REVIEWS Archives - Page 59 of 548

Darkfield Radio: Eternal – Summerhall, Old Lab

3Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Darkfield Radio: Eternal – Summerhall, Old Lab

A very welcome lie down in a darkened room in the middle of a blazing hot day on a very busy Fringe Sunday. I’ll take it! And the bed ….is oh so relaxing …and the earphones are, well, just… just a minor issue. I begin to drift off. But then! The sound is extraordinary, and I swear I feel the bed move and feel the air shift over my face. Things are moving close to me. Someone, something is lying beside me. Yes, I have a bedfellow who is acting in a very peculiar way, and yet his voice has a certain reassuring quality and timbre, which is not altogether unpleasant. I just wish he would lie in one place for a minute! To say any more would be to enter spoiler territory. As a previous guest of Fringes past I can testify that Darkfield are moving on, flooding the zones, getting m...

3Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Antigone – Institut Français Écosse

In this bold and dark retelling of Jean Anouilh’s Antigone, Edinburgh-based theatre company Mythography is led by French director Philomène Cheynet, bringing us an intense and shrouding take on this classic Greek tragedy to the Edinburgh Fringe. Featuring large plastic, opaque curtains hanging from the ceiling, masked figures and handheld light bars that highlight and shadow the characters on stage, this production focuses on all that is hidden in war and peace. Beginning the show with the cast standing backlit behind the opaque sheets and our narrator figure standing in front, we are immediately set up to receive both the aesthetic and thematic values of this play. Cheynet’s vision is strong and purposeful, holding value on the more experimental side of theatre as well a...

Ordinary Decent Criminal – Summerhall, Techcube

3Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Ordinary Decent Criminal – Summerhall, Techcube

Frankie is just your Ordinary Decent Criminal, who unfortunately got caught. Yes, he may have been convicted of importing drugs, but he isn’t a grass and he definitely ain’t no nonce. Unfortunately, though, he does lack a certain right hook, which means he definitely needs to keep on the right side of certain characters inside, and find friends, fast. Walking the tightrope between being too tough and not tough enough is a minefield as we discover in Mark Thomas’s memorable and hilarious monologue. One of Edinburgh Fringe’s best kept secrets, Mark Thomas once again teams up with longtime collaborator, playwright Ed Edwards where their brilliant England & Sons (Fringe First 2023) left off. A similar diamond geezer, but this time behind bars and at the mercy of Tony Blair’s New Lab...

3Aug

By Joe LangNo Comments

Scotland

Avenue Q – Braw Venues @ Grand Lodge

Avenue Q takes the squeaky-clean morals championed by Sesame Street and other puppet-driven entertainment from our childhood and subverts these lessons through a 21st-century lens, resulting in a satirical insight into the unspoken truths one only comes to learn when embracing adulthood. Although knowing about all of the praise and success it received when premiering in 2003, I went into this with the hindsight that it was written in a bygone era when humour could cut into topics much more outright than mainstream comedy allows today. Nevertheless, I was surprised by how the majority of the jokes still hold up, as the vulgar and pessimistic style of writing, performed with the optimism and gleefulness of the muppets, never failed to enhance the absurdity of the premise. Yet, there a...

Centre of the Universe – Techcube @ Summerhall

3Aug

By Saira KunjuvalappilNo Comments

Scotland

Centre of the Universe – Techcube @ Summerhall

Gaia’s Brilliant and Hilarious Solo Show Centre of the Universe is wonderfully hilarious and appropriately candid solo comedy performance by Gaia, navigating the crazy inner life of a 15-year-old girl searching for the purpose of her life—without any particular talents standing out. This results in an hour of laugh-out-loud humour, biting social satire, and unrelenting energy that leaves the audience gripped until the very end. The movie starts as a TikTok social media influencer visits her school, setting off an overexcitement for manifestation techniques and the pursuit of having a perfectly curated life. Gaia satirically depicts the whirling activity of creating vision boards, gazing at them throughout the night, and waiting for signs of greatness from the universe. Her metaph...

