Scotland Archives - Page 55 of 157

The Beyond Broadway Experience: Footloose – Festival Theatre

19Jul

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

The Beyond Broadway Experience: Footloose – Festival Theatre

Edinburgh’s hit youth-theatre company The Beyond Broadway Experience, took to the Festival Theatre with their rendition of the cult-classic Footloose. Featuring a cast of almost 200 actors aged 8-25, this was a showstopping, full-out musical extravaganza. This cast performs with such flair and professionalism it’s hard to believe the majority of the cast are under 20! With aerials, split leaps, and tumbling, the acrobatic and dancing capabilities of the whole cast was astounding, each cast member bringing maximum energy to their performances. Unfortunately, I cannot provide the names of the actors in this production so will henceforth refer to them by their character names. Our leading ladies, Rusty and Ariel were an unstoppable duo - true triple threats, bri...

The Great Gatsby – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

19Jul

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

The Great Gatsby – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Set in the grand manor of Jay Gatsby in 1922, Pitlochry Festival Theatre presents us with Elizabeth Newman’s dreamy adaptation of The Great Gatsby as part of their 2025 Summer repertoire. With a winding imperial staircase, sheer curtains that drift in the breeze, and a magnificent art-deco style glass chandelier, Jen McGinley’s set design establishes the splendour and veil over New York in the roaring twenties. The band sits atop the staircase, observing the mayhem below them unfold from behind their white-rimmed glasses. As in Pitlochry’s latest production of grease, the cast act in the play as well as making up the band. Accompanying the play with classic jazz standards, setting the tone for Gatsby’s (played by Oraine Johnson) raucous parties. The story unfolds...

The 39 Steps – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

17Jul

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

The 39 Steps – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Based on Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film, Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s revival of The 39 Steps features femme fatales, a runaway convict, police chases, and a healthy number of sheep. The film and the play both share an almost identical narrative structure and much of the dialogue has been lifted straight out of the film and into the play - however they couldn’t feel more different to each other. The play is a spoof of the classic film, and while it still maintains the dry, sarcastic humour of the film, it relies heavily on slapstick comedy. I was especially pleased to see the iconic train scream being absolutely nailed because nothing is more camp than that. With only four actors, but about 150 characters, it was a marvel to watch the cast rapidly battling with jac...

4Jul

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Kismet – Festival Theatre

Kismet means destiny or fate and this premiere of two works, the brand new Gallery of Consequence (Dutch choreographer and director, Emma Evelein) and B.R.I.S.A. (Johan Inger - first performed in 2014 by NDT2) present a thought-provoking and intriguing set. The cacophonous movements portrayed personal insecurities and discomfort alongside our outer masks, our human ingenuity and our propensity to gather tribally. Each set offers a robust, confident and energetic take on modern life within our engineered world. Are we fated to exist overshadowed by computer screens and to find the carpets upon which we walk consume us? It's clever. The creative team for Gallery of Consequence knocks it out of the park. AMIANGELICA’s visuals are key aspects of the narrative as is the lighting (Ryan Jos...

This is a Gift – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

30Jun

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

This is a Gift – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

In a continuation of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s 2025 Summer programme, This is a Gift brings a fresh contemporary take on the legend of Midas. Rather than a King being the one granted with the gift of the midas touch, it is a working class shopkeeper from Leith - the Father of Zoe, the narrator of this one-woman show. Written by Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir, This is a Gift subverts from the original tale and puts the gift in a position where it is wanted out of need not greed. But is money the root of all evil - is it worth the sacrifice? This play asks us how far we will go to provide for the ones we love. The one hour-and-twenty run time flew by thanks to Sigfúsdóttir’s fast-paced writing and Blythe Jandoo’s (who plays Zoe) punchy performance. And with th...

26Jun

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

The Croft – Festival Theatre

Returning to the stage after Covid-19 prematurely ended its original run, The Croft, directed by Alastair Whatley and written by Ali Milles provided many a fright when it opened in Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. Set in a former crofters hut in a remote area of the Scottish Highlands, this production sees Laura (Gracie Follows) and Suzanne (Caroline Harker) arrive for what is meant to be a relaxed weekend trip. It isn’t long before the place’s centuries of history weaves itself into the women’s present. With no phone signal available and only the mysterious David (Gray O’Brien) for company, this thrilling piece of theatre connects past and present as the real truth of The Croft slowly unravels. The whole pace of the show is fantastic. Running at 2 hours, including the interval, audienc...

Nick Costley-White Quartet – Traverse Theatre

25Jun

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Nick Costley-White Quartet – Traverse Theatre

Although small in number, they certainly weren’t small in sound—Nick Costley-White and his band absolutely rocked the Traverse with their unique jazz sound. Pulling inspiration from Brazil, West Africa, Malta, and more, Costley-White has curated a full-on hubbub of sound with an inventive and experimental flair. Those pieces which used these multi-cultural influences all began with a distinctive fusion sound. However, as improvisations took over from the pre-written work, we lost those cultural distinctions, falling into patterns and conventions that are perhaps more stereotypical to the traditional western jazz sound. It would have been exciting to hear the themes and ideas presented at the beginning of each piece carry over into the solos. Nonetheless, the quality of the solos was unq...

24Jun

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

RANT – Traverse Theatre

With yet another instalment of Scottish traditional music, RANT brought their lively fiddle quartet tunes to an even livelier audience at The Traverse. Comprised of Bethany Reid, Anna Massie, Lauren MacColl, and Gillian Frame, RANT are a powerhouse of a band, bringing an energy to their music that finds your toe tapping involuntarily. Having attended many a music night at The Traverse, never have I seen an audience in such high spirits as I did at RANT. Starting off as a rather coy but enamoured crowd, after Anna Massie came to introduce the next tune, the audience were soon whooping, clapping and stamping. It is quite a skill to evoke that kind of energy from an audience—especially given that the demographic of most of The Traverse’s music nights are of an older, very well-mannered gen...

23Jun

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

The Stars and After – Traverse Theatre

Ten actors stand silently with bowed heads as the audience enters the auditorium. In the dim blue lighting we can make out pieces of corrugated iron and large machine cogs. This is a gloomy dystopian land. In this world of the future, there are two classes of people: the citizens who live above ground and live a comfortable life; and the workers who live below ground, leading a miserable existence. The citizens’ light, power and their whole lifestyle depend on the efforts of the workers. It’s a hundred years since the city of Goliath was founded. Citizens live a good if unexciting life. They are largely unaware of how they are manipulated into docility by their Leader. Above ground there is no darkness and no natural light, but citizens have the benefit of powerful lights. However...

21Jun

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Grease – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

The classic rock and rollin’, bunny hoppin’ musical Grease lands at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre this week after kicking off their run at the Blackpool Grand Theatre earlier this month. Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Blackpool Grand Theatre have worked together to co-produce this rough and ready production, showcasing the enterprise opportunities that come with collaborating both financially and creatively. Not only allowing for more freedom with budget, but also (very importantly) allowing this show to provide accessible commercial theatre for those more rural theatre scenes. With no typical-style ensemble and no typical-style band, the cast are tasked with acting, singing and dancing all while playing the score of Grease themselves. Jan (Leah Jamieson) rocks out...