REVIEWS Archives - Page 92 of 346

Lucy & Friends – Pleasance Courtyard, Forth

6Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Lucy & Friends – Pleasance Courtyard, Forth

After going to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre recently and seeing Lucy McCormick play Saturninus in their production of Titus Andronicus, I thought I would see what Lucy does without the constraints of the Bard’s pen work, and The Globe’s policies to rein her in. This was my first experience of McCormick’s alternative side, and the two could not be more different. McCormick likes to greet her audience as they arrive, mingling with them, and I guess the title of the show gives you a hint as to the reason for this, we are to be her friends! Some members of the audience are given jobs to do, she is short-handed, so needs help with some tasks, this inclusion within the show creates an amazing atmosphere within the audience, as we see fellow audience members (sorry, friends), becom...

The Real William Shakespeare…As Told by Christopher Marlowe – Greenside at Riddle’s Court

6Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

The Real William Shakespeare…As Told by Christopher Marlowe – Greenside at Riddle’s Court

The elusive Christopher Marlowe (Nicholas Thorne) is a character from history that intrigues us today, how did he die at age 29, was it a bar room brawl or was he murdered? Was Kit Marlowe the real author of the Bard’s plays? Many books have been written on this subject, and we are no closer to knowing if any of the theories are true. Matchmaker Theatre Productions have put forward another theory, from the pen of Shaul Ezer. What if he was killed for being a playwright? The play examines Marlowe’s colourful character, building an image of a homosexual, atheist poet, playwright, and spy, living his life like his backside was on fire, running from one hairy situation to another. Ezer brings in a character called Laura (Kirsty Eila McIntrye), who lives...

Bitter Lemons – Pleasance Courtyard (Beneath)

6Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Bitter Lemons – Pleasance Courtyard (Beneath)

Two women, both in their twenties, are high fliers in careers traditionally associated with men. One is a professional footballer, the other a banker. They are both on the cusp of even greater success. But their lives are changed for ever by something that can never happen to a man - they get pregnant. This is a wonderful new play, beautifully written by Lucy Hayes. It is transferring next month to the Bristol Old Vic. The writing is spare, often poetic, and crackles with energy. There is gentle humour, too, especially in the descriptions of the women’s relationships with their mothers. Apart from a brief meeting at the end, the women never interact. They tell us their stories and we in the audience are their confidants. We are never told their names, but these women are sp...

The Brief Life and Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria – Pleasance Dome

6Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

The Brief Life and Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria – Pleasance Dome

What a cracking beginning to my Edinburgh Fringe Festival! After seeing Out Of The Forest Theatre’s Call Me Fury at The Hope Theatre in London in 2019, I was compelled to pay a return visit to their newest play. Here is a rough synopsis. Boris III became King after his father abdicated in 1918 after World War I, he married Princess Giovanna of Italy and in 1937 his son Simeon was born. Neither Boris, nor his father Ferdinand were Bulgarian due to the Turks occupying Bulgaria for 500 years, but they carried the burden of taking care of the people of Bulgaria now that Bulgaria was independent. Here is where the play begins, with Boris III, now married and the country is peaceful. Until of course World War II began! Boris (played by Joseph Cull...

Sian Hutchinson: Tick My Box – Camden Comedy Club

6Aug

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

Sian Hutchinson: Tick My Box – Camden Comedy Club

Winner of the Audience Choice ‘Best Event’ award at this year’s Brighton Fringe, award winning character and sketch comedian Sian Hutchinson brings her hilarious one-woman show to Camden Fringe. After being dumped by her true love Dave, Suze is determined to get back into the dating scene with seven dates all in one night at her local pub with copious amounts of white wine to get through the evening. Sian truly channels her character Suze from the moment you stepped inside the room, handing out various sweets to audience members at the door, you felt like you were with a friend armed with snacks recounting their terrible date the night before. Once everyone was seated, she spent a few minutes chatting with the audience before starting the show. What follows is a brilliant r...

