Scotland Archives - Page 35 of 91

Kevin Quantum – Waldorf Astoria (The Caledonian Hotel), Edinburgh

23Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Kevin Quantum – Waldorf Astoria (The Caledonian Hotel), Edinburgh

A fantastic and intimate performance in front of an audience of just 30, by one of Edinburgh’s finest magicians kicks off this year’s Edinburgh Magicfest 2023, now in its 14th year. On top of the multiple shows involving Kevin and many other talented magicians over the next eleven days, he is also the programme director for Magicfest and recently a father as well! He is certainly juggling quite a few balls. Kevin Quatum, once described by David Williams on Britain’s Got Talent, as ‘like a sexy Dr Who’ has come a long way from the Channel 4 show ‘faking It’ that launched his career in magic in 2006. An inexplicable an unexplainable levitation trick involving a dollar bill floating in midair is the undoubted star of the show tonight. A t...

Same Team – A Street Soccer Story – Traverse Theatre

16Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Same Team – A Street Soccer Story – Traverse Theatre

From the pens of Robbie Jack and Jack Nurse, comes the story of five disparate women all struggling in their own way, but brought together as a team to represent Scotland at the Homeless World Cup in Italy. Created alongside the women from the Dundee Change Centre, an initiative which uses football to inspire and empower the excluded, the marginalised and the homeless. The high-charged atmosphere of the five-aside pitch is brought brilliantly to life in a cleverly conceived gymnasium set by Alisa Kalyanova, complete with floodlighting and pitch lines. The Traverse 1 auditorium could hardly be better proportioned, with its steep terraced seating and wide rectangular stage, and successfully turns normally placid audience into screaming spectator by the end of the production. ‘The Bee’,...

Cinderella – Portobello Town Hall, Edinburgh

13Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Cinderella – Portobello Town Hall, Edinburgh

The story of a once beautiful town hall falling into rack and ruin but being saved, just in the nick of time, by the local community sounds like a fairytale, but here we are in the stunning interior of the revitalised Portobello Town Hall and the successful staging of the family favourite pantomime, Cinderella. Big, bold, colourful and entertaining. This Stage Door Entertainment, production of the timeless classic, could perhaps do with a bit of a reboot, riven as it is with stereotypes and outdated values, but nevertheless, from the reactions of the almost full house, still appears to hit every mark. Tommie Travers, Musical Director and co-Producer, correctly puts music centre stage, in a show which is jam-packed with banging tunes and great singing, and with a leading lady, Amy Cam...

The Snow Queen – Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

8Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Snow Queen – Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

The Royal Lyceum’s Christmas show is always something to be anticipated and relished. Navigating a careful course away from the ubiquitous seasonal ‘panto’, it aims for the high road, a more refined magical, mirth-filled, musical path, under the helm of Artistic director David Greig’s discerning eye. After the rather wonderful, An Edinburgh Christmas Carol, last year, which I loved, I was lucky enough to obtain a ticket for this year’s The Snow Queen, albeit a couple of weeks after the official press night. The opening scene, with a magical set and some nicely shadowy projections introduces, Hans Christian Anderson’s famous tale in a darkly Scottish setting, Edinburgh to be exact, complete with icy Edinburgh castle. So far so good. Two orphan children, Gerda, played by the rather won...

Mark Thomas In England & Son – Traverse Theatre

8Dec

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Mark Thomas In England & Son – Traverse Theatre

Raw, brutal, honest, comic. Of the latter Mark Thomas is a master but so equally effective is he at the first three elements that the grim message of violence and trauma begetting more of the same, generation to generation, is diluted not one jot. This is heavy, intense, choreographed by Movement Director Simon Jones, its rhythm well-punctuated by sound designer MJ McCarthy and Lighting Designer Richard Williamson. Proceedings commence with an introduction from Mark describing how he met writer Ed Edwards several moons ago at the festival. Ed, serendipitously, was behind Mark as they left his show ‘The Political History Of Smack And Crack’, perfectly positioned to overhear the pronouncement; ‘That’s the best thing I’ve seen in fuckin’ ages.’ Five years later, beyond creating some incred...

