Scotland Archives - Page 10 of 91

17Aug

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

Scotland

La Clique – Underbelly Circus Hub

So the Edinburgh festival fringe may not be the hubbling, bubbling, hustling, bustling fest of the years gone by – post Covid it's quieter slower and not as hectic, but tonight we're at the circus! We’re down in the Meadows where two huge circus rings (one wooden one) sit before us in a multi-effusion of colour. We’re trap trap trap trapping to see what La Clique has added to their production, how their programme has developed and changed over the years. It’s three years since I was last under their canvas so I’m delighted to be here again to see it once more. What wonders will this wooden O hold? Tumblers, fumblers, bumblers? And a happy ending of course? Let’s wait and see … And what we're missing in weather is more than made up for in enjoyment, fun and excitement as the...

Sh!tFaced Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing – Pleasance at EICC

17Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Sh!tFaced Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing – Pleasance at EICC

Shakespeare is already a dramatic affair, especially when it comes to Much Ado About Nothing, but what happens when one of the play's leads is drunk? Sh!t Faced Shakespeare takes a cast of professionally trained Shakespearean actors and then gets one of them drunk leading to what can only be described as beautifully brilliant chaos. The cast must then attempt to perform a shortened performance of the chosen Shakespeare text whilst putting up with the drunken adlibs of their inebriated cast mate. To make things more interesting a different cast member will take on the role of the drunk each night along with a different character in the show, you are guaranteed that the show will be different every night of the run. The show is safe enough with the drunk being supervised at all ...

James Whale: Beyond Frankenstein – Zoo Southside

17Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

James Whale: Beyond Frankenstein – Zoo Southside

James Whale is remembered today - if he is remembered at all in the mainstream - as the director of the two best classic Universal Frankenstein films Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), as well as The Invisible Man (1933) and, if we're feeling really fancy, The Old Dark House (1933). However, these were only part of a much longer career, one which saw a small-town English boy become a major Hollywood director in a time in which his homosexuality was illegal and his themes increasingly scrutinised under the Hayes Code. Written and performed by Tim Larkfield, this one-man show eschews the straightforward approach of having Whale be that one man, telling his own life story, in favour of a series of snapshots from the perspectives of a collection of professional and pe...

In The Sick of It – Assembly George Square

17Aug

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

In The Sick of It – Assembly George Square

In the interest of transparency, I must declare from the start that I worked as a nurse in the NHS for over forty years. But this show, which I will struggle to define adequately, is by no means of interest only to NHS workers. We all use the NHS, we all care about the NHS, we all complain about the NHS and we all agree with the values of the NHS – “free at the point of need, providing care from the cradle to the grave.” Not only would everyone be entertained, amused, informed and moved by this show, but I almost feel attendance should be mandatory! “In the Sick of it”, presented by Wake the Beast, is a fusion of laugh out loud comedy, serious drama, audio newscasts, recorded interviews, audience participation, and some pretty cool music and crazy dancing. Th...

17Aug

By Marcelina KruczyńskaNo Comments

Scotland

2 Truths, 1 Lie – Hoot 1 @The Apex

2 Truths, 1 Lie has all the best bits of stand-up comedy with a bonus in the form of an interactive gameshow. The show was created by Simon Caine and included three comedians and one host. The host was called Tattoo Dave, who managed to entertain the audience not only with his own jokes but also with some excellent crowd work. After picking his victim Tattoo Dave managed to quickly spin a regular conversation into something the whole audience could laugh at. This broke the fourth wall, easing any tension the audience might have had and prepared them for the first act. The first of the three comedians to take to the stage was the marvelous Rachel Morton-Young. Her comedy displayed how she was a traveler at heart moving all around Europe before settling in Holland. Young w...

17Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Covenant – Greenside @ George St

Set in an extreme but terrifyingly realistic world in which women’s bodies are controlled and monitored by the government, Turning Point Theatre Company’s Covenant highlights the impact that banning abortion has on women. Bonnie, played wonderfully by Nell Lang, wakes up after a night-out knowing something is wrong. Her friends Gen, Margot Pue, and Rachel, Catriana Tashjian, attempt to convince Bonnie that she is merely hungover but, when Bonnie discovers her own blood-soaked sheet, the true events of the previous night are revealed. I won’t discuss the plot here, much of the suspense derives from the twisting journey both Bonnie and the audience are taken on, but it is highly effective. Writer Laura Walker has crafted a script that simultaneously grips and haunts the audience. You ...

16Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Dear Billy – Assembly Rooms

Partick, birthplace of comedian, Billy Connelly, back when it was a small countryside village on the outskirts of Glasgow, on the banks of The Clyde, famous for fish and hunting, Aye, it had a hundred chippies and you had to watch out for people with knives! The world and the words of National Treasure, Billy, are brought gloriously to life by multiple Fringe-First winner, Gary McNair, accompanied by the musical talents of Simon Liddell and Jill O’Sullivan. But this is no tribute act, despite the obvious visual similarity between McNair and a young Billy. Instead, it is an array of stories and recollections, of the big man, hilariously voiced and acted by McNair, collected across the length and breadth of Scotland, most humorous, but some surprisingly deeply moving. From his childho...

Mhairi Black: Politics Isn’t for Me – Gilded Ballon

16Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Mhairi Black: Politics Isn’t for Me – Gilded Ballon

This show is an absolute joy. Tumultuous applause greets Mhairi Black’s entrance. From then until the show ends 70 minutes later, she captivates the audience with her humour, insights and brilliant storytelling. Unsurprisingly the show’s sold out. Try very hard to get a return for one of the best shows at this year’s Fringe. It’s now nine years since Mhairi Black became an SNP MP, overturning a huge Labour majority. Black was part of the SNP landslide in 2015 when the party won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at the General Election. Aged only 20, she became the youngest MP since the early 1800s. Still a student at Glasgow University, Black took her final exam after the election, gaining a first-class honours degree in Politics. An impressive speaker, she became deputy leader of the SNP at ...

One Sugar, Stirred to the Left – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

16Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

One Sugar, Stirred to the Left – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

World Premier Based on his own lived experience, following the death of his father, award-winning composer Jon Lawrence, turns playwright in a quirky, bittersweet tale, which may have a sad ending built-in but leaves a pleasant aftertaste, nonetheless. Hamish and Henry lie in hospice beds. They know they are dying, but they have not lost their sense of humour, or their need for human contact. They still have their dignity, and for one of them they find a reason for living, at least a little longer, in a final task to be completed. Like a final episode of Still Game much of the best writing here comes in the pitch-black gallows humour, but also the life truths, shared between coffin-dodgers Stephen Corrall (Henry) and Duncan Airlie-James (Hamish). A pair of old curmudgeons, rea...

16Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Showtime! – C Venues, C Aurora

EM The Master Productions Showtime! is a tough one. Conceptually, it works, (an exploration of seeking fame at all costs) but there is so much effort that it feels desperate, which is an uncomfortable place to put your audience … which is, no doubt, deliberate. The tale is about extremes of emotion and extremes of effort and, so, it was unremitting and manic. A few moments of calm would have given the audience time to digest and would have counterbalanced the wrecking ball. It is a small venue and yet the performer wears a mic. This may be an artistic choice, as it couldn’t possibly be necessary. Was it to suggest the trappings of performance? One needs the kit to be good? We jump from piano, ego and alter ego and sound bites of angst. Costumes go on and off, hair comes dow...