Scotland Archives - Page 21 of 93

LIFE: Maria MacDonell – Scottish Storytelling Centre

9Aug

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

LIFE: Maria MacDonell – Scottish Storytelling Centre

I am afraid of drawing. I don’t know why. This play is set in a drawing class, and the audience is invited to sketch and doodle throughout. Now is the time to embrace my phobia. I am welcomed by The Artist (Leo MacNeill), a reassuring presence. “We are all artists”, he says. I am given paper and pencils, but no eraser. Every mark we make remains on the page. Estelle (Maria MacDonell, who also wrote the piece) cuts through The Artist’s whimsy with a shard of cynicism, at least to begin with. She thinks he’s pretentious. The Artist helps Estelle open up, and she tells us about her life, her hopes and regrets, her love of graveyards and her career as an artist’s model. Estelle tells her story through the medium of folk tales. Afterwards, MacDonnell tells me that Estelle is so damage...

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Arcade – Summerhall Terrace

Set within a fully sealed and completely dark and sound-proofed container outside Summerhall, as a half-hour filler I have no problem with this at all. Personally, I might prefer a recumbent half-hour with a yoga track, but as a decompression from the sometimes over-whelming sights and sounds of the Fringe, this works either way. You certainly have more agency than previous container experiences I have had, you have a button to make choices yes or no, you have a token (use it wisely!) and a slot to put it in. Of course, there are multiple ways the storyline can twist and turn and for hardened arcade fans this might need multiple outings. The audible experience is excellent as is the haptic feedback. At one point, when your partner is wasted right beside you, you experience a s...

The Faustus Project – C Arts, Alto Studio

9Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

The Faustus Project – C Arts, Alto Studio

Doctor Faustus is universally known as the man who sold his soul to the devil, and that basically sums up the play by Christopher Marlowe. Remembered as a scholar and a rebel, Marlowe's play is actually quite reactionary, very much boiling down to, between patriotic swipes at the papacy, "I want knowledge, consequences be banned! "No, don't have knowledge, you'll be damned!", "oh no I had knowledge but now I'm damned!', like the College Humour Ye Old Black Mirror sketch played straight. As such, it seems a good frame to riff off of, which Half Trick Theatre have done by casting a new actor in the main role each night with no knowledge of the show, with all the comedic opportunities for embarrassment and confusion that offers. The secret to all these shows is the cast themselves, ...

Margolyes & Dickens: The Best Bits – Pleasance at EICC

9Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Margolyes & Dickens: The Best Bits – Pleasance at EICC

Seventy minutes with an 83-year-old who’s got all her marbles and oodles of talent besides was one brilliant way to spend a rainy afternoon in Edinburgh. Playing to a full house of 1200 capacity, Miriam Margolyes’ fan-base is younger than her which, of course, didn’t matter a jot to this outspoken and wonderfully entertaining woman. She had the crowd in the palm of her hand right from the get-go. There were Margolyes followers in their twenties upwards, the younger members presumably fans of her outings in the Harry Potter series of films. My favourite Margolyes performance was the fabulous Italian nurse she played in Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet. She was deliciously nuanced and funny in that role, bringing it to life as I’d never seen it before or since. We listened to Sachmo...

Craig Hill: I’ve Been Sitting on This For a While – Just The Tonic Nucleus

9Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Craig Hill: I’ve Been Sitting on This For a While – Just The Tonic Nucleus

This wis sae, sae funny! Seriously. It wis hilarious. I wasnae sure tae begin wi’. I thought it might be humour at others’ expense, but nah, nah, ye ken, it wis pure dead magic. Unlike my current attempt at a Scottish accent. I cannae dae it, hailing frae Essex, as I do. But Craig Hill can. He can take whatever the audience offers and make a comedic feast from the smallest offering. He can mimic accents and tonality with ease and create a personalised skit based on you alone. For some it is thrilling, for others maybe not so much, but this man knows his stuff and he’s not about to crucify anyone who’s not up for it. He’s got discernment. That’s what happens when you’ve garnered 25 years of Edinburgh Fringe shows under your belt and you’ve been blessed with a quick wit. He’s never...

