REVIEWS Archives - Page 178 of 548

Catherine Cohen: Come For Me – Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

4Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Catherine Cohen: Come For Me – Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

As a Cohen virgin I really didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a sweet hour of blissful humour and catchy, clever songs, backed by live music at the hands of a mysteriously talented woman. Or should I call her, a destruction machine, an angst-filled cluster-bomb, dressed as a sweet singing Disney princess who’s slain us all from song one. Hitting here and here and here, with looks and flicks and strings of words that seem to land with tiny implosions. Littering! She points towards me. But it’s not me it’s the guy next to me. Thank God! Not that she’s a roaster, she’s far too nice for that. But still, you do not want her sharp wit, her hot intellect upon you like the Eye of Sauron. Or maybe you do!? Anyway, no, she’s pointing at the professional photographer to my left. ...

Confessions of a Butterfly: An Evening with Janusz Korczak – Greenside at George Street

3Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Confessions of a Butterfly: An Evening with Janusz Korczak – Greenside at George Street

There have been many plays written about the Holocaust, but these plays are essential in educating generations who can no longer discuss this subject with survivors who are the primary source of information and education. Like the character in the play, playwright, and performer Jonathan Salt works with children, and specialises in educating people about the Holocaust and Genocide. Photo:Ciaran Cunningham Salt takes on the role of Janusz Korczak, a Polish Jew living in Warsaw who was a writer, educator, and doctor. The play is based upon Korczak’s diaries entitled ‘The Ghetto Diaries,’ and is set in May 1942 when Warsaw was under siege by Hitler’s army, when the Jews were being gradually segregated. Korczak opened two orphanages, one managed by himself, and the play...

3Aug

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

I Love You, Now What? – Park Theatre

First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes anticipatory grief? Written by actor and comedian Sophie Craig, I Love You, Now What? is a play that weaves its way through the chronology of courtship just as it plows headlong through each of the stages of grief. Craig plays Ava, a young musician who idolizes her father (Ian Puleston-Davies) both musically and personally. When he is diagnosed with a terminal illness Ava tries to blow off steam with a young actor named Theo (Andy Umerah) and instead finds herself completely fogged up in love. As their romance blooms and her father’s health fades, the intermingling of joy and grief becomes too potent a force for one woman to bear and Ava begins to lose her grip on all the things she loves most. Director and dramaturg Toby Clarke a...

3Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Doped – Hill Street Theatre

Debuting at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a brand-new three-hander providing 55-minutes of ultimate Scottish patter. Xander Cowan (Buzz), Keiran Lee-Hamilton (Faolan) and Sam Stuart Fraser (Tinny) invite the audience into the front room for an hour of paranoia, rage and an alternative take on friendship and greed. Written by Sam Stuart Fraser (trained at Glasgow Clyde College and a repeat performer with Reconnect Theatres) and Sean Fullwood, this new perspective on the life of the stoner is hilarious and very Scottish. Fraser tells us: “The story of “Doped” is an idea myself and Sean had for a long time. We show what can happen to young men left on the outskirts of society - left to fend for themselves. Although Doped is a comedy, the emotions and struggles these character...

3Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Legally Blonde – Saint Stephens Theatre

Sound Events Scotland returns to the Fringe for a second year with their successful musical, Legally Blonde. Elle Wood (Taylor Crum, 19) totters her way to authenticity and love as she outsmarts the self-righteous Harvard elite and her ex-boyfriend, Warner (Aaron Hastings), in a high-octane, chirpy tale of a girl coming into her power through her wits and not her tits. Crum is currently in her third year of musical theatre at Hamilton Theatre Arts, Glasgow. She sings and dances, balancing effortlessly on six-inch stilettoes. She has more to offer and will be a fully rounded professional performer when she finds her ultimate groove and dives deep into characterisation. Musical Theatre is a demanding genre, if you can crack the full spectrum and include detailed characterisation, the ...

3Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

The Bookies – Summerhall Cairns Theatre

Treat yourself to a spot of pre-show research but hold on tight. Tapping ‘Bookies’ into any search engine is not an edifying experience. The avalanche of links, options and manoeuvres from betting sites is staggering. Obscene probably a more accurate description. Originally written as a sitcom pilot one pines to know why this script was never properly picked up, the seams of the subject rich enough to mine for episode after episode… anyway, years after, the writers re-wrote ‘hings as a play and pitched it to Dundee Rep who ran it in May 2022 to some well-deserved acclaim. Mikey Burnett (co-writer with Joe McCann) has worked in such establishments and hails from Edinburgh so ticks all the boxes necessary to fashion a paean to desperate locals, the lines between staff, customers and h...

A Montage of Monet – Greenside, George Street (Mint Studio)

3Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

A Montage of Monet – Greenside, George Street (Mint Studio)

Thinking of Claude Monet, the famous French impressionist painter, I think of lilies, beautiful gardens, and weeping willows. I will not pretend to be an art connoisseur, but Monet’s paintings elicit a feeling of tranquillity. Written by playwright Joan Greening, whose background lies in teaching Art History, with past plays including ‘The Rape of Artemisia Gentileschi’, ‘Rossetti’s Women’ and ‘At Home With The Bronte’s’ available to watch on Scenesaver - https://www.joangreening.com/#/at-home-with-the-brontes/. Greening’s collaboration with Stephen Smith (a remarkable character actor), brings Monet the man to life. Beginning towards the end of Monet’s life when cataracts cause his eyesight to deteriorate, he tells the tale of his life, painting, his romantic loves, and his ...

Eric’s Tales of the Sea: A Submariner’s Yarn – Just The Tonic at The Caves

3Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Eric’s Tales of the Sea: A Submariner’s Yarn – Just The Tonic at The Caves

Eric, a veteran storyteller, began his career as a submarine sailor at the age of sixteen. As you would expect if you’ve ever read The Tale of the Ancient Mariner at school, Eric has a few tall tales to tell. Dressed in a roll-neck sweater, he looks every bit the fisherman and, indeed, he can make even battered fish interesting. The venue is perfect for this low-key show. You walk up stark stairs, along narrow corridors and through several doors before entering a dark, dank, enclosed cavern with a curved roof. The sound effect of a deeply submerged submarine envelops you in sonar pings and silence. A screen where typed statements magically greet you sets the scene. It is intriguing. Eric appears. A mop of curls crowning a cheeky, bearded face, Eric has a way with the audience. He...

The Ultimate Classic Rock Show – Floral Pavilion

3Aug

By Carole BaldockNo Comments

North West

The Ultimate Classic Rock Show – Floral Pavilion

Can’t hope to please all of the people all of the time, but you can have a damn good go; it’s not too difficult with a huge amount of remarkable material to draw upon. And I like the way they’ve juxtaposed Ultimate and Classic when basically either would do, but that suggests it doesn’t get better than this. They may well be right. Only a couple of my personal favourites tonight, however, the packed audience was thrilled to bits, and dancing in the aisles. Well, I say dancing - too energetic a term for the kind of ubiquitous left shoe/right shoe shuffle people of a certain age indulge in. The good humoured atmosphere was because of the band’s badinage, with the audience and with each other. And each member had their place in the sun, even just to deliver a line or a riff. Lead singer an...

The State of Grace – Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh

3Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The State of Grace – Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh

Aussie, Michaela Burger (A Migrant’s Son) is at her core a consummate storyteller, and no stranger to the Edinburgh Fringe. Through the mediums of video, music, song, prose and acting she returns to Edinburgh Fringe for the 4th time, supported by House of Oz to tell the story, the legacy, of fellow Adelaidian, Pippa O’Sulliven. Pippa, AKA ‘Grace Bellavue’ a sex worker, rose to meteoric fame and notoriety on social media before her untimely suicide at just 28, in 2015. Michaela has clearly researched hard, into the archive of Pip, talked to her parents and friends and traced the considerable digital footprint that Grace left. Pippa’s dream, to ‘Build the Grace Business’, learn Physics, savour food and make love did not turn out quite the way she planned, but from this evidence she had qu...