Wednesday, October 9

Scotland

Macbeth: Sleep No More – The Space @ Niddrie Street
Scotland

Macbeth: Sleep No More – The Space @ Niddrie Street

A cleverly shortened and in places rewritten version of the Scottish Play which takes nothing away from its power and fascination, performed very nicely by a four female cast, in what is normally a male heavy production. All four actresses do very well to play a screed of different characters, but none shines brighter than Victoria Adler, who is scintillating in whichever body she is inhabiting. Alder’s sword fighting scene with Amy Floyd’s slightly pedestrian Macbeth is one of the highlights of the whole show, with audience members visibly shrinking back and pulling up legs from the thrusting and whirling bodies as the contest progresses to its inevitable bloody climax. Absolutely riveting stuff! Perhaps a bit more cut and thrust in the lines department would not have gone amiss...
Trojan Women – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Scotland

Trojan Women – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Phenomenal. Raw. A fusion of golden talent across time and space. Combining Euripides’ play from 415 BCE with outstanding modern expertise is genius. Jung Jae-Il, the musical director, composer, is behind the success of Parasite (2019) and the cult TV series Squid Game; Scott Zielinski has lit more than 300 productions with numerous leading directors; renowned video/projection designer, Austin Switser, swamps and caresses the senses in magnificent style; Cho Myung Hee’s clean-lined, gorgeous, set is drop-dead wonderful; Wen Hui’s choreography is faultless; Kim Moo-Hong’s costumes … I want one. And then, of course, there’s the wonderful writer, Bae Sam-Sik who is acclaimed for outstanding structure, profundity and eloquence. The direction and conception is down to Ong Keng Sen, whose produc...
Matilda Jr – Edinburgh Academy, Magnusson Theatre
Scotland

Matilda Jr – Edinburgh Academy, Magnusson Theatre

A lone pink teddy bear sits centre stage under a yellow spotlight, behind it a bare scaffold. Do not expect lavish sets, this is a stripped back and shortened, junior, version of this family favourite. But worry not, what it loses in artifice it more than makes up for in oodles of acting, singing and dancing talent, from juniors and adults alike, and a sound system to die for. The well appointed auditorium is full and child heavy, crisps and haribos are munched, capri suns slurped. There is an expectant murmur from the packed crowd, and why not, this is after all a totally sold out run by Edinburgh crowd favourites Captivate, old hands at putting on fabulous fringe productions. A child walks out and picks up the teddy bear, is joined by another and another until, by my calculatio...
Lear Alone – The Space Triplex
Scotland

Lear Alone – The Space Triplex

And Tomorrow Theatre Company brings us Lear Alone: a modern-day take on street living, aging and the modern scourge of dementia in all its guises. It was originally an award-winning Web Series shot on the streets of London. The punitive Covid lockdown saw the homeless finally safe inside, but the arts and artists were crippled and bound by isolation.  And Tomorrow is creating work that can be presented both digitally and on stage in our post-pandemic landscape. The company is working with CRISIS to highlight the plight of homeless individuals in our relatively wealthy society. They have funding from The Arts Council, Screensaver, Elysium Theatre Company, Entire, Tricolore, Theater Auf’m Kahn, Berlin, Actors and Writers London and The So & So Club. Directed by Anthony Shrubsal...
Rosaline and Juliet – Greenside @ Infirmary Street
Scotland

Rosaline and Juliet – Greenside @ Infirmary Street

What can you do in 20 minutes? Write a grocery list. Meditate. Take a walk around your neighbourhood. Or…  Watch Tale Blazers’ creative and highly entertaining ‘Rosaline and Juliet’. As in Shakespeare’s famous ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Rosaline is Juliet’s cousin (never seen in that play) and the reason Romeo Montague turns up at enemy-family Capulet’s ball where he meets Juliet. Why? Because he was courting Rosaline. Yep, romantic Romeo swaps one cousin for another - and here we see those cousins deal with that, with wit, with real talk and with love. Created and performed by Lara Lawman and Lily Roberts, Ju and Ros are brought to modern life, despite their 16th century setting within Juliet’s bedchamber. Two screens serve to create her window, famous for ‘the balcony scene’ i...
Benjamin Alborough: Absolute Monopoly – Assembly George Square
Scotland

