REVIEWS Archives - Page 21 of 623

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

12Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

Award-winning hit of last year’s Fringe, When We Were Young features at theSpace on the Mile for another year running. Consisting of the first act of a two-act play, this show sees a group of young teenagers living in Govan in the 90s caught up in the young team culture. The tone is set by group leader Mooney (played by Liam Lambie) now grown-up as he reflects on his troubled youth. When We Were Young sends a powerful message of how systemic issues impact those living in under cared for areas – how easy it is to fall into gang violence and knife crime and how it affects the community. This is such a quintessentially Scottish show, with Lambie’s writing so accurately capturing the crude and blunt essence of the ‘neds’. With sharp and quick-witted insults being...

Tom Neenan: Portrait of Tom as a Young Neenan- Bluebell at Underbelly, George Square

11Aug

By Triona ScullyNo Comments

Scotland

Tom Neenan: Portrait of Tom as a Young Neenan- Bluebell at Underbelly, George Square

Billed as a show that combines Tom Neenan’s skills as a writer, comic, actor and semi-professional portrait artist, Portrait of Tom as a Young Neenan delivers on all fronts. Neenan’s title is knowingly pretentious and gives an accurate insight into the eponymous main character. An accomplished performer, his ability to make the mundane theatrical is evident from the onset when he delivers a clever sketch on getting a passport photo. It is a perfect entry into his story which ponders both the practical and philosophical nature of a portrait he is commissioned to paint. His subject is Lionel, an eccentric octogenarian with a creative approach to biography that rivals Neenan’s own and makes for some interesting observations on self-perception. Neenan weaves parts of his life t...

Beats + Strings Soul Renaissance – Hen & Chickens Theatre

11Aug

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Beats + Strings Soul Renaissance – Hen & Chickens Theatre

The Hen and Chickens in Highbury is a charming boozer. As the sun sets, golden light floods the room, and it feels warmly bohemian. The Theatre upstairs is bijou, but a perfect theatrical attic for intense, intimate performance. BEATS + STRINGS- Soul Renaissance are a fledgeling 3-piece band from Kansas. Each member boasts a credible solo career that thrived before they got their groove on as a trio. While they did a stellar job of bringing funky brunch party vibes to their performance, the space and set up felt overly formal for the occasion. Their repertoire felt honed for a subterranean, rose-hued jazz club. They needed a space where tables are dancefloors and smashed martini glasses add notes to the soundtrack. This room was not right, but as Whitney agreed- it’s okay. The strin...

A Trial: After an Enemy of the People — Lyceum Theatre

11Aug

By Saira KunjuvalappilNo Comments

Scotland

A Trial: After an Enemy of the People — Lyceum Theatre

Brazilian director Christiane Jatahy performs an open-surgery adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 classic, An Enemy of the People. Performed in Portuguese with English subtitles, the production combines pre-filmed inserts, video conferencing, and live video to create an unusual and immersive theatrical experience. The entire play is presented in a courtroom setting, where a jury of 12 members selected from the audience must decide whether Dr Thomas Stockmann is an “Enemy of the People” or not. The central conflict begins when Dr Stockmann discovers that the water supplying the town’s spa is dangerously polluted. Although he believes exposing the problem is the morally right thing to do, his decision threatens the town’s economy, creating a difficult conflict between public health and fina...

Burke & Hare Body Snatchers Serial Killers, Ulstermen – Pickle Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court

11Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Burke & Hare Body Snatchers Serial Killers, Ulstermen – Pickle Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court

Sometimes the bustle of the fringe can get a little much: all those loud sounds, bright lights and dance numbers, sometimes you just need a cosy little sit down where you can discuss serial killers…. well that’s my idea of a relaxing break anyway. Burke & Hare Body Snatchers Serial Killers, Ulstermen talks about the real history surrounding the infamous serial killers, starting way before their crimes. Historian Andrew Johnston takes the story from the point of view of an Irish man himself, stating that he wishes to “reclaim” the killers history for Ireland. We start with the Origins of Burke, Hare and their wives, delve into the lead up to the murders and the victims. We hear of the medical school’s struggles and role in the case, along with the verdict that would leave the pub...

