Scotland Archives - North West End UK

Mrs Peacock’s Feathers – Alexander House, Auchterarder

21Dec

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Mrs Peacock’s Feathers – Alexander House, Auchterarder

In the depths of the Scottish countryside, I attended the birthday party celebrations of a close friend. Alexander House was the perfect setting to host such an event, and in the evening, it functioned as the stage for quite a different theatrical experience. The challenge for this company of actors, was to entertain the seventeen guests with a murder mystery evening, without prior knowledge that they were entertaining a theatre reviewer, and two police officers! The theatre company that was booked for the evening were ‘Can You Catch The Killer?’ a company specialising in staging murder mystery events at a location chosen by the client. Our remote house added another layer of eeriness to the proceedings, which were completely managed by the company. The evening c...

Trouble In Spiritland – Traverse Theatre

18Dec

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Trouble In Spiritland – Traverse Theatre

A story written as a poem by performer Paul Tinto (Guilt, King Lear, Outlander, The Last Post). An epic, complex poem no less, mining for the roots of how in heaven’s name the planet’s most dominant inhabitants have driven it into the state it’s in in 2024. Running to 156 pages in a spanking hardback it’s available for purchase after the show, a boon, since plenty bears re-reading over a pint. Whereupon a couple of lines rise from the text, striking at the heart of the endeavour, Lust telling us we live in a world ‘where saints share the streets with the damned’. Why else would ‘Hate’, the bastard son of ‘Fear’ exerts such an influence on proceedings? Tinto stalks the stage, drawing us into intimacy, then, propelled by Abbott’s playing, beating us back into our seats with raw tirade...

The Sleeping Beauty – Church Hill Theatre

16Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Sleeping Beauty – Church Hill Theatre

This traditional Panto is great family entertainment, including cheesy jokes, audience participation, sing alongs and all the familiar ‘panto’ tropes. Edinburgh People’s Theatre throw themselves into this retro production, and you find yourself laughing, singing and shouting out ‘behind you!’, almost in spite of yourself. It’s enough to make even a moody teen smirk! On the night I attended the massed ranks of Brownies and Guides and large family groups fairly filled up the well appointed and comfortable seats of the Church Hill Theatre and provide plenty of atmosphere and hilarious heckling in all the right places. When dame, Derek Ward, as Queen Dorothy asks if his ‘bum looks big in this’, he looks suitably hurt by the inevitable audience responses. Mandy Black’s assured directi...

Butterflies & Benefits / Cheapo – Traverse Theatre

7Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Butterflies & Benefits / Cheapo – Traverse Theatre

As Part 2 of 4Play at The Traverse Theatre’s support of new writing, four brand new plays by four Edinburgh Playwrights are given their first airings over two nights. Tonight it is the turn of plays 3 and 4 in the roster to have their premier outings to an almost full Traverse 2. Butterflies & Benefits follows the lives of four twenty-something friends, starting at Hogmanay in 1998, the year before the dreaded Y2K, and is set to a soundtrack of dance tunes from that time. Whilst I like a ‘banger’ as much as the next guy, it is fair to say that there is an over reliance on music to both set the scenes and to fill dead air. Character development is left behind in favour of pounding music, dancing madly around, drinking and taking drugs, Coke seemingly the flavour of choice. Maybe ...

Fuckers & Colours Run (Part of 4Play) – Traverse Theatre

7Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Fuckers & Colours Run (Part of 4Play) – Traverse Theatre

As part of Traverse Theatre’s support of new writing, four brand new plays by four Edinburgh Playwrights are given their first airings over two nights, and it is truly heartwarming to see that they are playing to an almost full Traverse 2 tonight. The thrust format of the subterranean Trav 2 seems highly appropriate to the first play Fuckers, pardon my French, which, with full frontal nudity, and sexual content from the start packs quite a punch. Ruaraidh Murray’s script follows the on/off relationship between an American actress Lois, played by Olivia Caw, and Scottish comedian, Andrew, played by Liam Ballantyne. The play is unashamedly sexual in content, but in a playful and joyful way which remarkably manages to overcome any sordid undertones, which is surely the biggest challenge he...

