Scotland Archives - Page 59 of 93

Shamilton – Assembly George Square Studios

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Shamilton – Assembly George Square Studios

This was – Over the Line! Discriminatory, controversial, anti-Semitic. As a man (can I say that?), who lives with a Jewish lady, who’s business partner is Jewish and has many Jewish friends, you cannot say what you said today. You know the line! You know the line; the line that draws a gasp, a shriek, a howl. The line that after a while as a performer you become addicted to. The line that asks, can I go bigger, can I get closer, can I go over the line? Because crossing the line is what this show does, and what the crowd are baying to see and hear, nay demanding. But for how much longer? The blurb says, Baby Wants Candy's hip-hop Hamilton homage returns! Following sold-out runs in Chicago, NYC and LA. Expect to be wowed by an epic improvised musical based on historical fi...

Revenge For The Count Of Monte Cristo – Hill Street Theatre

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Revenge For The Count Of Monte Cristo – Hill Street Theatre

Hill Street Theatre has long been a regular haunt of Fringe goers, with the battle-hardened / extremely charismatic / miserable b* (delete as appropriate) producer/director Derek Douglas at the helm once again. Mixing a combination of brand new shows with re-run favourites, aiming to balance the books when the curtain eventually comes down. (hopefully!) Revenge, as they say, is a dish best served cold. This brand new musical written by Pete Sneddon and directed by Mark Geary-Fairbairn, set in post-Nepoleonic France, is at times stone cold and difficult to follow. However, it is saved to some extent, by some excellent singing by a talented cast. Lewis Carlton excels as Edmond, the titular Count and opens the show with the rousing number ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. So far so good....

Lord Of The Flies – The Space, Edinburgh

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Lord Of The Flies – The Space, Edinburgh

American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF) by WorldStrides presents St Francis High School Theatre’s adaptation of this classic William Golding tale about a group of English boys who are being evacuated to a safe country in the pacific to escape worldwide war fallout, until their plane crashes on a deserted island. This certainly has the feel of a devised and improvised piece, where the boys have been left (metaphorically) on a desert island, without adult supervision. At times it could certainly have benefitted from much more precise direction, both in terms of lines and movement. Having said that, I did like the visceral energy. It starts with promise as we are introduced to Ralph and ‘Piggy’, two teenage schoolboys struggling to come to terms with their new situation on the...

Edinburgh International Festival Opening Concert: Buddha Passion – Usher Hall, Edinburgh

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Edinburgh International Festival Opening Concert: Buddha Passion – Usher Hall, Edinburgh

This was – A brilliant, joyful opening of the 2023 International Festival One of the most versatile musicians in the world, Academy-award winning (score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Tan Dun conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Edinburgh Festival Chorus in the Scottish premiere of his own extraordinary Buddha Passion (2018). And what an amazing and joyful spectacle this was, which had the massed ranks of junior and adult choristers laughing and clapping, clinking pebbles together, tinkling Chinese bells and singing alternatively between ancient Sanskrit and Chinese. And before them the spectacle of the National Orchestra in full flow. A very effective subtitling allowed the packed house to appreciate the piece fully. This is a treatise on the joy ...

England & Son: Mark Thomas – Roundabout @ Summerhall

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

England & Son: Mark Thomas – Roundabout @ Summerhall

The lights fail, but Mark Thomas does not. He shines. Performed in characteristically physical style by larger-than-life Cockney, Mark Thomas in this intimate, in the round tent setting, he gets in the mud with us, he lays out Ed Edwards words for us, and we hear them. From humorous tales of his dad’s waste metal business and his dark previous life in the British army colonising the former Malaya, we get a rich understanding of the legalised violence passed down from returning soldiers to their families, and the debilitating effect on abused partners and damaged children. At turns veering from funny to ferocious, Thomas lays out the inevitable path of his childhood, from dysfunctional home life to youth detention centre, courtesy of Home Secretary, Willie Whitelaw’s controv...

7Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Boudica – Greenside at Infirmary Street

This play is a modern interpretation of the life of Boudica, who was Queen of the ancient British tribe of the Iceni, who led a failed revolt against the Roman Empire in AD 60/61. At this point in Boudica’s life, her husband Peter (King Prasutagus in the ancient world), has recently died, and Boudica (Jo Scherer) and her daughters Gallia (Bella Yow) and Aoife (Lila Patterson) are at the funeral mourning his loss. Following the funeral, Boudica hears from Cato (Buster Van Der Geest), that there is no Will, and therefore, as her husband had run up debts within the company, her husband’s assets now belong to the company. Cato has replaced Boudica within the company so now has control of the company, and her finances, but offers her what he feels is a sweet deal to help her daug...

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Apple of My Eye – Paradise in the Vault

This is the musical story of the life of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, set in a subterranean vaulted space (it’s chilly and slightly creepy, is this a horror?). Lit quite effectively by the steady blue light of four appetisingly shiny apple Mac computer screens, arced around to face the audience. As a self-confessed computer nerd, I’m intrigued to hear the story, get the information, read the data and the motivations that created Steve Jobs. And to some extent Joel Goodman’s script delivers this, albeit in a (perhaps appropriately) mechanical and monotone way. Using the computer screens as a power-point backcloth to Stephen Smith’s musical monologue is a clever device. However, I am struggling to understand why Smith is using a radio head mic down here in this tiny space with a s...

Alexis Dubus 3 Star Show – Edinburgh La Belle Angele

7Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Alexis Dubus 3 Star Show – Edinburgh La Belle Angele

What a pleasure. What a lovely hour. But it’ll only garner three stars. ‘Be under no illusion,’ began Alexis, ‘this will not be five-star. Despite how good the beginning’s been…’ This show refreshingly addressed the elephant(s) in the room; reviews and reviewers. Currently it’s estimated anyone who’s lodged an e-mither address (I do confess) with the Fringe as a reviewer has well over 150 offers of free tickets in return for roughly 300 words and a star rating. The maxim ‘don’t read your press, weigh it,’ has never been more appropriate. And which reviewer’s going to murder a show by anyone who, however bad, has still put in a massive amount of time and effort to attend the Fringe, will depart with a small mountain of debt, showbiz ambitions in tatters? The fact that many of these reviews ...

Alan Turing: Musical Biography – Paradise @ Augustines

7Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Alan Turing: Musical Biography – Paradise @ Augustines

We are asked: What does the name Alan Turing mean to you? AI champion? Inventor of the modern day personal Computer? Breaker of codes, Saver of 14M lives? Trailblazer of LGBT rights? Put that way, its probably time that a lot more of us knew a lot more. This musical, which had its Fringe debut and practically sold out in 2022, composed by two music teachers, Joel Goodman and Jan Osborne, with a new script by Joan Greening provides an excellent summary through the extraordinary life of Alan Turing. It presents experiences of his early life and motivations, including the death of his closest school friend, Alan's key role in the Second World War as well as his continuous struggle with his concealed homosexuality. This beautifully balanced two-hander has Joe...

7Aug

By KJ EwanNo Comments

Scotland

Coma – Summerhall Terrace

Half an hour in a pitch black, binaural horror scape goes by quicker than you’d think. Not for the claustrophobic, Coma is a show where your own fears are pulled from the darkness. Sterile white bunks, each with a set of headphones on the pillow, is what waits for you in the shipping container outside Summerhall. When the lights go out, the darkness is so complete that you can’t tell whether your eyes are open or closed, and you’re left fighting the instinct to flinch as footsteps and voices and undecipherable noises move around you, ebbing closer and further and closer and further. The immersive sound tricks you into thinking that there are things in the darkness with you. Right next to you. Waiting to do things to you. It feels like something nasty is paying very close attention t...