Scotland Archives - Page 3 of 135

Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil – Royal Lyceum Theatre

15May

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil – Royal Lyceum Theatre

You could attend Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil at the Lyceum for Ricky Ross alone and leave entirely satisfied. Fortunately, this exquisitely produced new work gives us much more besides. Part gig theatre, part football odyssey, part meditation on grief and belonging, this is one of those deeply Scottish productions that somehow becomes universal precisely because it is so rooted in place. Cowdenbeath may be the setting, but emotionally this could be any town we have tried to escape and yet remain permanently tethered to. Adapted by Gary McNair from Ron Ferguson’s original story, the play follows Sally, played quite brilliantly, with warmth, intelligence and emotional precision by Dawn Steele. After leaving Cowdenbeath behind to build a new life in London as a solicito...

The Wars of Patie Crichton – Duns Play Festival

7May

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The Wars of Patie Crichton – Duns Play Festival

The HotTrod Theatre Company was commissioned by The Wilson’s Tales Project to deliver a new dramatic rendering from the bank of Scottish Borders tales which once appeared weekly in the Berwick Advertiser. They were so popular they were reprinted for a century and found favour as far away as Australia and America. These stories, some based on real events, were all the rage and a recent initiative is working to republish them all in modern-day language so as not to lose this cultural body of work. Nichol’s reworking resulted in The Wars of Patie Crichton. Writer and performer, John Nichol, fuses two tales to create a warm, homely story featuring two actors and a chair. It was greatly appreciated by the full house at the Duns Play Fest. A couple’s misunderstanding results in misery for the...

May Day Rapid Response to our Times – Central Hall

3May

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

May Day Rapid Response to our Times – Central Hall

May Day traditionally heralds the arrival of spring, new buds, hope and fertility. In more recent years it is the bank holiday associated with international worker day - a celebration of solidarity, the power of the people and the value of working for the common good. Hannah Lavery and Cora Bissett did a marvelous job in creating a themed variety show of great Scottish and international talent for this rapid response to our times. Important issues were unwrapped like a selection box of bite-size entertainment which touched the funny bone, elicited tears and were always thought-provoking. Just for one night, this show drew a rapturous crowd. Live theatre is like nothing else - it is a moment in time; a flame flickering and then extinguished; a shared experience which brings hear...

2May

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Shotgunned – Traverse Theatre

Roz (Lorna Panton) packs up the belongings of Dylan (Fraser Allan Hogg), her ex. She hesitates, then adds one last item, a cheerful framed painting of the name Olivia. We see the tenderness, and the anger, that Roz and Dylan hold for each other. The story of their romance is told nonsequentially. These are the familiar, everyday moments of life, as two young people in love laugh and cry together. Their first awkward conversation. Dylan teaching Roz how to play on the Xbox. Sharing their hopes and dreams for the life they will build together. It all falls apart after Roz suffers a miscarriage. The grief for their daughter, Olivia, is too much to bear. The story is simple, and Matt Anderson’s script is very much character driven. He has provided some lovely ...

The Ballad of Johnny and June – Festival Theatre

1May

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Ballad of Johnny and June – Festival Theatre

There is a problem with telling a story everyone already knows. This story of Johnny and June understands the problem well enough, but the script never really finds an alternative solution. Instead, the music is left to speak for itself. The show opens with Jackson, the quintessential Johnny and June number, a confident, toe tapping start that promises energy and momentum. From there, the narrative is framed largely through the eyes of their son, John Carter Cash, offering a lens that suggests memory, subjectivity, and, crucially, that truth is never singular. When Johnny first meets June at the Ryman Auditorium and declares, with typical bravado, that he will one day marry her, we are reminded that this is only his version of events. It is a useful idea, that truth shifts depending on ...

1May

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Tomorrow – Traverse Theatre

Hereford based dance company, 2Faced held the Scottish premiere of Tomorrow at The Traverse this week. Directed and choreographed by Tamsin Fitzgerald and devised with dancers Lew Baker and Sam Buswell, Tomorrow is a striking portrayal of men’s mental health displayed using contemporary dance. This show was devised in collaboration with Mind, a charity dedicated to providing mental health support for anyone who needs it across England and Wales. 2Faced partnered with Mind to create Men in Motion - a dance class specifically for men struggling with mental health issues. It was through this group’s sharing of their lived experiences, as well as the performers own experiences of mental health that Tomorrow was devised from. Fitzgerald’s direction is raw and in your face -...

Much Ado about Nothing – Augustine United Church

26Apr

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Much Ado about Nothing – Augustine United Church

There are pranks aplenty in the Edinburgh Rep Company’s production of Much Ado About Nothing – only some of which are benevolent. Benedick (Declan Jennow) and Beatrice (Beth Eltringham) have one thing in common: they never want to get married, and they are particularly horrified at the suggestion that they might marry each other. They both talk about this a lot. They are clearly destined to be together; their friends just have to help them break the ice. Meanwhile, the wicked Don John (a softly spoken Colby Scott) is scheming and plotting. Hero (Erin Frances Spiers) walks beaming down the aisle (we are in an actual church, after all) arm-in-arm with her proud father Leonato (Kyle Paton). But Don John has framed her as a wicked harlot! Her fiancé Claudio (Patrick Foxwell) sl...

Jack Docherty in The Chief: No Apologies – Traverse Theatre

23Apr

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Jack Docherty in The Chief: No Apologies – Traverse Theatre

Jack Docherty has had a much longer, and varied, career than many may be aware of. Having started at the Fringe in his home town of Edinburgh in 1980, he’s been on stage, in front of and behind the camera and as a writer for such legendary TV shows as Alas Smith & Jones, Spitting Image, Vic Reeves and Lenny Henry. Heck, he even had a chat show on Channel Five for a year or so in the late 90’s. But it’s Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson (from Scot Squad) that’s finally given him his oeuvre and the opportunity to roam unrestrained across any subject he cares to choose. Tonight’s very much like a stand-up routine but in two acts, with an interval. He’s written a book, ‘The Chief: No Apologies’ and treats us to excerpts, ‘treats’ being the operative word for we are privileged to be t...

The Spy Who Came in from The Cold – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

23Apr

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

The Spy Who Came in from The Cold – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

One of the predominant elements of John Le Carré’s novels concerning British Intelligence is bleakness. A mantle of washed-out grey cloaks the lives and actions of his characters, darker shades representing the shadows in which they are doomed to operate. As his son Nick Harkaway writes in the programme (in contrast with another, cinematically celebrated, agent of ‘the service’) there’s ‘not a martini or an Aston Martin in sight.’ The set (Max Jones) and lighting (Azusa Ono) for tonight’s show reflect this, the barbed-wire topped wall looming mute behind a floor displaying the contorted map of Europe in the early 60’s. The uniforms and attire of all concerned (with the exception of Liz Gold’s turquoise suit in the closing scenes) are relentlessly dour, and in Alec Leamas’s case, appr...

16Apr

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

What I’m Here For – Traverse Theatre

With an international exploration of the health care system, What I’m Here For stops at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre as part of its Scottish tour. From the collaborative minds of Vanishing Point, from our home soil, and Danish company, Teatre Katapult, this production draws a parallel to both countries' health and care infrastructure and the daily challenges faced by those working within it. We open on Flora (Lærke Schjærff Engelbrecht) smoking on the roof of a hospital. It is the end of her shift but before she goes home to rest, she begins to reflect on the working day that had just unfolded. Memories appear and disappear as Flora struggles to separate fact from fiction. With severe staffing issues and constant pressure in her working environment, Flora’s help is required all around t...