I F*cked You In My Spaceship – King’s Arms

11Aug

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

I F*cked You In My Spaceship – King’s Arms

There may be barely a spaceship in sight in Louis Emmitt-Stern’s sharply witty Queer comedy-drama, but there’s certainly plenty of sex, relationships and increasingly blurred boundaries. Played in the round with no conventional set or props, the Kings Arms’ studio is transformed with a simple overhead rig of paper-lantern ‘planets’, star garlands and one solitary paper rocket. Bathed in pink and purple light as the strains of 2001: A Space Odyssey’s opening theme echoes around the room; we first eavesdrop on the romantic machinations of couple Leo (Ciarán Lockwood) and Dan (Ben Bradfield). As an attempt at alien role-play is hilariously undermined by asthma, we have our tone set for a play that places awkward, authentic conversations inside decidedly offbeat scenarios. In parallel, w...

Sarah Hester Ross: Serving C*nt – The Den at Gilded Balloon Teviot

11Aug

By Ross MackieNo Comments

Scotland

Sarah Hester Ross: Serving C*nt – The Den at Gilded Balloon Teviot

Sarah Hester Ross – Serving C*nt is bold, raw, gloriously unapologetic, and exactly the kind of show that thrives at the Edinburgh Fringe. From the moment Sarah steps into the room, she makes it clear that this is not going to be a quiet or cautious hour. Instead, she serves up a sharp, musical, and fiercely funny performance that celebrates confidence, womanhood, and the power of saying exactly what you mean. This is refreshing, but I have to say that I was feeling a little exposed as a man, I needn’t have, as Sarah put it, I was welcome if I was well behaved. I was. Playing at The Den at Gilded Balloon Teviot, the show has the feel of an intimate cabaret gig mixed with stand-up comedy and musical theatre. Sarah moves between comic songs, hilarious audience engagement, and punch...

Aufguss X The Waves – Sauna Theatre, Summerhall

11Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Aufguss X The Waves – Sauna Theatre, Summerhall

My God, this is refreshing. And at the Edinburgh Fringe, by the middle of the day I have walked several miles, watched several shows and hauled a bag full of chargers, notebooks and assorted electronic paraphernalia, refreshing is no small achievement. Sauna Theatre is Summerhall's latest experiment in what theatre might actually be. There is a little faff involved. Swimming trunks, flip flops and a couple of towels aren't normally essential reviewing equipment. But changing cubicles and lockers are provided, valuables disappear safely inside, water is handed out and soon a collection of strangers are standing around in varying degrees of undress waiting to see what happens next. What happens next is a sauna. A proper one. I like heat, so naturally I head for the top ben...

The Jolly Fisherman – Buttercup, Underbelly, George Square

11Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Jolly Fisherman – Buttercup, Underbelly, George Square

There is a certain irony in spending ten minutes wandering up and down George Square Gardens trying to find a play which turns out to be largely about our need to find a place to belong. The Jolly Fisherman isn't actually inside the Gardens at all. Eventually I discover it outside, beside the box office, housed in what looks remarkably like a Portakabin. Perhaps accidentally, it is the perfect introduction to John Dinneen's thoughtful new play about place, identity and what happens when the buildings we invest with meaning cease to be ours. At its centre are Alan and Amir, childhood friends growing up in a changing East London. The Jolly Fisherman pub becomes the physical point around which their lives, and eventually their differing ideas about belonging, revolve....

11Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Singer – Traverse Theatre

There is a lovely irony running through The Singer. This is a show fascinated by the importance of finding the flow in music, yet it is a production which repeatedly struggles to find its own. Perhaps that is entirely intentional. Life is messy. Creativity is messy. Relationships are certainly messy, and the relationship between Joe, a profoundly Deaf songwriter, and Andy, a musician whose own career has fallen apart, was never going to travel in a conveniently straight line. So perhaps the stops, starts and sudden changes of direction are part of Cora Bissett's design. But that raises another question. Is the mess what an audience actually wants, or do we still crave the simplicity of a story which knows where it is taking us? There is an enormous amount to admire here. J...