Katie Gregson-Macleod – Summerhall, Edinburgh

5Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Katie Gregson-Macleod – Summerhall, Edinburgh

Katie Gregson-MacLeod is probably a name you have never heard of but say it to Alexa and you might get a pleasant surprise as the Amazon music machine spits out five or six modern classics for your entertainment. This fresh meat is served up via TikTok, whose carnivorous audience launched Macleod’s career little over a year ago when her minute-long snippet of the breathlessly miserable piano-ballad Complex went viral, clocking up over 7M views in quick time. Appropriately enough, I’m at the Dissection Room at Summerhall, to analyse the small body of work that forms the touring MacLeod’s ouvre to date. It’s windowless, and airless, and unfortunately for this old man, chairless. I sit on a ledge next to the stage which I find out later is the sub-woofer. I’m still vibrating. Ominously or ...

The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

4Dec

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

The Pantomime Adventures Of Peter Pan – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

‘Tomm-eh… Tomm-eh!’ This was wild this year, sketches and skits performed at breakneck speed with scant regard for a wafer-thin plot, but did anyone care? Certainly not Tommy, one of the three kids hauled up to – hopefully – coin a spoonerism from a rendition of May McSmee’s (Allan Stewart) song about ‘smart fellas’. For despite the best efforts of the other two (Enda and Orla) he ended up garnering the biggest cheers for his devil-may-care attitude, quite an achievement in the face of full-throttle Allan Stewart. It summed things up; it wasn’t supposed to go like that, but it had everyone howling in their seats. This was full-tilt, punk pantomime. Amidst the shaky plot were several things that didn’t fit, particularly the Flawless dance troupe, but hang on, it’s… Flawless for heaven’s ...

27Nov

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Amplifi – The Queens Hall, Edinburgh

Amplifi is a series of gigs showcasing the best in modern Scottish music, held every few months in the quirky bar space venue of The Queens Hall, Edinburgh. Performed mid-week I was somewhat surprised to find such a large diverse and enthusiastic audience, ready to heartily support the three acts on display tonight. Presented by Arusha Qureshi in association with Halina Rifai and supported by Creative Scotland and The City of Edinburgh Council, and We Are Here Scotland this is a really nice initiative to support the fringe musicians and minorities looking for a stage and platform to showcase development. First up on the mini stage is Elaine Cheng, Edinburgh based composer/sound artist who takes us through an electronic soundscape featuring her own voice, rising and falling, at times ...

27Nov

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Play Pretend – Traverse Theatre

A brand new play from writer Katie Fraser, directed by Laura Walker for Framework Theatre, a Scotland-based charitable organisation which supports emerging and early-career theatre makers. This play certainly has the feel of a development piece, a bit rough in places, but also fresh with clever ideas, enough to keep you leaning in and invested to the end. Chemistry, synergy, comradeship, trust, improvisation; all elements of acting which are extremely important and which are played out as exercises in drama schools everywhere. But in today’s society have the methods of building on-stage and on-screen relationship with your fellow actors become outdated, dangerous even. And how close is too close today? This play-within-a-play sees seasoned actor Greg rehearsing his role as Bonnie Pri...

No Spray No Lay – St Augustine United Church

20Nov

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

No Spray No Lay – St Augustine United Church

Bare Productions exists for its local and accessible approach to theatre, with its “Bare Academy” doing the same for dance, vocal and acting skills. It therefore only makes sense that No Spray No Lay is a musical. Written by new writers Kat Dobell and Lara Dunning, who were also creative directors on the project, the show takes place in the ladies bathroom of a night club in 2005. It was intended as an ode to the female experience, with the female toilets creating a micro-society, one notorious for the bonds it creates. And with alcohol known for the drama it can cause (not to mention excusing some first night flubs, such as two characters getting their own names wrong), this club toilet quickly becomes both the eye of the storm and sometimes the storm itself, a centre for all the drama of...