Benjamin Alborough: Absolute Monopoly – Assembly George Square

As I walked up to the venue, I asked my friend "wait, is it this big white box?" I had never been to a show in a box before, but it let me know what I was in for - something quirky, unexpected and a great discovery.  When we entered, I noticed that the music was similar to, and possibly might be the music from the monopoly video games, which is a really nice touch. We were seated to face a table with some monopoly related items, a whiteboard, and a mysterious item covered with a tea towel. Shortly, the show began with a voiceover and Alborough entered full of charisma and infectious enthusiasm, he started with a song, the lyrics were fun and snappy, I knew at that point, not only was I going to have a fun filled hour, but the host would be having just as much fun as me. ...
Dreams of Anne Frank – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall
Scotland

Dreams of Anne Frank – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

This is a gripping production about the experiences of Amsterdam teenager, Anne Frank, who was forced into hiding from the Nazis in 1942. The young actors from Zenith Youth Theatre in Bath are to be congratulated on an assured production.  It’s a tragic tale but Bernard Kops’s play, loosely based on Anne Frank’s famous diary, provides plenty of amusing moments. Anne, along with her parents and older sister, Margot, hide in a ‘secret annexe’ of a warehouse because, as a Jewish family, they fear for their lives when the German army enters Amsterdam. They have to share the cramped living accommodation with another Jewish family, Mr and Mrs Van Daan and their son, Peter. And also, with Mr Dussel, a dentist. They live in the annexe for more than two years and unsurprisingly ...
Blueswater Presents – Live at The Jazz Bar
Scotland

Blueswater Presents – Live at The Jazz Bar

Recently having celebrated their 10th anniversary, this is a serious five-piece blues band with long-standing Fringe credentials, with over 750 Fringe shows and in excess of 20,000 attendees in the bag already and ready to defend their (self-awarded) title as the hardest working band at the Edinburgh Fringe. And if this performance was anything to go by in a packed Jazz Bar, I think it is a fair description. Sweaty, loud and proud. A really enjoyable and raucous ninety minutes of musical mayhem. Expect, Baby Please Don’t Go, Who Do You Love, Blue Suede Shoes and Gloria, to name just a few of their extensive set list. If you are looking for a good time, dancing and singing along to some rhythm and blues standards, you can’t really go wrong here. Don’t expect high art or quiet contemplati...
Alone – Assembly George Square Studios
Scotland

Alone – Assembly George Square Studios

Alone is a sci-fi drama following scientist (Kat Glass) and pilot (Courtney Bassett) on a mission to save the earth from the raising CO2 emissions through extra-terrestrial microbiology. The use of drama to explore climate change makes the topic of sustainability more accessible to the non-scientists amongst us. Also, the feminist themes shone an incredibly important spotlight on the silencing of female scientists in research. This was the first time I have seen a show addressing the sexism of scientific academia and I feel gratitude towards this play for recognising and publicising this inequality. A quick search revealed that theatre company Dusty Room Productions practice what they preach by using sustainable props and partnering with reforestation programmes which makes this play even ...
Hello Kitty Must Die – Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance 2
Scotland

Hello Kitty Must Die – Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance 2

Following the global phenomenon that was ‘Six’, hatched right here at the fringe six years ago, the same Tony-winning production team are doubling down on this Musical, a mash-up of Asian Feminism with a killer’s touch. Unfortunately, this looks more like a show in development rather than the finished article. Not only is the action slow and dull, the acting and singing are not much better. Starting like a modernised version of Six with five American performers of East Asian origin, standing in formation, clad all in black, it aims, it claims, to demystify the Western myth of the ‘Hello Kitty’ trope. Erm, okay… I am already bored, and we are not even through the opening number. The show proceeds to tell the story of Fiona Yu (Sami Ma) a 30-year-old American Lawyer, and virgin....