How to Become a Movie Star – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

3Aug

By Saira KunjuvalappilNo Comments

Scotland

How to Become a Movie Star – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

Stardom and Struggle: Maria Sara’s Honest Journey to the Spotlight In her energetic one-person show How to Become a Movie Star, Maria Sara takes the audience through a deeply personal, often humorous, and touching ride through the decades of her life — from childhood dreams to the tough-knocks realities of chasing stardom. Within 50 minutes, Maria's energy and sincerity own the stage as she glides easily through the decades of her life to demonstrate how each decade impacted her resolve and tenacity. The show is not just one of celebrity; it's a tribute to perseverance. Maria unveils the challenges, setbacks, and emotional price of chasing a dream, providing an insight into the unseen strife behind every victory. Her admiration for her hero, Gabriel Burns, is a unifying thread th...

Opening Concert: The Veil of the Temple – Usher Hall

3Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Opening Concert: The Veil of the Temple – Usher Hall

With its hushed reverence and cosmic scale, John Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple opens this year’s Edinburgh International Festival not with a bang, but with an invocation. Across eight immersive hours in the Usher Hall, Tavener’s vast and luminous work offers something rare: not simply music, but a spiritual experience—at once intimate and immense, ancient and disarmingly modern.First performed in 2003 as an all-night vigil in London’s Temple Church, The Veil has never been heard in its entirety in Scotland—until now. It is a demanding work, not only for the 250-strong ensemble of singers and instrumentalists, but for the audience as well. Beginning at 2:30 p.m. and ending at 10:15pm, this performance asked for attention, stillness, and patience. It gave, in return, something deeply movi...

3Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Ah-Ma – theSpace @ Niddry Street

Produced by Cathy Lam Arts Creative, Ah-Ma (meaning grandmother) is a one-woman show in which our main character recounts fond memories of her grandmother who has since been diagnosed with dementia. Written and directed by Cathy Lam Patrie, this show is based on her experience with her own grandmother. Ah-Ma features as a part of Asia Base at the Edinburgh Fringe - a project that highlights talent from Hong Kong and Taiwan - aiming to share Asian art with an international audience. Kasen Tsui performs as our main character, using storytelling and movement to act as both the grandmother and the granddaughter. Kasen plays this role with dignity and thoughtfulness, basking in moments of quiet and taking her time to really take in her imaginary surroundings...

3Aug

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

Romeo & Juliet – Courtyard Theatre

My last brush with Romeo and Juliet was at Wilton’s Music Hall 3 years ago for Rachel Garnet’s excellent Starcrossed, which focussed on the fractious relationship between Mercutio and Tybalt, but added an erotic queer twist to their violent passions. It was an audacious, yet clever spin on Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy and a prime example of the Romeo and Juliet Industrial Complex. From Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 blockbusting film (Romeo + Juliet) to Arthur Laurents’ musical, West Side Story, audiences are highly familiar with twists, takes and remixes of the most pop play from in the Bard’s canon. Adding another layer to this theatrical mille-feuille is Romeo and Juliet: Out of Pocket, devised by Argentinian playwright Emiliano Dionisi and directed by Alonso Íñiguez. This boldly inventiv...

Hamlet – Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, Shakespeare North Playhouse

2Aug

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Hamlet – Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, Shakespeare North Playhouse

Director Steve Purcell is to be praised for his heavily abridged adaptation which, coming in at less than half the length of the full text, focuses on the family drama at the heart of the play, bringing a humanity to its protagonist that is rarely seen. Prince Hamlet (Richard Lessen), accompanied by his good friend Horatio (Laura Cooper-Jones), is consumed by grief and anger following the death of his father and his mother Gertrude’s (Tamsin Lynes) hasty marriage to his uncle, Claudius (Martin Gibbons), who then becomes king. He encounters the ghost of his father who reveals he was murdered by Claudius and demands revenge. Hamlet feigns madness to investigate the claim and plan his revenge which causes consternation at the court, whilst his relationship with Ophelia (Lynes), daughter of...