Wendy McEwan, Author at North West End UK

6May

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

In Other Words – The Studio

When your partner is diagnosed with a life-changing illness, your shared history becomes a prologue. At first, nothing tangible changes between you. But at that moment, you each gain a new identity within your relationship. They are the patient, and you are the carer. And the future you had planned together is revealed as a mirage. As the audience enters, Jane (Lydia White) and Arthur (Matthew Seager) are falling in love. They sit beside each other, blissfully conversing and gazing into each other’s eyes, accompanied by the music of Frank Sinatra. This is the very beginning of the life they will spend together. Then, the lighting changes. Arthur remains seated, but now he is nonverbal, trembling, childlike. Jane comforts him. Photo: Tom Dixon We follow their relationship from t...

Tim Rice – My Life in Musicals: I Know Him So Well – Festival Theatre

23Apr

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Tim Rice – My Life in Musicals: I Know Him So Well – Festival Theatre

Tim Rice is a man of many words. He’s been writing lyrics for 60 years, collaborating with some of our most celebrated composers - Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Elton John, of course, and more recently, Gary Barlow. He even wrote some lyrics for Elvis. Rice wanted to be a rock star, so he sent demo tapes to all the leading record labels. Impressed by his lyrics, a musical publisher introduced him to Lloyd-Webber, and a great songwriting partnership was born. A teacher friend invited the pair to write a song for a school concert. The result was an early iteration of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The concert was a great success – “This is the first time the parents have enjoyed a school concert”, said the teacher. One of those parents was a leading theatre critic, and a coupl...

Eliza Carthy and Jennifer Reid – Traverse Theatre

18Mar

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Eliza Carthy and Jennifer Reid – Traverse Theatre

Jennifer Reid performs nineteenth-century Lancashire dialect and Victorian broadside ballads. She comes from Rochdale, “but I admit it”. Reid sings unaccompanied throughout the evening but provides percussion for one of Carthy’s songs in the form of clog dancing. Eliza Carthy describes herself as a “modern English musician”. She sings centuries-old traditional songs, and more modern pieces including her own compositions. She mostly sings unaccompanied and occasionally brings out her fiddle. Carthy hails from Yorkshire, and a few good-natured cross-Pennine insults are exchanged over the course of the evening. Reid is a fantastic storyteller, bringing life to some memorable characters such as “Frolicksome Kay”, a good Lancashire lass who is disappointed by her new boyfriend from Yo...

25Feb

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

The Flames – Traverse Theatre

The Flames is a performance company for people over the age of fifty. Each member of the ensemble (I counted approximately 22) tells a moving story from their own past. The theme of the stories is ikigai, a Japanese term often translated as “purpose”. Ikigai is about the things that bring value and meaning to life. Each performer speaks in turn, while the others set the scene with movement (choreographed by Aya Kobayashi), reacting with excitement or disdain to the speaker; becoming waves, or an ID parade; stamping out the rhythm of a train. They tell stories about lifelong friendships; sleeping rough in Helsinki; and uncovering family secrets. One participant tells us about the time she literally walked a mile in someone else’s shoes. She ended up with sore feet. Film footage (desig...

Herak/Bulaktin Quartet Featuring Paul Towndrow – Traverse Theatre

19Feb

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Herak/Bulaktin Quartet Featuring Paul Towndrow – Traverse Theatre

I’m not especially familiar with jazz, and if I’d heard this music on the radio, I wouldn’t have got it. It turns out that jazz makes more sense when you experience a live performance, and my ears begin to tune in to its language. It reminds me of the first time I saw Shakespeare performed. The gathering feels cosy, in the informal setting of the Traverse bar. I am struck by the intense concentration of each musician when the others are playing. This is a conversation, where each participant must focus so they can respond to the others’ cues. Listening is everything. The composers, Miro Herak and Daniel Bulaktin, draw on their Slavic heritage as well as classical traditions. The opening number, Herak’s Slavic Dance, is rousing, and is followed by Ellie, a thoughtfully melodic pie...

