Scotland Archives - Page 3 of 154

My Beautiful Brain – theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

25Aug

By Al CarrettaNo Comments

Scotland

My Beautiful Brain – theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

“Believe in yourself, Hannah.” This is the show’s mantra and over fifty energetic minutes Hannah Rose Curtis exemplifies exactly what an autobiographical play should be, giving us unhinged access into her world. The examination of invisible disabilities in theatre is usually led by personal experience. This might sound obvious, but the performer’s challenge is striking a careful balance of what to share. Too much information and we’re in the territory of hubris. Too little and modesty guards exposure. In the case of Brain, or should we say Brian, the difficulties of living and achieving with dyslexia are revealed in layers of undeniable quality, fragility and vulnerability. Curtis lays out her insecurities on a highly effective and simply designed set, taking us through a potted his...

25Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Aufguss x Nils Frahm – Sauna Theatre

My sixth and final visit to Summerhall’s Sauna Theatre this year was an unusual one in that I attended with my wife, the only time I shared one of these sauna experiences with her. It proved a rather lovely way to round off my time in what has surely been one of this Fringe’s most intriguing new venues. With around 35 people attending, the sauna felt comfortably populated rather than crowded. Aufguss x Nils Frahm takes the familiar ritual I had encountered across my previous visits, but this time sets it against the music of composer Nils Frahm, ranging from the neo-classical Wintermusik (2009), through Spaces (2013), to Graz (2021). Frahm’s combination of piano, electronica and more rhythmic material proved particularly well suited to the gra...

Against The Grain – Studio at theSpace @ Niddry St

24Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Against The Grain – Studio at theSpace @ Niddry St

At the Institute of Plant Industry in Leningrad, two scientists Olga (Turku Koksel) and Nina (Rosan Tan) protect and analyse a seed bank, to ensure that if there is ever a famine, that humanity can be saved. The scientists that have volunteered for this role, face starvation themselves, as during World War II and the siege of Leningrad, German and Finnish forces cut off the city to starve them into submission. We find the two scientists with minimal food, knowing that some of their colleagues have already died. The play interrogates why this group of scientist are prepared to put their own lives on the line for the sake of humanity. Written by Darren and Griffin Katz, and directed by Ben Evans, the one-act play is set entirely in the one seed lab, as they dis...

Mary Mac – Hail Mary: The Tartan Songstress – Assembly George Square

24Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

Mary Mac – Hail Mary: The Tartan Songstress – Assembly George Square

Scotland’s very own drag superstar, Mary Mac, makes her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Blending gentle comedy and song, this is a fun hour with a home-grown talent. Born and raised in Glasgow, Mary Mac takes her drag name from her mother. Originally trained as a musical theatre performer, she has now been doing drag for the past 16yrs, and her experience shows in her stage presence and confidence. She normally spends a lot of her time on cruise ships and peppers the evening with stories of life on board. Her CV is impressive – taking on roles in La Cage Aux Follies and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, as well as supporting Bianca Del Rio and appearing in panto. This musical theatre experience is evident in her vocal talents. There’s a very funny Cher impression, ...

24Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Kirsty Mann: Corpse – Summerhall

Summerhall's Red Lecture Theatre is a particularly appropriate home for Corpse. I always find it a slightly creepy, intimate space, graced with comfortable, nicely raked seating that focuses attention firmly on the stage. There is something about the slightly institutional atmosphere of this lecture theatre that also feels rather well suited to the ghost story that is about to unfold. And Corpse begins with a premise almost too good to resist. Kirsty Mann is a real life doctor, a rational, scientifically minded woman who, with her husband, buys a surprisingly cheap house in an area of London where they had never expected to be able to afford one. Immediately, alarm bells ring. Why is it so cheap? Then strange things start happening. Mann herself references ...

Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett – Underbelly’s Circus Hub

24Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett – Underbelly’s Circus Hub

International cabaret star Bernie Dieter returns to the Fringe with her spectacular line up of performers. Prepare for full frontal nudity, bodily fluids and death-defying stunts, all wrapped in sequins and served with a shot of pizazz. Club Kabarett is a show which begins from the moment you enter the tent. Impossibly glamorous performers strut amongst the audience, handing out flags labelled “slut” or “freak”, whilst certain members of the crowd are clearly rethinking their front row seating choices. However, when Bernie herself bursts onto the stage clad in head-to-toe sequins, she quickly makes it clear that no one is safe. This a cabaret which encourages interaction, some of it deeply touching. Bernie expertly shifts the mood from comedy to pathos, asking us to hold the hand of a s...

Elf Lyons is The Woman on the Edge – Pleasance Courtyard

24Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Elf Lyons is The Woman on the Edge – Pleasance Courtyard

Elf Lyons is The Woman on the Edge arrived with considerable expectation, and for a while I thought I was in for something rather special. The opening Hitchcock-esque passages are beautifully conceived, Lyons creating something strange, textured and nuanced, with an unsettling film-noir quality that suggested an intriguing hour ahead. Unfortunately, for me, the show gradually lost its way. The Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard doesn't necessarily help. It is a particularly wide room, requiring Lyons to cover considerable ground to maintain contact with the whole audience. She certainly works hard physically, but looking around during some of the longer passages, I saw rather a lot of people not laughing. Instead, there were quizzical faces, apparently trying, as I was, to piece ...

24Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Buggers – Pleasance Courtyard

Francis Bacon distorted the human figure on canvas. Buggers asks what happened when that same capacity for distortion entered one of the most important relationships of his life. Written by Alistair Hall and directed by Alice Wordsworth, the play immediately demythologises the famous story that Bacon first encountered George Dyer burgling his home, giving us instead an almost wordless wine-bar tryst between Alistair Hall’s Francis Bacon and Peter Clements’ George Dyer. The following morning begins to expose the gulf between them. “I like your nose,” says Bacon. “Yeah, it’s been punched a lot,” replies Dyer. When Bacon discovers that Dyer has done time, he is delighted. “How wonderful.” Then comes a line which encapsulates both Bacon’s attraction to Dyer and something fu...

24Aug

By Danielle FarrowNo Comments

Scotland

EXXY – King’s Theatre

It’s quite something when the safety feature at the start of a show is for the audience’s health rather than the performers, and EXXY from Dan Daw Creative Projects continues to be quite something throughout this highly physically accessible production, with its built in text and sign language throughout, as well as being set up as a relaxed performance, with warning cues for more extreme lighting and sound. EXXY is labelled dance-theatre. It seems more heavily theatre, but with that dance quality which places the work of understanding movement onto the audience itself. Spoken word aspects (live and recorded), along with text and images projected onto the corrugated back wall, and strong soundscapes, all provide context - including Daws’ nan’s backyard and hospital settings - in which h...

Shake It Up! The Improvised Shakespeare Show – Gilded Balloon Teviot

24Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Shake It Up! The Improvised Shakespeare Show – Gilded Balloon Teviot

Welcome to the world of improvised Shakespeare! I have seen Shake It Up! several times before, including in the Birmingham Library with the wonderful The School of Night, so I was well versed in their technique. Before they can begin, they ask the audience for suggestions of a comedy, tragedy, or history play. With a vote dependent upon our clap energy, we enthusiastically voted for a history play. To build more detail, we needed a protagonist, someone that you know but whom is not in the audience with you. Hurray! Pietro in the front row suggests Ludovico his flat-mate, and his bad habits are chewing loudly, being messy, and generally rude, but good hearted. The play will be set in the Lake District with the gorgeous rolling hills, and Kendal Mint Cake...