Scotland Archives - Page 16 of 157

14Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Galloping Cure – Festival Theatre

Oh my God. What just happened to opera? Missy Mazzoli’s The Galloping Cure absolutely blew me away in its first half. Not merely as opera, but as theatre, music and visual spectacle colliding in something that felt, genuinely, like a tipping point. If this is what modern opera is going to be, it has a wonderful life ahead of it. Everything begins relatively straight. The music, the characters, the world. Then gradually it starts to contort. The familiar bends out of shape and suddenly we are somewhere else entirely. There are echoes of The Music Man, flashes of Carousel, and then we seem to tumble headlong into The Matrix, vertical lines of light streaming through the Festival Theatre stage as though we are stepping between realities. At the centre are ...

The Wreck – Edinburgh Summerhall (Old Lab)

14Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

The Wreck – Edinburgh Summerhall (Old Lab)

An oft-overlooked aspect of many theatre productions is the music/soundtrack/sound design(er), call it what you will… but this (Faye James) was the foundation of this show; dreamy, fragile, melancholic but beautiful, reflected in the dialogue between the two siblings, Eddie (Morgan Beale) and Ira (Camilla Anvar). What’s more, aside from the tech and beats mastery on display, it started with an accordion. The brother and sister have convened in a faded seaside town following the demise of their parents and some context is lightly sketched in as they gently bicker. Their parents had a club ‘The Dancer’ and it’s fallen upon hard times, the chief patrons being two local, rival societies, one keen on whales, the other on bones in general. Ira knows this because she stayed while Eddie lef...

Reuben Kaye: Hard to Swallow – Assembly George Square

14Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

Reuben Kaye: Hard to Swallow – Assembly George Square

Cabaret superstar Reuben Kaye returns to the Fringe with his new show, a whirlwind of political comedy, powerhouse vocals and glittery costumes. Previous shows have experienced sell-out runs and award wins, and this year seems to be no different, with the Palais du Variete packed out on a Wednesday evening. Kaye tells the story of how he was hospitalised with exhaustion after almost 300 performances as King Herod in an Australian tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, but there is no sign of this on stage. He commands the room, knowing exactly when to pause for effect or wait for a joke to land. There are several moments where he flutters his false lashes and enjoys the ripples of laughter, in total control of the energy in the theatre. Kaye’s style of comedy cabaret is famously outrageous...

Rachel Fairburn (Vexy Beasts) – Edinburgh O’Neill’s/Tron

14Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Rachel Fairburn (Vexy Beasts) – Edinburgh O’Neill’s/Tron

At first sight this seems and sounds very Merton and Manning but don’t be fooled as Fairburn quickly progresses beyond these Mancunian comparisons. Even if the mercy-free, quickfire delivery echoes that of the nearby (now defunct) Embassy Club. She doesn’t so much entertain us for fifty minutes as paint a vivid portrait of a rapidly gentrifying Harpurhey. Or Harpur ‘Vale’ as it seems to be known these days. At least you can’t accuse the local estate agents of being idle. She does it with the help of several local personalities; her rival Julie Noone, mayor of Harpur Vale and (only just) runner-up in Miss Harpur Vale 2019… Aunt Cheryl who has a burgeoning social media channel (Cheryl’s Chats) exploiting her friendships with the great, good, rich and famous… Lady ‘Literally’ who’s jus...

Bubble Schmeisis (remixed) – Sauna Theatre, Summerhall

14Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Bubble Schmeisis (remixed) – Sauna Theatre, Summerhall

Of all this year’s Sauna Theatre propositions at Summerhall, Bubble Schmeisis (Remixed) perhaps feels the most like theatre. There is good reason for that. Nick Cassenbaum’s one-man show was already a sell-out Fringe and international success long before anybody decided to put the audience into swimsuits and turn up the heat. Ten years on, it has found what feels like its natural home. This is not simply an old stage show squeezed into a sauna. It feels like a genuine evolution of the piece, with Nick now performing the story inside the very environment he has spent years describing. And the experience begins before we even get there. Live klezmer music, created for the show by Daniel Gouly and Josh Middleton, accompanies us as we wait to enter and continues inside, becom...