6Dec

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

Swamplesque – Assembly Rooms

The Assembly Rooms on December 5th hosted the return of Swamplesque, a show so gloriously unhinged that it had already obliterated box office records at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. If you think you’ve seen it all, imagine Shrek in nipple tassels and Donkey gyrating in velour, and then realise: you’ve barely scratched the surface. This ogre-themed burlesque and drag parody manages to toe the line between absurd brilliance and complete insanity. The show dives headfirst into the swamp of pop culture references, pulling out everything from Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life (a segment that will haunt me until I die) to a roller-skating Magic Mirror doing cartwheels to Man in the Mirror. Every number was laced with just enough chaos to keep the audience howling with laughter—or stunned into...

1Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Treasure Island – The Lyceum, Edinburgh

The Lyceum Christmas show has landed! And in the tradition of Lyceum Christmas shows passed it (thankfully!) takes a wide berth around the ‘panto’ genre and serves up its own idiosyncratic recipe; take a classic tale, give it an Edinburgh flavour, a sprinkling of humour, a seasonal twist, a large dollop of live music and action, and serve it firmly tongue -in-cheek and aimed squarely at the family market. For the most part, Treasure Island, adapted by Orkney based writer, Duncan McLean, achieves its objectives, and the production is hilarious, fast-paced and always wonderfully musical. In a clever plot twist, we start our tale in a rest home for reformed pirates, no beards, no swashbuckling and absolutely no treasure hunts… Awwww! But old habits are hard to break, timbers req...

27Nov

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Cinderella – Festival Theatre Edinburgh

Yes, Sir, you can boo me - oh no, you can’t and all that jazz … Cinderella at the Festival Theatre is a feast for the eyes and a laugh-a-minute musical extravaganza. Featuring wicked stepmother, Grant Stott, endearing Fairy May (Allan Stewart), Jordan Young as a brilliant Buttons, Clare Gray and Gail Watson as Vindicta and Manipulata Fortuna, Amber Sylvia Edwards as Cinderella, Will Callan and his beautiful voice as Prince Charming and Iain Stuart Robertson as Baron Hardup, this line-up is a sure-fire hit. What a team! They delivered a fantastic evening’s distraction for the people of Edinburgh and beyond. The audience participation was wonderfully entertaining in the safe hands of Allan Stewart and the surprise elements were magical. The writing was a collaborative affair. It wa...

Scottish Opera’s The Puccini Collection – Usher Hall

25Nov

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

Scottish Opera’s The Puccini Collection – Usher Hall

As a lifelong Puccini fan, there’s nothing quite like hearing his music live, and Scottish Opera’s The Puccini Collection at the Usher Hall did not disappoint. This was a moving and celebratory tribute to mark the centenary of Puccini’s death, with Stuart Stratford conducting the Orchestra of Scottish Opera and a stellar line-up of soloists. The programme was brilliantly chosen. Alongside famous excerpts from Tosca, La Bohème, and Turandot, we were treated to earlier works like Le Villi and Edgar—pieces that are seldom performed but give insight into Puccini’s evolution as a composer. The decision to include extended scenes, not just standalone arias, made the performance feel more immersive, as though we were being drawn into the emotional worlds of the operas themselves. Stuart Str...

21Nov

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

101 Dalmatians – Edinburgh Playhouse

This musical is very much a children’s entertainment, so it’s therefore surprising that it runs the standard length of time, despite starting and finishing half an hour earlier than one normally expects. It would benefit considerably from being at least half an hour shorter, without losing any of the essential story telling or spectacle. The narrative is a simple one, the evil Cruella de Vil desires a wardrobe of outfits made of white with black spots fur, and to that end, sends her two incompetent nephews to steal all the Dalmatians in the area. With music and lyrics by Douglas Hodge, book by Johnny McKnight from an original novel by Dodie Smith, and directed by Bill Buckhurst, this musical has a lot in common with pantomime. With Cruella the villain we all love to bo...