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

I’m Almost There – Summerhall Main Hall

This might just be the best day I’ve ever had at the Edinburgh Fringe. I’ve just come from Every Brilliant Thing, and now this! It is one thing to see the ubiquitous posters of Todd Almond running with his yellow umbrella (which seem burned into my retina!), it is entirely another to see and hear him in the flesh. Like an alabaster statue come to life, this David with his piercing blue eyes (I was lucky enough to sit in the front row!) has the audience transfixed from note one. Almond, the toast of New York, seated at piano for most of the performance, with a lazy laconic boredom reminisces over a modern queer love story. It’s dreamy, probably because I’ve been reviewing and writing my five-a-day for the last five days, but also because it’s just dreamy! Accompanied by Erin Hi...

Every Brilliant Thing – Roundabout @ Summerhall

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Every Brilliant Thing – Roundabout @ Summerhall

Every Brilliant Thing, by Duncan MacMillan and Jonny Donahue is back and goes straight in at number one on my list of brilliant things. And with Donahue himself performing it, this is better than ice cream. Like a prodigal son returning from distant shores, the womb-like space that is The Roundhouse, at Summerhall, welcomes back, Every Brilliant Thing, a play that has globe trotted after it’s first showing here in 2014. And the public cannot get enough of it, it is completely sold out, with two additional dates already added (sold out) but surely more to follow. (Check the Fringe web site, every five minutes!) It’s one of those shows that it’s best to know nothing about before you see it. I am therefore going for the mysterious, enigmatic vibe on this one. Lets just say it is the...

Sh!t Theatre: Or What’s Left Of Us – Summerhall Tech Cube

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Sh!t Theatre: Or What’s Left Of Us – Summerhall Tech Cube

Like a pair of iconic Midsommer maidens, in mediaeval garb, replete with silly Wicker Man – style animal head hats Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole prove that It is possible to be desperately sad and have fun at the same time. Incredibly brave to have put this on at all, set against the tragically young death of Adam Brace, the duo’s long time director (and Rebecca’s partner), this is a rollercoaster of a show full of laughs but also barely held tears, that leaves you admiring, nay loving, this duo even more. Along the way, we discover that badgers enter a torpic state, which is quite different to hibernation! We sing about John Barleycorn, some even drink the drink of John Barleycorn, but remember, There are rules! Much of the show focuses on their new found love of Folk...

Until The Next Wedding – Paradise in Augustines

9Aug

By Marcelina KruczyńskaNo Comments

Scotland

Until The Next Wedding – Paradise in Augustines

Until The Next Wedding was brought to us by Under the Rug Theatre. This “not so rom com” was written by Allie Willison, directed by Niamh Mcgarvey and executive produced by Bethan Murray. This new and exciting play was first previewed in Glasgow before landing at the Edinburgh Fringe. Until The Next Wedding is a two man show featuring characters Mandy and Eliot. Mandy is performed by actor and playwright Allie Willison. The second character, Eliot, is played by actor James Crutcher. As Willison enters the stage and begins to interact with the furniture and props, and tragically fails at smoking a cigar, it becomes clear that this is some sort of in-house library near the wedding. The whole play takes place in that library creating a link between each wedding the two characters at...

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Lynn Faces – Summerhall Main Hall

It’s odd. Very odd! Following on from Laura Horton’s 2022 near perfect, sensitively written award-winning Breathless which focussed on mental illness and hoarding and which transferred successfully to off-Broadway, we have something of a hand-brake turn into her latest vehicle, Lynn Faces. The story follows almost-40 Leah, wannabe lead singer of newly assembled punk band Lynn Faces. We join them as they are about to play their opening gig.They wear masks of Lynn, the eponymous long-suffering, snazzy-cardigan-wearing assistant to fictional comedian Alan Partridge. Problems are racking up: firstly, none of them can really play any musical instruments (with the exception of an excellent grade 3 recorder solo!), oh, and the drummer hasn’t turned up. But, who cares, the show must g...