REVIEWS Archives - Page 53 of 548

Cold, Dark, Matters – C ARTS | C venues | C aurora

10Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Cold, Dark, Matters – C ARTS | C venues | C aurora

Jack Brownridge-Kelly’s one-man thriller, Cold, Dark, Matters finishes its run at the Edinburgh Fringe this week. Brownridge-Kelly has produced a masterclass in storytelling as he shares the tale of the mysterious events our main character Colin undergoes after he moves to Cornwall. The more this piece progresses, the more peculiar twists and turns we uncover. Brownridge-Kelly plays all the characters he meets in the close-knit, cult-like village, from the nosy and haughty community busybody to the gruff and cryptic neighbour - transitioning from each with clarity and fluidity - each completely distinctive from one another. Narrating the piece as himself, with a conversational and interactive note, he too seems just as shocked by the contents revealed in the mysteri...

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Ceremony – Summerhall

I’m not sure what’s more remarkable - the fact that The Ceremony ends with thirty-odd people making chicken noises at full volume in the Summerhall courtyard, or the fact that this is the second show I’d seen tonight to feature a chicken. I’ve been reviewing theatre for many years, and I don’t think I’ve ever typed the word “chicken” before. Tonight, it comes up twice. Make of that what you will.It starts innocently enough. I arrived early, take my seat in the front row, notepad at the ready. Unfortunately, the front row plus notepad is like wearing a neon sign reading “critic” - and Ben Volchok, our master of ceremonies, clocks me straight away with a knowing wink and a smile. The premise of the show is disarmingly simple: the audience and the performer create a ritual together. That’s it...

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Work and Days – The Lyceum

Some shows you see, enjoy, and forget. Others you see, endure, and wish you could forget. Works and Days is the rarest kind: the show you see, stagger out of, and then spend days trying to explain to bewildered friends who think you’ve been on the strong cheese.Brought to the Edinburgh International Festival by the Belgian collective FC Bergman - Stef Aerts, Joé Agemans, Thomas Verstraeten, and Marie Vinck - this is a wordless 70-minute epic inspired by the ancient Greek poet Hesiodos’ meditation on labour, life, death, and our place in the natural world. But forget the fusty schoolroom idea of “Greek poetry.” This is Hesiodos by way of Hieronymus Bosch, with a detour through Goya’s, Saturn Devouring His Son, and a nod to Turner’s, The Fighting Temeraire. It’s grime and grandeur, bea...

9Aug

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Every Brilliant Thing – @sohoplace

Every Brilliant Thing is a sweet, but ultimately flawed, play about depression, suicide and trying to get on with life. Stemming originally from a monologue written by Duncan Macmillan and developed with co-author Jonny Donahoe, the play is about a child dealing with their mother’s suicidal depression by creating a list of all the brilliant things that make life worth living. As the character grows older, the list takes on new meanings as they deal with their own depression. The show is at its best when its performer, Lenny Henry, is left to do crowd work, finding lots of humour in the script and playing the room brilliantly. The text frequently calls for audience members to play key characters in our protagonist’s life: his dad, the vet who put his dog down, his first love, Sam. Hen...

When Billy Met Alasdair – Scottish Storytelling Centre

9Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

When Billy Met Alasdair – Scottish Storytelling Centre

Enthralling. Feel free to locate your battered copy of ‘Lanark’ but under no circumstances attempt to speed-re-read two days before the show. Breathe… turns out it’s not necessary. Author & playwright Alan Bissett is the proud owner of a photo showing the two Scots cultural icons at the launch of said tome at Glasgow’s Third Eye Centre in 1981 and wondered how the conversation between the two might have gone. But there’s stuff before we get there… It's a simple set, just Bissett in front of us alternating between Connolly and (attaches glasses, cues the lighting) Gray, telling their own stories in lively monologues, insights into how and why they ended up doing what they do/did. There’s an armchair to Bissett’s left and a table on which sits a bottle of Glenfiddich (a rather spec...

9Aug

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

Footloose – Liverpool Empire

The audience whooped and cheered as the show started, and as the curtains opened, the cast bounded onto the stage. The full company started as they meant to go on with a high energy, enthusiastic rendition of ‘Footloose’/ ’On Any Sunday’ displaying excitement and commitment to their participation in the show. This all singing, all dancing production is based on the 1984 film of the same name featuring Kevin Bacon and Sarah Jessica Parker; it sparkles with the spirit of the era from the portrayal of the 1980’s outfits, use of the period’s colloquialisms and famous hit songs. Writer Dean Pitchford based the story on the town of Elmore City, Oklahoma. The town had banned dancing since it was established in 1898 in an effort to reduce the amount of heavy drinking. Because of the ban on danc...

Measure for Measure – Shakespeare North Playhouse

8Aug

By Johanna RobertsNo Comments

North West

Measure for Measure – Shakespeare North Playhouse

So, how to approach Shakespeare’s plays at time when his work is easily accessible, in written or recorded format, and when every word and nuance has been studied in depth? How to reproduce the spontaneity, the freshness of experiencing the play as if it were for the first time? The answer, according to Shake-Scene Shakespeare, is to use cue-based performance. Originally, rather than each actor having a copy of the entire play, they had only their own part and their cues, plus any direction of when to enter or leave. Reproducing this technique means actors and audience ‘discover’ the play at the same time. Does it work? Based on this production of Measure for Measure, yes. Absolutely. Briefly, the Duke of Vienna (Eugenia Lowe) has allowed the city to become corrupt, so pretends to g...

8Aug

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

1984 – Pleasance Courtyard

It was an overcast morning in August, and the clocks were striking 11:25am for Box Tale Soup’s adaptation of !984, the classic novel by George Orwell. Winston Smith works within the outer layer of ‘the Party’ as he begins to desire change and rebellion. In a world where simple things such as thoughts become crimes, Winston must navigate his hope without getting caught while also finding others who share his dreams and want to launch a rebellion. This is never going to be easy as, of course, Big Brother is always watching. On arrival into the theatre, the first striking detail of this piece is its set. Surrounded by wooden pillars, boxes and an ominous, white, tent-like structure, the space has been filled well. Moreover, all of these set pieces are used in very practical ways. Set p...

8Aug

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

R/Conspiracy – Gilded Balloon

Merging the real world with the realms of the world wide web, R/Conspiracy - written and performed by Ella Hällgren, directed by Emma Ruse - sees Alex, a young girl in her twenties become fascinated by a thread on Reddit suggesting a man with machete has been spotted in the local area. Clearly distracting herself from problems in her life, she becomes obsessed with investigating the so-called ‘machete man’ leading her further and further into the online mystery. Hällgren, who plays Alex, has a lovely brightness to her performance. It is clear to the audience that she’s really enjoying being on stage and speaking the words she has written. However, R/Conspiracy suffers from a big issue in regard to pacing. There is a lot of rise and fall in the piece’s energy levels, so much so that ...

8Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Philosophy of the World – Summerhall

Every now and then at the Edinburgh Fringe, a show comes along that seems to fracture theatrical logic entirely—while still leaving you entirely gripped. Philosophy of the World, devised by the experimental collective In Bed With My Brother, is one of the most original, unsettling, and oddly moving performances I’ve seen in years. It may well go on to become a cult classic. The show is inspired by The Shaggs, a 1960s rock band made up of three sisters from New Hampshire, whose father was convinced they were destined for greatness. That father, Austin Wiggin Jr., pulled them out of school, forced them to practise endlessly, and produced their only album—widely derided at the time, but now held up as an artefact of outsider art. Philosophy of the World takes this story and explodes it...