinashe Warikandwa) is moved to join the protests and become a fierce advocate in the Black Lives Matter movement. 42 years earlier Assata Shakur, as a member of the Black Panther Party is violently involved with the civil rights movement, leading to a conviction for the killing of a State Trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike. Shakur (played by Apphia Campbell) later escaped prison and fled to Cuba, where she still lives and remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. The two women share the stage with Shakur as a sort of ghost mentor, reliving her own fight, as the student becomes ever more embroiled in the 2014 escalating violence, following one of the main prot...

31May

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

The Merchant of Venice – Traquair House

Regardless of the weather, you know summer’s arrived when outdoor Shakespeare comes around. And of all the venues, Traquair House is surely the loveliest and most apposite in the Scottish borders. Shakespeare at Traquair is a promenade production, moving from one picturesque location to another, with the mewling peacocks providing an atmospheric soundscape. The night we were there, once the shower of rain had passed, we were relentlessly midged for the rest of the evening. But such are the joys of outdoor theatre in Scotland, and it’s a testament to the competence of the large cast that I only saw one young person reacting to the pesky wee blighters. In any case, they did little to detract from the enjoyment of this fine production of the Shakespea...

Uncanny – I Know What I Saw – Festival Theatre Edinburgh

30May

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Uncanny – I Know What I Saw – Festival Theatre Edinburgh

How have I not heard of Danny Robins? He clearly has a huge following judging from the whoops and hollers from the near capacity audience when he made his appearance at the start of the show. Opening with spooky music (uncredited), fog effect and a back projection screen showing a skinny bloke walking through a forest, said bloke’s appearance on stage resulted in an eruption of ecstatic applause, cheers and whistles, prompting my companion to ask, “Who’s that?” The only reply forthcoming from me was, “No idea!” It turns out that Danny Robins is an erstwhile comedian and comedy writer, now a journalist and podcaster. His investigations into the paranormal have led to several radio series and podcasts on the subject, including “The Battersea Poltergeist” and “Uncan...

The Collie’s Shed – Festival Theatre Studio

15May

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

The Collie’s Shed – Festival Theatre Studio

This short and powerful play has made an appearance on Edinburgh fringe for the last two years. The Collie’s Shed now returns for a tour of Scotland’s central belt during the 40th anniversary year of the 1984 miners’ strike. Written and directed by Shelley Middler, the play focuses on four retired coal miners, all of whom lost their jobs when their colliery, Bilston Glen, closed in the 1980s following a bitter and violent strike which pitted miners against each other and against the police. Eight actors play four characters, with the action switching from 1984 to present day. Some of the striking miners of the time were arrested and imprisoned for their part in the violent acts on the picket line, and the narrative begins with news of a review by the Sco...