Scotland Archives - Page 41 of 128

Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story – Pleasance Courtyard

24Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story – Pleasance Courtyard

Diana, Princess of Wales is brought to life as you've never seen her before, in a chaotic sort-of solo show by Awkward Productions. Starring Linus Karp as the titular princess, who is often upstaged by Joseph Martin in the role of Camilla, the show also features very enthusiastic audience participation. The company are honest at the outset - this is the story of Diana's life, but there is very little truth to it. Instead, this is a mix of drag, multimedia, comedy and borderline slander. Certain audience members are chosen to play roles such as Diana's parents, the royal nannies and even the Queen's corgi. To their credit they all get involved with great enthusiasm and seem to relish the opportunity to hop up onstage. Charles is represented by a cardboard cutout with real hair stuck ...

All Eyes and Ears – The French Institute of Scotland

23Aug

By Triona ScullyNo Comments

Scotland

All Eyes and Ears – The French Institute of Scotland

Discover the powerful relationship between music and cinema with All Eyes and Ears. In this playful, live performance, two actor-musicians use a variety of traditional and unusual instruments to show how music shapes mood, tension, and atmosphere in custom-made films. Through different musical arrangements, they transform perceptions of romantic scenes, pursuits, and more. Audiences will leave amused, entertained, and with a fresh appreciation for the power of music in storytelling. There’s a saying among Edinburgh locals, "Only in the Fringe," that speaks to the eccentric, spectacular, mind-bending, and "What the heck did I just watch?" factor that accompanies some of the shows that visit our city once a year. All Eyes and Ears fits perfectly into that genre. It is a glorious multi...

23Aug

By Michelle KnightNo Comments

Scotland

Larry Dean: Dodger – Assembly Hall

Dean is a comedian writer and actor and is fast becoming a familiar face on the TV circuit. With appearances at Live at The Apollo hosting and performing, Mock the Week, House of Games plus a stand-up slot on Michael McIntyre’s Big Show. He is no stranger to an audience welcoming everyone in by shaking their hands as they enter the venue. Dean is in full swing delivering his show Dodger at The Monkey Barrel and the Assembly main hall. Larry Dean is up close and personal with his storytelling, being very candid about his diagnosis of Autism and his nans dementia struggles; plus the new ‘Brummie boyfriend’ of which he has the audience laughing out loud at how he explains the accent “feels slow and sleepy” a drawl as he wilts down to the ground. He uses his facial expressions ...

Assembly Hall – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

23Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Assembly Hall – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Assembly Hall by the Kidd Pivot company is curiously absorbing. Depicting an AGM of a historical reenactment group, this piece marries quick-fire dialogue, precision dance, a great sound design (Owen Belton, Alessandro Juliani and Meg Roe), mime and terrific ensemble work. This ailing reenactment troupe in love with paying homage to chivalric romance takes us on a journey inside the minds of its members, with their dreams, fantasies and illicit affairs. The cartoonish mannerisms that illustrate the dialogue are exaggerated and aptly fit the battling excesses of a living history group. The compulsion to create long-lost hand-to-hand battle with clanking armor and heavy swords is intoxicating, indeed - almost an addiction which is hard to give up. Reenactment groups avidly research and ma...

Malvolio’s Fantasy – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

23Aug

By Marcelina KruczyńskaNo Comments

Scotland

Malvolio’s Fantasy – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

Malvolio’s Fantasy is a Shakespearian play with a modern twist. This funny, frivolous and energetic script was written by the Zuzabella duo or more precisely Zuza Sołtykowska and Isabella Olsen-Barone. The show was a feast for all the senses. Containing some truly eye catching make-up and hair most (notably Carmen Acoster’s pinktastic look) all these head turning designs were created by Ashley McIntosh. If that wasn’t enough the play contained some originally written music by Claire Wang and Magda Olech. Some other much loved classics were also thrown into the mix, that really managed to hype up and engage the audience even more. The play followed several characters’ stories that were all in one way or another connected to Malvolio. Overall, there was ten actors on stage, this in...

23Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Ring That Bell! – theSpace on The Mile

Fallen angels Lucy (Grace Baker) and Bubs (Eleanor Tate) are here to direct you, dead person so in denial you think you might be at a Fringe show, to your assigned circle of Hell, which might be the ring of (actual) fire, the billionaire ball pit, the circle jerk or the cone of shame. But as the presentation unfolds, Lucy and Bubs' mutual resentment bub-bles (geddit) to the surface as they confront their conflicting views on the events of their fall, not to mention the soul that they let turn into goo that they almost definitely shouldn't have. Part of playwright Kira Mason's inspiration for the show was about responding to heteronormative models of paradise and about the focus on punishing and excluding those we categorise as unworthy, and the play definitely has a Miltonian ...

Take Me to Your Leader – theSpace on the Mile

23Aug

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Take Me to Your Leader – theSpace on the Mile

Deep in the basement of Nebula Inc, a team of intrepid astrogeologists spot some weird rock markings on an alien world. Could this be evidence of life beyond our planet – or is it just another hoax? The interns are on strike, and they are torn between fighting for better pay and conditions and researching the discovery of a lifetime. Student Mae (Kikelomo Hassan) isn’t being paid at all, and she is really struggling to make ends meet. Billionaire man-baby Armie (Ewan Little) sends his assistant, the meticulous Johnson (Emily Mahi’ai) to bust the strike by any means necessary. Lex Davies’s script is lighthearted and very funny. It’s packed with references to sci-fi favourites like War of the Worlds and the works of Douglas Adams. The performers have a whale of a time playing the l...

Things Between Heaven and Earth – Underbelly Bristo Square

23Aug

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Things Between Heaven and Earth – Underbelly Bristo Square

Eric (Jun Noh) has changed since May (Marina Hata) last saw him. He’s a successful author, dressed in a snazzy suit at the suggestion of his publisher. His books seem to describe people and events from May and Eric’s real lives, including the death of May’s husband. But does Eric know more about the accident than he is letting on? Billed as a psychological thriller, the staging echoes film noir, with asymmetrical composition and lots of pacing. But this production – which I would describe as a melodrama – takes itself far too seriously. Eric enjoys intellectual discussion, but his philosophical musings distract from the story. I did enjoy Hata’s performance as May, and the references to the Roman Catholic concept of purgatory. The idea has potential, and the visuals provide added...

In Conversation with Gary Younge – The Stand Comedy Club

23Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

In Conversation with Gary Younge – The Stand Comedy Club

This was a fascinating and illuminating hour with Gary Younge, writer and academic, who is an outstanding speaker. Whatever questions were asked by the interviewer or the audience, he answered calmly and lucidly. Young was the Guardian’s US correspondent from 2003-15, then became the paper’s editor-at-large, and is still a regular columnist. He’s an editorial board member of The Nation, and has also written for, amongst others, The Financial Times and The New Statesman. His six books include, most recently, ‘Dispatches from the Diaspora’. He’s made several radio and tv documentaries on subjects ranging from Brexit to equal marriage. His many awards include the Orwell Prize for journalism. And Younge is now a Professor of Sociology at Manchester University. Asked by the inte...

What The F*ck Happened to Love and Hope? – theSpace on the Mile

23Aug

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

What The F*ck Happened to Love and Hope? – theSpace on the Mile

Nina (Olivia McGeachy) is trying to play it cool. She’s on the school bus, finding the courage to ask out a boy she fancies. Finally, she blurts it out, laughing off her nerves with her quirky persona. Nina and Faye (Heidi Steel) are in the classroom, giggling at explicit pictures sent by a boy they know. They’re both sixteen. Faye, a young carer, comes across as self-assured, but she is hiding a world inside. The friends go out clubbing, and the atmosphere is lively as they drink and dance together. Then Nina starts to feel woozy. Her drink has been spiked. Meanwhile, Faye has sex with a boy who removes his condom without her consent. Both girls describe their rapes and the aftermath, still in shock but determined to tell their stories. This is an astonishing debut from ei...