Tom Scott, Author at North West End UK

‘Born in the USA (Leaving Vietnam’ – C Arts (studio), Edinburgh

1Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

‘Born in the USA (Leaving Vietnam’ – C Arts (studio), Edinburgh

This engrossing one man show tells the story of Jimmy Vandenburgh, a decorated marine who finds it difficult to come to terms with life after his military service in Vietnam War, and is swayed for a while by Trump. Like many veterans, Jimmy still bears the mental scars of the War. “I died once in Vietnam, and once every day since then,” he tells us. Although it’s nearly fifty years since the USA had to admit defeat and pull out of Vietnam, America itself - like Jimmy - is still scarred by that conflict in which nearly 60,000 Americans died - a huge total, though dwarfed by more than a million Vietnamese deaths (half of them civilians). During the 1960s and 1970s, while the Vietnam War raged, America was more divided than perhaps at any time since the Civil War. But the USA is just...

13Jun

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Lie Low – Traverse Theatre

‘Lie Low’ is a theatrical jewel. This is theatre at its best, a production which deals with serious issues but still manages to be hugely entertaining and genuinely funny. If you possibly can, go and see this amazing show. You won’t be disappointed. ‘Lie Low’ is brilliantly written by Irish playwright, Ciara Elizabeth Smyth. The script won the Best Theatre Script award in 2023 from the Writers Guild of Ireland. It’s energetic, funny, profound, imaginative, inventive and deeply moving. Smyth’s script is superbly directed by Oisín Kearney. The production is perfectly paced and keeps the audience on the edge of its seats throughout the 70 minutes of the show. Charlotte McCurry plays Faye, a woman in her thirties who has been suffering from nightmares and insomnia following a violent ...

And…And…And – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

8Oct

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

And…And…And – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Isla Cowan’s beautifully written new play is a gem. It focusses on the relationship between two young women in their last year at school whose lives are overshadowed by the climate emergency. The play opens on a beach where the two seventeen year olds are collecting litter (including a lot of plastic items). Their characters are brought to life by Caroline McKeown (Cassie) and Tiana Milne-Wilson (Claire). Those two very talented actors are totally convincing as the best friends. They have a very relaxed natural rapport but as the play develops and they seem to be growing apart, their emotionally charged scenes are perfecting pitched, and engrossing. Two wonderful performances. Cassie and Claire are both concerned by the climate crisis, but it is Cassie who is the activist. She wants ...

Group Portrait In A Summer Landscape – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

6Oct

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Group Portrait In A Summer Landscape – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

It is a brave playwright who describes his play as “Scottish Chekhov”, but Peter Arnott’s magnificent new play does not disappoint. It’s an exhilarating tour-de-force which deals with huge issues while zooming in on the complex human relationships of a group of privileged and talented people. It’s hugely entertaining, thought-provoking, and witty, but not always an easy watch. The first night audience was often shrieking with laughter, but sometimes stunned into shocked silence. It’s set in the summer of 2014 in the heady days leading up to the Scottish Independence Referendum. But although that’s discussed, it’s not a play about Independence. Nor is it about the climate emergency, although that issue features, too. And it’s not really about God though the Deity is important to some ...

The Kids With Nae Hame – C Arts, C Venues

29Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

The Kids With Nae Hame – C Arts, C Venues

This new play gives a voice to children who have been taken into ‘care’. They are ‘The Kids With Nae Hame’. The script, written by Geraldine Smith, is based on the personal experiences of the care system by some of the cast members. The company formed to present this play is called ‘It’s About Time (Scotland)’. That title encapsulates the campaigning spirit of this play. Children in care have, for a variety of reasons, been taken away from their parental homes. But sadly, in the care system they’re not necessarily getting the care and attention they need. In this play we see acts of emotional ill-treatment, even cruelty, by care workers. There seems to be a continuous battle being waged between the staff and the teenagers. The ongoing Scottish Child Abuse enquiry has hear...

18Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Draining The Swamp – C Arts

Sir Oswald Mosley was an antisemite who led the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s. His notorious Blackshirts were a byword for political thuggery. Mosley was interned during the Second World War. Yet Mosley started life as a mainstream politician. First elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative in 1918, aged only 21, he later joined Labour and in 1929 was appointed a member of Ramsay MacDonald’s Government. Mosley was spoken of as a future Prime Minister. But he resigned a year later, and in 1932 formed the British Union of Fascists. As we enter the intimate venue for this new play by D.R Hill, stern looking Blackshirts mumble greetings. We are soon welcomed by Mosley himself. It is 1961 and we’re his guests at his home in France. He’s launching the ‘new Union Movement’ ...

17Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

For Better For Worse – C ARTS

This thought-provoking new drama by Edinburgh playwright Jill Franklin was inspired by the Independence Referendum of 2014. But although set in the heady days of that September nine years ago, it is not really about Scottish Independence which is a peripheral issue here. Diane, movingly played by Sheila Duncan, became a widow six months ago when her husband died. Now it’s her birthday and her son, Mark, arranges a surprise visit with her daughter, Natalie, to celebrate the occasion. Although Diane is pleased to see them, she gently castigates them for assuming she hadn’t made other arrangements. During the next few days there ensues a struggle by Diane to find her own voice. Her husband had made all the decisions in their marriage, and now her children seem to be trying to tell...

11Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Iain Dale: All Talk with Nicola Sturgeon MSP – Pleasance at EICC

Nicola Sturgeon received a rapturous reception when she walked onto the stage. The audience was overwhelmingly on her side with regular outbursts of applause in response to her comments. This was her first extended interview since she stepped down as Scotland’s First Minister five months ago. Her interviewer was the broadcaster, Iain Dale, who is also interviewing other politicians at the Festival Fringe. Although a Conservative, you cannot tell from Dale’s questions. His approach is conversational, not confrontational. Dale has a good rapport with Sturgeon who he’s interviewed twice before. It’s a wide-ranging interview on a host of subjects including some very personal questions. Dale reminds Sturgeon that at the start of the year she said she had ‘plenty left in the tank’ so wh...

Dreams of Anne Frank – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

11Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Dreams of Anne Frank – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

This is a gripping production about the experiences of Amsterdam teenager, Anne Frank, who was forced into hiding from the Nazis in 1942. The young actors from Zenith Youth Theatre in Bath are to be congratulated on an assured production. It’s a tragic tale but Bernard Kops’s play, loosely based on Anne Frank’s famous diary, provides plenty of amusing moments. Anne, along with her parents and older sister, Margot, hide in a ‘secret annexe’ of a warehouse because, as a Jewish family, they fear for their lives when the German army enters Amsterdam. They have to share the cramped living accommodation with another Jewish family, Mr and Mrs Van Daan and their son, Peter. And also, with Mr Dussel, a dentist. They live in the annexe for more than two years and unsurprisingly ...

8Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Prick – The Space on the Mile: Space 3

‘Prick’ is a powerful new play by Laurie Flanigan Hegge which throws a light on a shameful period in Scotland’s history. Between 1563 and 1736 nearly 4000 people (mainly women) were accused of witchcraft. More than 2500 of them were brutally executed. Garroted by the hangman, they were then burnt at the stake, leaving no bodies for their families to bury. The play’s title, ‘Prick’, refers to a sharp iron needle pushed, often repeatedly, into the bodies of women accused of witchcraft. The Pricker was seeking a witch’s mark, a part of the body which would not bleed or feel pain. The accused woman had first been stripped and shaved. If all else failed, the pricks often had a blunt end which would not draw blood. The Pricker could then claim that he’d found the devil’s mark. Often ...