Boiler Room Six: A Titanic Story – Pleasance Queen Dome

14Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Boiler Room Six: A Titanic Story – Pleasance Queen Dome

I have always been a fan of the one-man show. There seem fewer of them at the Fringe this year, with the two-hander apparently enjoying something of a resurgence. But there is something about the singularity of the form that appeals to me. One performer, complete control, nobody else required to feed the next line. Boiler Room Six: A Titanic Story demonstrates just how powerful that control can be. Written and directed by Tom Foreman, the play takes us into one of the most familiar disasters in history, but from a very different direction. Here we are below decks with Frederick Barrett and the men who kept Titanic alive. This is not the world of evening dress, champagne and sweeping staircases. This is dirt under the fingernails, sweat on the skin, coal dust, heat, steam and...

13Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Blackbox – Underbelly Cowgate

This is the true story of Henry "Box" Brown, the enslaved African-American who, in 1849, mailed himself to freedom in the North in a wooden box measuring just 3 feet by 2.5, in which he had to remain quietly, and not always right side up, for 27 hours. This adaptation by Rickerby Hinds (who also directs) draws on Brown's own autobiographical writings, published as Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown Written by Himself, to tell his story. As such, it is mostly monologue form (performed by Josiah Alpher as Brown, with Jada Evelyn Ramsey as Spirit and chorus) combined with partially live gospel soundscapes and, reflecting Brown's later career, stage magic. Though the play starts and ends with the box which is so central to this show (not to mention the man's name), it is really...

13Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

The Hobbit – The Space @ Venue 45

Officially licensed by Middle-Earth Enterprises, Theatre On The Blue does what Warner Brothers could not, telling the story of The Hobbit in an hour with a team of six young actors. The original story is epic on a scale only dwarfed (sorry) by its sequel The Lord Of The Rings, and with multiple kingdoms, races, a dragon and a battle with only one less army than there are actors, cuts were inevitable. Some are seemingly quite drastic, such as the loss of all the dwarves save Thorin (prompting a knowing joke later about Bilbo eating for 13 hobbits and Thorin for 13 dwarves), or the Battle of the 5 armies getting reduced to two paper cutouts repeatedly bodyslaming each other into submission. Never-the-less, this is a very faithful, light-hearted adaptation of the children's story, w...

Crudi Dench: Someone Help Her! – Underbelly Cowgate, Iron Belly

13Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Crudi Dench: Someone Help Her! – Underbelly Cowgate, Iron Belly

Tucked away in an old vault cellar within the George The Forth Bridge you will find this wee gem of a show. Crudi Dench takes to the stage with some “celebrity friends” (spoiler, you are the celebrity friends) to run a help line show. Taking in calls from for those looking for a little assistance and somewhat (although this bits up for debate) working to help those callers. Whilst Crudi’s methods may be a little unorthodox and bizarre and absolutely unhelpful to the cause, they do succeed in thoroughly entertaining her audience. Crudi is a huge personality, her laughter is infectious and even as a disembodied voice from time to time, she still has her audience in the palm of her hands. As with most drag performances there is a heavy reliance on sexual and flirty humour however, even ...

13Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Knocking – The space@Surgeons Hall

Three sisters come together to clear out the belongings of their deceased mother only to find even in their mother’s absence the house is not empty. Together they must work to unearth the secrets of their house and help put a lost spirit to rest. The premise of the story is interesting and has real potential, however the overall production falls flat. We start the show with a mysterious hooded figure standing by the door, entering the stage space and then retreating to the tech desk to loudly stage whisper to the techie throughout the show. In an intimate space such as Theatre One in Surgeons Hall, this was rather distracting to say the least. Our three sisters are the main focus on the show establishing a nice bond between the three however all emotional reactions to the trauma ...