UPSTART! Shakespeare’s Rebel Daughter Judith – Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose

6Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

UPSTART! Shakespeare’s Rebel Daughter Judith – Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose

The talented associate West End director, Alexandra Spencer-Jones (Action to the Word) is known for her physical theatre and musical productions such as Six and Clockwork Orange. So, when the American writer, Mary Jane Schaefer, approached her to direct Upstart! she was both surprised, flattered and a little fearful. It is a gentle play and a perfect play. One of a trilogy Schaefer, has created about the Shakespeare family, Upstart! will delight fans of the Bard. First given a reading at the National Arts Club in New York in 2014, the storyline explores the plight of women, then and now. There is no preaching. But there is a vivid awareness of the modes of suffering and paralysis caused by lack of education and confinement to the domestic domain, where dying children and intransig...

6Aug

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Comedy of Errors – Speke Hall

A Shakespearean comedy set around two rival states and two sets of mismatched twins is brought to life in this bright adaptation from Steve Purcell, who also directs, with its central theme of mistaken identity the perfect vehicle for Mark Hayward’s production to explore a number of popular theatre forms in this consistently funny farce that piles error upon error at an increasingly frantic pace. If the challenge of the doubling up of not one but two sets of twins whilst keeping the audience on-board as the only ones who know what is happening on stage wasn’t enough, throw in an open-air venue, forecasted bad weather, and plane disruption from the adjacent airport, and I had everything crossed for the much-reduced cast of four playing all of the roles. I needn’t have worried as with...

6Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Tennessee, Rose – Pleasance Dome

The Tennessee in the title refers to playwright Tennessee Williams, the writer of such greats as The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, and Rose was his sister, who has also been described as his muse. Tennessee, Rose examines the relationship between Williams and Rose by travelling through time with Rose to her childhood, and how her experiences shaped her future, leaving her with scars, both mental and physical. It is very easy to think of this show as a play about a playwright and his sister, but this play is so much more than that. The lack of understanding of mental health meant that Rose’s treatment was severe, without any care for her feelings, but only on the impact that her unguarded action and speech had on others. Clare Cockburn has written a re...

Piano Matinee: From Classical to Contemporary – St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh

6Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Piano Matinee: From Classical to Contemporary – St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh

Set in Scotland oldest purpose built concert hall, a handsome oval shaped room with an ornate skylight, dating from 1763, Russian-born pianist and composer, Olga Riazantceva-Schwarz, treated us to a varied exciting programme of piano recital. Kicking off with Debussy and Beethoven, played from heart, the award-winning pianist plays with extraordinary virtuosity and delivers a brilliant and moving interpretation of the sonatas. As a special feature, Olga Riazantceva-Schwarz then introduces us to Swiss composer Jean Paul Liardet, which she recently recorded. This concert is part of the album release tour and this is the Scottish Premier. The double-CD album contains a total of six piano sonatas composed by JP Liardet between 1971 and 2020. In halting English, Schwarz explains, ...

Los Guardiola, The Comedy Of Tango – Edinburgh Space Triplex

6Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Los Guardiola, The Comedy Of Tango – Edinburgh Space Triplex

If an aficionado of dance, movement and mime this is a must-see, but otherwise? The flyer for this production claimed the performers had drawn on their expertise in Commedia Dell’arte, mime and Argentine Tango but there were strong elements of Marionette/puppetry, and Kabuki present too. It was skilfully and cleverly performed by Marcelo Guardiola and Giorgia Marchiori, both clearly possessing years of dance ‘chops’. Structured in seven parts, the first (‘Barrel Organ’) dealt with the origin of the dance along the banks of the River Plate and the second (‘Emigrant’) with its spread to Europe, where it initially took hold in Paris. Important to its development in the late 19th century was the role of the barrel organ, combined no doubt with rhythms that had migrated there via slavery. ...