Scotland Archives - Page 5 of 154

The Tao of Lloyd – Drawing Room at Assembly Rooms

23Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

The Tao of Lloyd – Drawing Room at Assembly Rooms

The ‘Still Point Institute’ is holding a three-day immersive meditation, and the closing speaker has cancelled due to…circumstances beyond his control! Enter Lloyd Dobler (Dennis Trainor)…yes, the same Lloyd Dobler played by John Cusack in the 1989 movie ‘Say Anything’. A middle-aged Dobler is flown in to take over the closing speech of the retreat, which hosts high flying people such as Jeff Bezos, and Russell Brand, and Dobler’s spiritual Molotov cocktail could be a fiery brew. We learn that the invitation came from his ex-girlfriend from many years earlier Diane Court, who works for the company Meridian Systems, the creator software for the American government with ICE being one of the departments. If all this was not enough to make him feel uncomfortable, he must talk to...

Peregrinations – Central at Assembly Roxy

23Aug

By Christina SchmidtNo Comments

Scotland

Peregrinations – Central at Assembly Roxy

According to the dictionary, peregrination means a journey to foreign lands, especially on foot. This play by Dutch Kills Theater Company, follows multiple of such journeys of people crossing borders and eplores themes of migration, exile, and the search for belonging in a culture hostile towards immigrants. That alone makes it an important piece of work in the times of ICE in the US and ever increasing support for right-wing politics across the west. But Peregrinations is more than that. It is a wordless, but visually stunning theatre piece. It is a masterclass in mask-work and physical theatre with some incredible puppetry sprinkled in throughout the show. Based on interviews of the ensemble’s real lived experiences it tells stories of humanity, resilience and hope for a better...

Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical – Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose

22Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical – Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose

The tale of Antigone continues to remain prominent within theatre and Greek history, a tale of a woman who goes against her leaders wishes in order to restore dignity to her deceased brother, ultimately leading to her death sentence and the taking of her own life. Like many Greek tragedies, this one is not a happy one, but it does deliver us the message that: it is important to stand up for what you believe in, even if the consequence is dire (oh and don’t disobey the gods…). Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical takes the classic tale but re-frames it in the 1980s, using the AIDS crisis as it’s driven point of revolt. This is cleverly done by exchanging the relationship between Antigone and Creon’s (known as Calvin) son Henry for a relationship between Henry and the deceased and sland...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Hole! – Underbelly Bristo Sq.

If it is done with enough passion, commitment and sheer musical ability, apparently you really can make a musical about absolutely anything. HOLE! is the proof. Created and performed by American Sing-Song's Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, and directed by RJ Tolan, its premise is completely bonkers. A fundamentalist Christian community in Nebraska prepares for an apocalyptic event called The Great Sucking, and survival depends upon having something firmly lodged where the sun doesn't shine. That's probably enough plot. What I wasn't expecting was just how controlled, sophisticated and ultimately joyous this would be. The musicianship is superb. Brasch and Leonhard-Hooper move from big, life-affirming harmonies into exquisitely intimate passages, sometimes accompanied...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Two Little Pigs – Pleasance Courtyard

There is a problem before Two Little Pigs has even begun. Sitting in the front row of The Green at Pleasance Courtyard, the glare from the lighting is sufficiently fierce that I resort to sunglasses. That shouldn't happen. The Green itself is a wafer-thin temporary structure seating around 60, full tonight, but with external noise penetrating the space. Nevertheless, director Merle Wheldon and her two performers have an intriguing hour ahead of them. Written by Caitlin McEwan, produced by Patrick Bone Productions, and performed by McEwan as Pig alongside Caleb Hughes as Mark, Two Little Pigs takes us into the increasingly troubling world of the manosphere. Mark's relationship with Martha has collapsed and she has walked out. Into the void comes a pig. The slight...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Top Gunchained – Guilded Balloon Teviot

It is not the most promising of starts. A double-height room, plastic seats laid out on the flat and an approximately 18-inch-high stage. On it, there is virtually nothing: black drapes, a solitary leather swivel chair and a Top Gun-esque flying jacket. Fortunately, Richard Marsh doesn't need much else. Top Gunchained retells Top Gun through beat poetry, physical comedy and Marsh's own relationship with his father. It is a clever conceit, but what elevates it beyond movie parody is the warmth of that father-son story. Marsh's portrayal of his dad, complete with a wonderfully characterful West Country accent, is particularly lovely. We see the young Marsh growing up on his father's knee with Top Gun becoming one of their favourite films and later r...

The Ghost of White Hart Lane – Underbelly Bristo Sq

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Ghost of White Hart Lane – Underbelly Bristo Sq

There was an odd triptych of personal coincidences waiting for me in The Ghost of White Hart Lane. I live in Musselburgh, where John White grew up, I previously lived in Falkirk, where he played before heading south, and I have a daughter called Elsie, also the name given by White's son Rob to one of his two daughters. If ever a story ought to have drawn me in, this was probably it. Written and directed by Martin Murphy, from Rob White and Julie Welch's book, the production is performed by Cal Newman, who negotiates an extraordinary collection of characters as we move between John's remarkable footballing career and Rob's attempts to discover the father he never knew. The Musselburgh material particularly interested me. White played locally before joining Bonnyrigg Rose, while w...

Mysteries of the Picts – Sauna Theatre Summerhall

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Mysteries of the Picts – Sauna Theatre Summerhall

There is something wonderfully Fringe about sitting in a sauna with 47 other souls while being invited to contemplate whether the Picts were partial to a good steam. Mysteries of the Picts explores not only Pictish culture but the much longer history of sauna itself, looking at archaeological evidence for sweathouses and communal bathing stretching back thousands of years. When it comes specifically to the Picts, things become rather more speculative. There is no firm archaeological evidence that they used saunas, although the production reasonably suggests that sacred gathering places may subsequently have disappeared beneath churches, civic buildings and other later development. It is interesting, although the history and archaeology remain somewhat vague. Where the produc...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Haribo Kimchi – Studio Theatre

Jaha Koo's gentle, curious piece didn't particularly move or affect me while I was watching it. Yet the following morning I found myself still thinking about its snail, singing gummy bear and extraordinary electronic eel. Perhaps this is a show whose flavours develop over time. The Studio is a comfortable, well-raked room with a generous stage. Upon it sits an almost pagoda-like structure, its sloping translucent surfaces becoming screens onto which images of a Korean metropolis are projected. Percussive music accompanies them and a brightly illuminated orange crown completes a rather striking opening image. Koo arrives and quite literally peels this theatrical exterior away. Underneath is something altogether more prosaic: the stainless-steel counter of a Korean street-food stall (p...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Scaramouche Jones – Assembly Bijou

Where on earth is everybody? Justin Butcher is giving what is arguably the finest one-man performance I have seen at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. Scaramouche Jones is theatre-making and storytelling of the absolute highest quality. And the Bijou tent is barely a quarter full. What is going on? Butcher's Scaramouche Jones has been travelling the world for 25 years. Pete Postlethwaite originated the role, directed by Rupert Goold, and the play itself has subsequently travelled internationally. Maybe nobody wants to see a 25-year-old play, or perhaps it is just not to the ‘modern’ palate. Whatever the reason, what a joy it was to discover. On Millennium Eve, 1999, Scaramouche stands on the brink of his hundredth birthday and takes us back through an extr...