Scotland Archives - North West End UK

A Play, A Pie & A Pint: Contact by Jonny Donahoe – Traverse Theatre

16Oct

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

A Play, A Pie & A Pint: Contact by Jonny Donahoe – Traverse Theatre

Contact is an hour-long exploration of unresolved pain, blame and a yearning for love amid the messy realities of today’s nuclear family. It is caustically funny, filled with bathos and yet heart-felt as we peel away the characters’ anguish. A dysfunctional parent-child relationship is adeptly presented by Blythe Duff (Mother) and Mark Barrett (her adult son). Duff’s depth of expression, conveyed with minimalist physicality and restrained vocal range is hugely engaging. She is cold, verbally acerbic and cruel, yet her tears of frustration and pain are heart-rending. Some might call her descent into grief contrived. Yet, it was moving. Barrett plays the adult child (who feels the urge to build bridges, but ultimately, is as cruel as his mother in a more nuanced way) with an uneasiness th...

14Oct

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Sylvia – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

This is some show! Having watched Jersey Boys at the Edinburgh Playhouse the previous evening, I thought I had witnessed musical theatre at its most polished and professional. Twenty-four hours later, Sylvia at the Festival Theatre took the whole business to another level. The comparison is fascinating. Jersey Boys has the considerable advantage of being built around songs that generations already know and love. Recognition and nostalgia do much of the heavy lifting. Sylvia has no such luxury. We arrived knowing none of its songs, yet for two hours and forty-five minutes this extraordinary production held our attention almost without respite. That is no small achievement. Written by Kate Prince and Priya Parmar, with music by Josh Cohen and ...

13Oct

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Jersey Boys – Edinburgh Playhouse

There is something reassuringly familiar about Jersey Boys. This is my third encounter with the musical in approximately six years, suggesting that, rather like a distant relative, it comes calling every three years whether invited or not. But familiarity can be a double-edged sword, particularly when a show has been around for twenty years and its extraordinary catalogue of songs is already deeply embedded in our collective musical consciousness. This latest touring production, directed by Des McAnuff, takes a little longer than expected to find its feet. The first act is, dare I say it, rather pedestrian at times, despite the considerable musical talent on display. But what initially threatens to become a fairly conventional musical biography transforms in the second half into so...

A Play, a Pie and a Pint: Whaur’s Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo? – Traverse Theatre

12Oct

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

A Play, a Pie and a Pint: Whaur’s Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo? – Traverse Theatre

Whaur’s Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo is a comedic reenactment debating not just the Scots Enlightenment in the mid-1700s, but also the value of pure entertainment and man’s inclination to cling to traditional modes of thought. Writer and Director, Brian Logan is currently the Artistic Director of A Play, a Pie and a Pint. He has returned to his homeland from a sojourn in London where he championed The Camden People’s Theatre for thirteen years. Clergymen and thinkers, David Hume and Alexander Carlyle join John Witherspoon (a Scottish Presbyterian Minister and Founding Father of the United States) and Hume’s cousin, John Home, in a fictional recreation of the real men behind several ideas which carry through to today’s society. Actors, Gavin Jon Wright (so good looking), Kevin Lennon (c...

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Lyceum Theatre

10Oct

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Lyceum Theatre

The National Theatre of Scotland’s new expressionistic production of ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ is a magnificent theatrical gem. Since the 1960s, theatre audiences have enjoyed the Jay Presson Allen adaptation of Muriel Spark’s iconic novel. That features an eccentric but lovable teacher in 1930s Edinburgh, and her influence on the young girls in her care. Vanessa Redgrave played Brodie in the 1966 West End production but turned down the part for the 1969 film version, allowing Maggie Smith to step in and claim her first Oscar. David Harrower is only the second writer to be allowed to adapt the novel, receiving permission from Muriel Spark herself shortly before her death in 2006. Harrower’s adaptation, which premiered at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 2018, and has been rev...

9Oct

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Void – Traverse Theatre

There are moments in The Void when I genuinely believe I have boarded the Nostromo, and for someone whose youthful infatuation with Sigourney Weaver remains largely undiminished, that is no small achievement. The extraordinary set presents us with an exploded view of the nose cone of a spacecraft, its outer sections peeled back like the petals of some enormous mechanical flower, exposing the industrial structure within. At its centre, a vast circular surface doubles as a rear-projection screen, providing the focus for much of the production's remarkable imagery. But what makes this design particularly impressive is how successfully the whole of Traverse One becomes part of the spaceship. The exposed air-conditioning plant, overhead gantries and cage-like structures of the t...

7Oct

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Barnum – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Of spectacle and razzamatazz there was no shortage. For pure froth, noise and escapism this production scores high. But absent were suspense and drama, although some comedy dribbled through here and there. Spectacle, like chocolate cake when relentless and overloaded, loses its flavour. History presents contrasting portraits of P T Barnum, but none were explored regarding his complex, contradictory personality. As a celebration of the man’s chutzpah the two themes to the fore were Barnum’s relationship with his wife Charity, and the ‘theory’ of humbug or, ‘trimmings’. Charmingly executed but devoid of any jeopardy concerning Barnum’s tougher episodes. All the cast gave it their everything, Matt Rawle (P T himself) and Monique Young (his wife, Charity) leading from the front, bringin...

5Oct

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Eurydice – Assembly Roxy Upstairs

There is something particularly satisfying about watching a young theatre company begin to find its feet. Earlier this year, I reviewed GUTTER.’s first production, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, in this same upstairs room at the Assembly Roxy. I admired the ambition, enjoyed the show and suggested this was an Edinburgh company worth watching. Six months later, Eurydice represents another step forward. There is an interesting connection between the two choices. Stoppard takes two peripheral characters from Hamlet and gives them their own story. American playwright Sarah Ruhl does something similar with the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. We all know Orpheus: the great musician who descends into the Underworld to retrieve his dead wife, o...

28Sep

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Dirty Harry – La Belle Angele

There are tribute bands, and then there are those which, for a couple of hours at least, manage to transport you somewhere else entirely. Tonight, Dirty Harry took me straight back to the late 1970s and early 80s, when Blondie were in their prime and Debbie Harry was quite simply one of the coolest people on the planet. First up are The Postcards, who provide an enjoyable warm-up with a slightly more adventurous trawl through the alternative end of the 80s than your average covers band. Orange Juice’s Rip It Up, Simple Minds’ Don’t You (Forget About Me) and a welcome excursion into Echo & the Bunnymen territory all hit the spot. Their venture into The Smiths is perhaps less successful — Morrissey’s voice is a particularly dangerous one to borrow — but you can’t win th...

Tandem at Ten: A Festival of Words – Traverse Theatre

28Sep

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Tandem at Ten: A Festival of Words – Traverse Theatre

Tandem is a writing collective established and run by playwrights Jennifer Adam, Amy Hawes and Mhairi Quinn. This new writing showcase celebrates their tenth anniversary, featuring a varied, thoughtfully curated selection of pieces including plays, poetry, prose and music. As we enter Trav 1, musician Gillian plays her own hauntingly melodic compositions on the piano, creating an atmosphere of expectation. Cunnison plays transition music between each piece as well. The showcase opens with a short play called The Will of the People, written by Charlotte Smith. A politician (Nicola Roy), and her bodyguard (Jenny Hulse) are waiting for hospital staff to identify a mystery substance thrown at them by a protester. As the scene unfolds, the limits of democracy are exposed. It’s a thoug...