Scotland Archives - Page 38 of 91

28Oct

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

Treason The Musical – Festival Theatre

Ricky Allan’s Treason, The Musical ends on a poignant point - years after the event itself, we’re fixated on the burning of a man who never started the fire. The story, in theory, is simple. Here is the Gunpowder plot, but like you’ve never seen it before. And, instead of focusing on the primary school stories of your youth where Guy Fawkes is caught red-handed and burnt at the stake, Treason focuses on the themes of persecution, scapegoating and secrecy to understand the motives behind the real plotters who took the Gunpowder plot from being a desperate last resort to a possible reality. Setting out the motivations behind the plot, the storyline follows Thomas Percy as he embroils himself in a group of plotters to take down parliament. At the same time, the figure of Guy Fawkes watches...

25Oct

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Nae Expectations – Tron Theatre

As the title suggests, this is a version of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, relocated North of the English border. Young Pip (Gavin Jon Wright) is now a young Scottish lad encountering Scottish versions of Magwitch (Gerry Mulgrew), Miss Havisham (Karen Dunbar) and, unexpectedly, judgemental cows, on a journey from the Scottish countryside to Glasgow. It's a journey of great, and sometimes nae, expectations as he meets and helps an escaped convict and a twisted lady & young girl in a decrepit house, three people who will have far-reaching, and often sinister, consequences in his ongoing journey for personal betterment. Director Andy Arnold, for whom this is the 40th and final directing turn at the Tron called this story "a wonderful mix of dry and caustic wit combined with ...

22Oct

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Woman Walking – Traverse Theatre

This two women play by Sylvia Dow ends its three week tour of twelve Scotland venues at the hot and stuffily subterranean Traverse 2. Ironic perhaps, given that the setting is (supposedly) a breezy mist covered mountain top. As solo hill walker Cath, played by Pauline Lockhart, in hiking boots and sporting an infeasible large rucksack stops for a chocolate break, she finds she is not alone. And yet there is no surprise, no shock as she chats with the tweed-clad and grey-streaked Nan Shepherd, played by Fletcher Mathers. At the heart of the problems with this production is the lack of drama, of shock, of revelation. The narrative is linear and pedestrian and with a minimal set you might just as well be overhearing two post menopausal woman moaning about life in a Tesco car park. &n...

Scottish Ballet: Twice-Born – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

21Oct

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Scottish Ballet: Twice-Born – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

I defy anyone not to love Schachmatt by Spanish choreographer, Cayetano Soto. It translates as Checkmate and playfully works its way through a range of eras, drawing an ongoing smile from this reviewer. Acting as a warm-up to Scottish Ballet's latest work, Twice-Born (developed by new boy on the block, Dickson Mbi) it is a fabulously entertaining and quirky piece. At the get-go your curiosity is piqued as a moody stage is slowly revealed. What follows is witty, unique and brilliantly executed by a top-notch team performing with precision and speed. Christopher Hampson, Scottish Ballet’s CEO, watched Schachmatt two nights in a row: “I remember feeling instant joy because I was watching craft at its highest level,” he said. He knew immediately he wanted to bring it to the Scottish B...

18Oct

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

I, Daniel Blake – Traverse Theatre

It’s too glib to simply give this a theatrical review. Yes, it’s well-acted, well-lit, commitment and emotion running through the production from top to bottom, but to thoughtlessly term it ‘entertainment’ would be to miss the point entirely. Roughly eight years after a financial crash laid bare the clandestine, labyrinthine world of modern finance, providing a golden, once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the rotting edifice, the film ‘I Daniel Blake’ was released, illustrating by how far this opportunity had been missed. Mysteriously, by 2016, many of the architects of the 2008 disaster were somehow richer than they’d ever been. Clearly there was still wealth-a-go-go in the country; it just kept winding up in the same pockets while ‘austerity’ persisted unabated, resulting in cut...

18Oct

By Ella CatherallNo Comments

Scotland

Pickled Republic – Assembly Roxy

Walking into the Assembly Roxy space to be greeted by a tomato with legs, I was a little suspicious of what I had gotten myself into with this show. However, ‘Pickled Republic’ a ‘surreal cabaret’/sketch show in which all the acts are vegetables played by Ruxy Cantir, is astoundingly good fun. As a solo show, the quality of the piece lives and dies on the strength of the performance and Cantir’s performance makes it such that this show is live and kicking. Her extraordinary physicality paired with the incredible costumes (Visual Design by Fergus Dunnet) that she swaps out between sketches makes this an unbelievably fun show to watch. Also impressive is the speed at which she’s able to get the audience on side while dressed as a tomato with legs. I can’t have been the only audi...

Jasdeep Singh Degun and the Scottish Ensemble – The Queens Hall, Edinburgh

8Oct

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Jasdeep Singh Degun and the Scottish Ensemble – The Queens Hall, Edinburgh

At The Queens Hall tonight Jasdeep Singh Degun sits cross-legged smiling and calm, cradling his sitar, on a raised Dias in the middle of the stage, and at his shoulder equally laid-back, Harkiret Singh Bahra, his regular accompanist on the Tabla, a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. In a semi-circle around the pair the Scottish Ensemble quintet are assembled, the violins of Jonathan Morton and Donald Grant, the viola of Jane Atkins, Naomi Pavri on Cello and Diane Clark on Double Bass. The striking difference is that Degun and Bahra do not have iPads in front of them streaming the music. As Degan explains in the excellent programme notes, ‘In Indian Classical music, we don’t get caught up in notation,… instead you should learn and embody the music in its entirity’. In an...

And…And…And – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

8Oct

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

And…And…And – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Isla Cowan’s beautifully written new play is a gem. It focusses on the relationship between two young women in their last year at school whose lives are overshadowed by the climate emergency. The play opens on a beach where the two seventeen year olds are collecting litter (including a lot of plastic items). Their characters are brought to life by Caroline McKeown (Cassie) and Tiana Milne-Wilson (Claire). Those two very talented actors are totally convincing as the best friends. They have a very relaxed natural rapport but as the play develops and they seem to be growing apart, their emotionally charged scenes are perfecting pitched, and engrossing. Two wonderful performances. Cassie and Claire are both concerned by the climate crisis, but it is Cassie who is the activist. She wants ...

Group Portrait In A Summer Landscape – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

6Oct

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Group Portrait In A Summer Landscape – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

It is a brave playwright who describes his play as “Scottish Chekhov”, but Peter Arnott’s magnificent new play does not disappoint. It’s an exhilarating tour-de-force which deals with huge issues while zooming in on the complex human relationships of a group of privileged and talented people. It’s hugely entertaining, thought-provoking, and witty, but not always an easy watch. The first night audience was often shrieking with laughter, but sometimes stunned into shocked silence. It’s set in the summer of 2014 in the heady days leading up to the Scottish Independence Referendum. But although that’s discussed, it’s not a play about Independence. Nor is it about the climate emergency, although that issue features, too. And it’s not really about God though the Deity is important to some ...

Sister Act – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

5Oct

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Sister Act – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Born from the Whoopie Goldberg film of the same name, this musical is a ballsy, rollicking joyride from start to finish. With music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater and book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, Sister Act tells the story of Deloris Van Cartier (Landi Oshinowo), a nightclub singer with dreams of fame, fortune and a white fox fur, who goes into hiding after witnessing a gangster killing in Philadelphia. She enlists the help of her old school friend Steady Eddie Souther (Alfie Parker), a Philly cop, who arranges for her to lie low in a local convent until the trial is over. World weary Mother Superior (Lesley Joseph) is less than happy about this arrangement but puts Deloris in charge of the choir, which certainly needs some knocking into shape. ...