Scotland Archives - Page 24 of 93

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Shantify! – Assembly Rooms

Fishy fun never sounded so good! The six likely lads that make up Shantify are off to a winning start. The sold out tent does not lie! Six because they get to call themselves a sextet, which is way cooler than a quartet or a quintet! Anyway, it’s all blue jeans and brown leather boots, stripy tops and Fairisle sweaters (looks hot!) and neckerchiefs as they drop anchor (well, they started it!) in George Street, Edinburgh for the duration of the fringe. Folks are going to be clambering for tickets for this one. Seriously though, like all great ideas, this one is so simple, but is so well executed! Combining six of the West End’s leading men creates some dreamy harmonies, as a selection of popular songs from stage and chart are turned into sea shanties. First up for the Shanty...

Isobel Rogers: How To Be Content – Pleasance Courtyard

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Isobel Rogers: How To Be Content – Pleasance Courtyard

Former Camden Roundhouse resident artist, writer, composer and comedian Isobel Rogers makes her much anticipated Edinburgh Fringe debut, with her existential musical comedy show How To Be Content. I’m Not Really That Intense, she jokes at one point, when of course she actually is. Mini powerhouse, Rogers, in deep-soled open-sided sensible shoes, rattles through a musical Odyssey rolling from Weddings to Polygamy, To living with my mum, (with my boyfriend!) and on to To baby or not to baby. With guitar in hand and a head full of condensed clever lyrics the delivery is safely professional, but hardly ground-breaking. Maybe if you are a thirty-something woman with your eggs on a timer this will strike just about the right chord. However, in reality this is a music show with some ...

7Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Into the Woods – Paradise in Augustines

When an amateur theatre group announces they will be performing a Sondheim musical, usually I brace myself for the worst. Bare Productions however, completely defied my expectations with their rendition of the classic, Into the Woods - it’s no wonder they have a sold-out show. The cast were exceptional - manoeuvring around the complex rhythms with ease and creating a real sense of emotion in their performances. The numbers in which the whole cast sang together were incredibly powerful – it was clear a real focus on the musicality was made – the emphasis on the dynamics of the song truly packed a punch – kudos to the musical director. Everybody in this cast showed the potential to go on to work professionally. I do have to give a special mention to the ugly...

Here There Be Dragons: A Musical Quest – Greenside Venues @ Riddles Court

7Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Here There Be Dragons: A Musical Quest – Greenside Venues @ Riddles Court

Playing Dungeons And Dragons may make you uncool to some, but to others it’s the coolest thing you can ever do: exploring new worlds, fighting dragons, having a project with your friends that can span for years! The only issue is, the D&D life style doesn’t always suit those around you and eventually real life is going to threaten to get in the way. For this group of soon to be graduates that’s exactly what’s about to happen. Here There Be Dragons: A Musical Quest is a brand new musical centred around a group of young adults who are all about to graduate college and play their final game of D&D together. We get to see the true thrill of the game and the undeniable cringe that can come with it from an outsiders point of view. We get to see the confidence playing another...

7Aug

By Susan CohenNo Comments

Scotland

Girlhood – Greenside @ Riddles Court

Over the course of a New Year’s Eve, this play portrays how three women confront their ideas and perceptions of motherhood and shows how their relationships with their mothers have defined most of their lives. With sharp use of dialogue, space and movement, three vignettes unfold on stage at the same time and we observe how an unrealistic obsession with a perfect future contrasts with an unplanned single pregnancy and a resistance to being pressurised into motherhood. Tiegan Byrne, a new playwright, has created a complex play here which touches upon manipulation and vulnerability, fear and expectation and raises that all-important question, why do we women feel the way we do? Her answer is clear – we are the daughters of our mothers. Or is it that strai...

7Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Beach Babe – Paradise in the Vault

Beach Babe is an entertaining, thought-provoking dark comedy about love, grief, and the afterlife. A young couple find themselves stranded on a rubbish-filled beach in Wales with no recollection of how they got there and no way of leaving. The young ‘woman’, played wonderfully by Julia Tidmas Goodall, is heavily pregnant but, due to the nature of their situation, is never able to give birth. Her partner, ‘man’, tries to inject optimism into their predicament, even if he does not feel it himself. The Starving Creatives’ media pack described ‘man’ as ‘the human embodiment of a golden retriever.’ An apt description, and one Nicholas Holloway channels expertly in his performance. Throughout the play, more information about the reality of the situation and the nature of the beach is revealed. I...

Aidan Sadler: Melody – The Voodoo Rooms, The Ballroom

7Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

Aidan Sadler: Melody – The Voodoo Rooms, The Ballroom

Variously described as “an absolute tornado” and a “demonic David Bowie”, cabaret performer, musician and comedian Aidan Sadler brings their show “Melody” back to the Edinburgh Fringe. Billed as a collection of “top steps to surviving the apocalypse”, this show doesn’t quite deliver on that promise. However it does provide an entertaining hour of 80s inspired synth music, original songs, and masterful crowd work. Sadler attacks the stage with energy, clad in a two-piece ruffled costume which apparently cost more than a month’s rent in London, and a pair of chunky platform boots. They are faced with a small but perfectly formed audience, all of whom are immediately on side. The best comedians can make crowd work look easy. Trying to perform a set which Aidan admits is built on audien...

Charles Dickens: The Hanged Man’s Bride – Space @ Symposium Hall

6Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Charles Dickens: The Hanged Man’s Bride – Space @ Symposium Hall

Blue Orange Arts brings the well-known Charles Dickens play: The Hanged Man’s Bride to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe in the form of one-man story telling play. After a man travels to stop in a hotel in Leicester, he hears the tale of cruel man who has been hung for murdering his wife some years back with arsenic, an intriguing tale but it is not one that provokes any real reaction from our main man. It’s not until he enters his room, the clock strikes 8 and a strange staff member appears that story is truly delved into in its horrid entirety. The play starts off rather slowly, our main character is a rather unlikable soul who’s only worry in life is when he should officially leave his wife for his teenage lover. This is the classic flawed main character with a lesson or two to ...

Come Dine With Me: The Musical – Underbelly Bistro Square

6Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Come Dine With Me: The Musical – Underbelly Bistro Square

What if Come Dine With Me was a musical? Well, that question finally has an answer, however this musical focuses more on the behind the camera team than it does the wacky contestants themselves. Our producer Mary (Danielle Coombe) is looking to film a new episode of Come Dine With Me, but with views dropping she’s going to need this episode to be a little more spicey. It seems she gets what she’s asked for when acts of sabotage come into question and our contestants seem to be as cookie and weird as can be. Despite the onscreen action being a little suspicious, it seem the real drama is behind the camera as sound man Teddy (Harry Chandler) is having his own existential crisis. There will be love, there will be “I want” ballads and there will be food. Come Dine With Me: The Mus...

The Daughters of Róisín – Pleasance Courtyard: Bunker 1

6Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Daughters of Róisín – Pleasance Courtyard: Bunker 1

Taking a difficult subject and balancing the harsh reality whilst still including comedy is a hard task, but The Daughters Of Roisin have done this masterfully. Taking a look into the hidden and darker history of Ireland, this one woman show tells us the truth about how the young pregnant women were often treated. It tells of women being locked up for 9 months in their homes without being seen as to hide the disgrace and “sickness”, and the powers the church held over its people. This is a difficult watch as one may expect, you should as an audience feel uncomfortable. But what this play does masterfully is weave the horror and hard to swallow truth amongst song this is in no way a cheesy musical) and lighter humour. Our Lead actress (Aoibh Johnson) and writer divides the story i...