Tom Scott, Author at North West End UK

Mrs Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library – Traverse Theatre

10Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Mrs Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library – Traverse Theatre

The cell door opens, and a terrified woman is bundled into a dingy, dimly lit basement. A uniformed police officer aggressively tells her to give him her handbag and empties its contents on a table. He orders her to take off her coat and raise her arms, then frisks her. The interrogation starts. This is the dramatic start to ‘Mrs Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library’, Jenny Lyn Bader’s fascinating play which recently had its premiere Off-Broadway in New York and is now being seen for the first time in Europe in the Traverse’s studio theatre. The play is inspired by the real-life experience of Hannah Arendt, the political theorist and philosopher, who was briefly imprisoned by the Nazis. It is 1933. The previous year the Nazis had become the largest party in the Reichstag, and ...

Youth in Flames – Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker 1

6Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Youth in Flames – Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker 1

‘Youth in Flames’ makes a triumphant return to Edinburgh following a sell-out run in New York. Last year, Mimi Martin’s brilliant life-enhancing play garnered a Scotsman Fringe First and a hatful of 5 star reviews. The play tells the story of a British teenager, Millie, coming of age as protests erupt in 2019 against the Hong Kong Government’s proposal to extradite criminal suspects to mainland China. Mimi Martin has written a sparkling script which elicits a mesmerising performance from the playwright herself. She grabs our attention from the very first moment as a strong-willed, sometimes rebellious, schoolgirl venting her feelings about her teachers, peers and parents. There are plenty of light moments in the early scenes but things take a serious turn when Jesse, Millie’s clo...

The Front List: Nicola Sturgeon – McEwan Hall

17Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

The Front List: Nicola Sturgeon – McEwan Hall

Nicola Sturgeon at the height of her popularity, was a political rockstar. In 2014 12,000 people packed Glasgow’s Hydro arena - more accustomed to hosting pop stars such as Lady Gaga - to hear her speak. It’s more than two years since she unexpectedly resigned as Scotland’s First Minister and she’s faced some torrid times since then. Now she’s written her memoirs, a 464-page book called ‘Frankly’. On Thursday more than a thousand people filled Edinburgh’s McEwan Hall for her book launch. And many more watched around the world as the event was streamed online. Nicola Sturgeon was Scotland’s longest serving First Minister (2014-23) and the first woman to hold that role. She had been Deputy First Minister for seven years under Alex Salmond’s leadership. Together they took Scotlan...

Cutting The Tightrope – Church Hill Theatre

16Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Cutting The Tightrope – Church Hill Theatre

This is a compelling, provocative and passionate piece of theatre about artistic freedom, censorship and political activism. You may love it, you may hate it, but you certainly won’t be bored. Originally produced last year at London’s Arcola Theatre, this collection of short plays was written in response to a statement from Arts Council, England, in 2024, warning that artists making political statements either in their work or even on social media could be in breach of their funding agreements. Later it was revealed that the statement followed discussions with the British Government about artists speaking out about the Israel-Gaza war. We know the names of the twelve playwrights but we don’t know who wrote each play. Although all the plays are making serious points, some of them are ...

14Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Youth in Flames – Zoo Playground

‘Youth in Flames’ is outstanding, a life-enhancing show full of theatrical magic. It’s beautifully written, pulsates with energy, is brilliantly performed and directed, and is enhanced by a highly skilled creative team. A sublime production. The play focusses on the protests which started in March 2019 in response to the Hong Kong Government’s proposal to allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. This outraged many in Hong Kong who feared that China would gain more influence and control, and that basic democratic rights would be eroded. Activists and journalists were particularly worried that they would be targeted. Hong Kong is a former British colony which was given back to China in 1997. The extradition bill was seen by many as a breach of the ‘Basic Law’ (agreed...

My Name is Rachel Corrie – ZOO Southside

11Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

My Name is Rachel Corrie – ZOO Southside

Rachel Corrie was an American who was killed in 2003 by the Israeli army. She stood in the path of an armoured bulldozer which was about to demolish a Palestinian house in Rafah, Gaza. At the time of her death Rachel, who was 23 years old, was working with other foreign nationals for the International Solidarity Movement. ‘My Name Is Rachel Corrie’ is based on her journals and emails. They were edited by the actor Alan Rickman, and the journalist Katharine Viner. Rickman also directed the premiere of the play at the Royal Court Theatre in 2005. Rachel had youthful ambitions to be a writer, and this play shows that she was immensely talented. Her writing is powerful and moving, crackles with sparkling imagery and is often poetic. She started keeping a journal when she was a child....

#CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Play That Trump Does Not Want You to See! – Pleasance Courtyard

10Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

#CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Play That Trump Does Not Want You to See! – Pleasance Courtyard

In August 2017 white supremacists held a ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which erupted into violence resulting in more than 30 people being injured in clashes between the so-called Alt Right and counter-protesters. The next day a white supremacist deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters, injuring 35 people and killing Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal who provided legal help to people at risk of repossessions and evictions. Priyanka Shetty, who was at the time a student in Charlottesville, has written and performs this meticulously researched one person play. It’s a powerful production, directed by Yury Urnov, which lambasts the violent racism of the white supremacists, but also contends that what happened at Charlottesville was not an an...

The Beautiful Future Is Coming – Traverse Theatre

8Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

The Beautiful Future Is Coming – Traverse Theatre

This is an ambitious, well-crafted and very watchable play about the climate crisis. Flora Wilson Brown has written an intriguing drama which covers a period of 246 years. In 1856 we are in New York with Eunice and her husband, John. This part of the story was inspired by the American scientist, Eunice Foote, who discovered the greenhouse effect: that higher carbon dioxide levels lead to a hotter planet. Phoebe Thomas (Eunice) gives a captivating performance as the brilliant scientist who is increasingly frustrated by the fact that men won’t take her seriously because she is a woman. Eunice has apocalyptic nightmares about the fate facing the world if people won’t listen to her warnings. Matt Whitchurch is impressive as her husband, John, who tells his wife she can be ‘difficult’...

4Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Consumed – Traverse Theatre

Playwright Karis Kelly believes in challenging audiences even if that makes them feel uncomfortable. And she certainly does that in ‘Consumed’ which opens the lid on a dysfunctional family in Northern Ireland. Four generations of women gather in Bangor to celebrate the 90th birthday of Eileen who lives with Gilly, her 65 year old daughter. Gilly’s daughter, Jenny, aged 40, and her 14 year-old daughter, Muireann, fly over from London for the occasion. Eileen wears a party hat as the play starts, but there is tension in the air as Gilly returns from her last minute shopping. And things don’t get any better when Jenny and Muireann arrive. This is not an easy watch. Light moments are few and far between. And in fact what starts as a naturalistic kitchen sink drama develops into someth...

2Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Make It Happen – Festival Theatre

It was a privilege to be in the packed audience at the Festival Theatre for this stunning production of James Graham’s exquisite new play. The 2025 Edinburgh International Festival could not have got off to a better start. This is a co-production by the EIF, the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep Theatre, brilliantly directed by Andrew Panton. ‘Make It Happen’ was the mantra of the infamous CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Fred Goodwin, who expanded the 300 year old Edinburgh institution at a colossal pace to make it the world’s biggest bank. But in 2008, as global markets tumbled, the RBS faced collapse. Coincidentally both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor in 2008 were Scottish. And the play also reminds us that it was a Scotsman who in effect sparked the growth o...