REVIEWS Archives - Page 83 of 339

7Aug

By Euan HuthNo Comments

Scotland

Kokoon – Assembly Checkpoint

Even if you have not listened to K-Pop before, you have no idea who Black Pink or BTS are, or the only K-Pop you know is Gangnam Style, I would still urge you to go and see Kokoon. This show was an absolute riot from start to finish. Before the show even starts, you’re sitting listening to this fast-paced thumping track on loop while a video introducing the five K-Pop stars plays. By this point you know what you're in for. The Group has 5 members, each one a very energetic and extremely entertaining performer to watch. They are Jaemin, Joowon, Sae-Am, Shuya, and Wonki, every one of them a great personality and having a distinct place within the group. Wonki for example is an absolutely incredible beatboxer. Despite being one of a group of five he can still hold the entire stage by...

Something Educational – The Space @ Niddry Street

7Aug

By Christina SchmidtNo Comments

Scotland

Something Educational – The Space @ Niddry Street

Playing Bingo in church? That’s what got five boarding school kids in trouble on their last day of school in the new comedy ‘Something Educational’, written and directed by Rosie MacKay. After this intriguing opening scene, the characters are sent to detention for writing task, which they procrastinate doing, and drama unfolds as they reveal their true thoughts about each other. The script is witty and light-hearted, with lots of little jokes and nods to the audience – a try at creating a fleabag-style relationship between actors and spectators - Samuel Bergson, playing Robbie, is particularly skilled at code switching between interacting with the other characters and addressing the audience, making his character likable from the beginning. Set and costume design is very minimal, w...

Wildcat’s Last Waltz – Front Room at Assembly Rooms

7Aug

By KJ EwanNo Comments

Scotland

Wildcat’s Last Waltz – Front Room at Assembly Rooms

This is a warm hug of a show. The former Wildcat of Sheffield herself invites you in for a cup of tea and as many biscuits as she can convince you to eat as she takes you through a life of ups and downs and losses and regrets. And I do mean she literally invites you in for a tea and feeds you biscuits – the set is a comfortably old fashioned living room that we’d all probably recognise from some older relative’s house, and we are all ushered up to the table to pour a cup of tea and help ourselves to a custard cream as things get going. It’s a show that moves seamlessly between comedy and tragedy, with the occasional high energy keep fit routine thrown in for good measure. It could perhaps go further in both directions to get closer to something even more cutting and poignant, but t...

The Trials of Galileo – Greenside at Infirmary Street

7Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

The Trials of Galileo – Greenside at Infirmary Street

In 1633, Galileo was put on trial by the Roman Inquisition, and he was found to be ‘vehemently suspect of heresy’ and put under house arrest. All his theories and efforts to educate were treated as an act of rebellion against the church. The fact that Galileo had been approved to write about his theories by the Pope made no difference to the outcome. Written and directed by Nic Young, this play delves into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the trial, which was conducted in Latin, and where he was threatened with the rack if he did not confess to something that he quite clearly was not guilty of. Played by Tim Hardy in this one man show, Galileo now has the opportunity to put his side of the story across, during the trial he was spoken to in the third ...

Shamilton – Assembly George Square Studios

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Shamilton – Assembly George Square Studios

This was – Over the Line! Discriminatory, controversial, anti-Semitic. As a man (can I say that?), who lives with a Jewish lady, who’s business partner is Jewish and has many Jewish friends, you cannot say what you said today. You know the line! You know the line; the line that draws a gasp, a shriek, a howl. The line that after a while as a performer you become addicted to. The line that asks, can I go bigger, can I get closer, can I go over the line? Because crossing the line is what this show does, and what the crowd are baying to see and hear, nay demanding. But for how much longer? The blurb says, Baby Wants Candy's hip-hop Hamilton homage returns! Following sold-out runs in Chicago, NYC and LA. Expect to be wowed by an epic improvised musical based on historical f...

Revenge For The Count Of Monte Cristo – Hill Street Theatre

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Revenge For The Count Of Monte Cristo – Hill Street Theatre

Hill Street Theatre has long been a regular haunt of Fringe goers, with the battle-hardened / extremely charismatic / miserable b* (delete as appropriate) producer/director Derek Douglas at the helm once again. Mixing a combination of brand new shows with re-run favourites, aiming to balance the books when the curtain eventually comes down. (hopefully!) Revenge, as they say, is a dish best served cold. This brand new musical written by Pete Sneddon and directed by Mark Geary-Fairbairn, set in post-Nepoleonic France, is at times stone cold and difficult to follow. However, it is saved to some extent, by some excellent singing by a talented cast. Lewis Carlton excels as Edmond, the titular Count and opens the show with the rousing number ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. So far so good...

Lord Of The Flies – The Space, Edinburgh

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Lord Of The Flies – The Space, Edinburgh

American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF) by WorldStrides presents St Francis High School Theatre’s adaptation of this classic William Golding tale about a group of English boys who are being evacuated to a safe country in the pacific to escape worldwide war fallout, until their plane crashes on a deserted island. This certainly has the feel of a devised and improvised piece, where the boys have been left (metaphorically) on a desert island, without adult supervision. At times it could certainly have benefitted from much more precise direction, both in terms of lines and movement. Having said that, I did like the visceral energy. It starts with promise as we are introduced to Ralph and ‘Piggy’, two teenage schoolboys struggling to come to terms with their new situation on th...

Edinburgh International Festival Opening Concert: Buddha Passion – Usher Hall, Edinburgh

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Edinburgh International Festival Opening Concert: Buddha Passion – Usher Hall, Edinburgh

This was – A brilliant, joyful opening of the 2023 International Festival One of the most versatile musicians in the world, Academy-award winning (score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Tan Dun conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Edinburgh Festival Chorus in the Scottish premiere of his own extraordinary Buddha Passion (2018). And what an amazing and joyful spectacle this was, which had the massed ranks of junior and adult choristers laughing and clapping, clinking pebbles together, tinkling Chinese bells and singing alternatively between ancient Sanskrit and Chinese. And before them the spectacle of the National Orchestra in full flow. A very effective subtitling allowed the packed house to appreciate the piece fully. This is a treatise on the joy...

England & Son: Mark Thomas – Roundabout @ Summerhall

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

England & Son: Mark Thomas – Roundabout @ Summerhall

The lights fail, but Mark Thomas does not. He shines. Performed in characteristically physical style by larger-than-life Cockney, Mark Thomas in this intimate, in the round tent setting, he gets in the mud with us, he lays out Ed Edwards words for us, and we hear them. From humorous tales of his dad’s waste metal business and his dark previous life in the British army colonising the former Malaya, we get a rich understanding of the legalised violence passed down from returning soldiers to their families, and the debilitating effect on abused partners and damaged children. At turns veering from funny to ferocious, Thomas lays out the inevitable path of his childhood, from dysfunctional home life to youth detention centre, courtesy of Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw’s contro...

7Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Boudica – Greenside at Infirmary Street

This play is a modern interpretation of the life of Boudica, who was Queen of the ancient British tribe of the Iceni, who led a failed revolt against the Roman Empire in AD 60/61. At this point in Boudica’s life, her husband Peter (King Prasutagus in the ancient world), has recently died, and Boudica (Jo Scherer) and her daughters Gallia (Bella Yow) and Aoife (Lila Patterson) are at the funeral mourning his loss. Following the funeral, Boudica hears from Cato (Buster Van Der Geest), that there is no Will, and therefore, as her husband had run up debts within the company, her husband’s assets now belong to the company. Cato has replaced Boudica within the company so now has control of the company, and her finances, but offers her what he feels is a sweet deal to help her dau...