12Jan

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

PASS Double Bill – Traverse Theatre

The BA Dance and Drama students from PASS showcase their artistry in two ensemble pieces, created in collaboration with Dance Base. First up, the cryptically titled YGNEREME. The blurb in the programme talks about grief, collective action and emergency. A single dancer, Clara Browning, moves playfully in a spotlight, but then something changes and she is swept away by the collective. Assimilated, if you like. There is a pulse-driven techno soundtrack which enhances the feeling of ritual, and of not being quite what one was before – the sounds being machine-like. The rituals we use to navigate grief have ancient roots, and their comfort comes from following a well-established path. The movements emphasise rhythm and are all about the collective: there are few moments where individu...

21Oct

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

reINCARNATION – Festival Theatre

Nigeria’s population is overwhelmingly young, and unemployment is high. Amidst the hardship, dance is a popular creative outlet, and many young Nigerians share their talents through videos on social media. In 2014, Qudus Onikeku returned to his home city of Lagos, having achieved acclaim as a choreographer in France. He was inspired by the abundance of creative talent, and invited some dancers to a workshop. The workshop grew into a school, and the Q Dance Company is a creative home for the school’s graduates. The rehearsal period began with an improvisation session. Onikeku instructed the dancers to allow their bodies to take the lead, and let the dance pass through them. Throughout the session, Onikeku sketched, and he refined the ideas to devise the piece. The resulting choreo...

Dr Louise Newson – Hormones and Menopause: The Great Debate -Festival Theatre

9Oct

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Dr Louise Newson – Hormones and Menopause: The Great Debate -Festival Theatre

It started in my mid-forties. A woman, maybe a decade older than me, would look around to check for eavesdroppers, then say something like, ‘I can’t drink coffee anymore. Not since the menopause.’ Nobody had prepared them for the change of life. Nobody spoke about it. For generations, everyone was blindsided by the menopause, just like that other taboo experience, menstruation. Now approaching the big five-oh, I’m a member of the first generation in recent history to have access to information on the menopause, thanks to the courage and kindness of those who walked this path before me. Dr Louise Newson is one of those women. She’s a GP, but her medical education barely covered the menopause. The symptoms of perimenopause started in her late thirties: depression, cystitis, loss of con...

Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me – Summerhall

25Sep

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me – Summerhall

Ben Harrison and David Paul Jones were both teenagers in the 1980s. Both felt suffocated by their respective small towns, and both found solace in the music of the time. Harrison tells a selection of stories from his youth, and Jones performs his own interpretations of some of those songs. It’s a nostalgic revisit to a vibrant era that now seems defined by its contrasts. Emery Hunter’s integrated BSL interpretation drew me in right from the start. I am not a BSL user, but to me, her performance felt like poetry. Her flowing movements were beautiful to watch, with a rhythm that synchronised with the others on stage, but delightful in their own right. I hope that I will have more chances to see BSL poetry in future. Jones has taken well-known songs and made them his own, from the t...

Silly Little Bits – The Royal Scots Club

28Aug

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Silly Little Bits – The Royal Scots Club

Everyone needs a laugh now and then, and Edinburgh-based Broadsword Theatre are here to save the day with a selection of comedy sketches. It’s energetic, playful, and, as the title suggests, ever so silly. Why work with a focus group to evaluate programming ideas for your TV station, when you can simply get a Content Goblin? This monosyllabic “average” viewer loves shows about hot people running pyramid schemes, and cops who are also other things, but whatever you do, don’t mention werewolves. Let’s be honest, we all have a content goblin within us. OK, maybe you don’t, but I do. The sketch about workplace desk yoga struck a nerve, with cries of recognition from the audience. A first-time stand-up gets heckled by his parents. (I have seen this happen for real at the fringe before...