Scotland Archives - Page 62 of 157

5Mar

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

Driftwood – Traverse Theatre

Set solely on a beach on the coast of the North Sea, Driftwood’ explores how two brothers navigate the grief of their father’s passing while attempting to mend their fragmented relationship. Tim Foley’s masterful writing shows two very different minds, that of elder brother Mark who focuses on funeral arrangements whilst navigating his return home after an extended absence. We also see the younger sibling, Tiny, distract himself with his fascination with the beach, its poisoned landscape and the ghostly and illusive figure, the Mariner. Both brothers have been apart for some time and it's clear from the outset that many words are being left unspoken. James Westphal (Mark) expertly crosses between moments of panic due to being confronted with the past while also showing the care his char...

Spring Serenade Concert with students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – Carlops Village Hall

3Mar

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Spring Serenade Concert with students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – Carlops Village Hall

Oodles of talent poured forth at a humble village hall in the Scottish Borders on Sunday afternoon. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s young talent got themselves organised and created a programme of music which was a delight. Eighteen-year-olds, Maria McMaster (voice) and Lena Błotnicka (Cello) and nineteen-year-olds, Michael Gemmell on piano and Kristie MacKenzie on flute are all first-year students at the Conservatoire. Today’s performances showcased just how they earned their places at this prestigious establishment. They filled the packed hall with beautiful, touching and amusing pieces and they received well-deserved, rapturous applause and many shouts of delight at the end. Gemmell organised this event with his former teacher, accomplished pianist and examiner, Lauren G...

The Makropulos Affair – Festival Theatre

2Mar

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The Makropulos Affair – Festival Theatre

As ever, Scottish Opera delivers sumptuous sets, great lighting, singers who can act, and a wonderful orchestra that never disappoints, but this English rendition of The Makropulos Affair, by Leoš Janàček jarred my senses with its modern-day, casual lexicon. Words, such as F*ck somehow don’t marry comfortably with the impassioned, heightened music and traditional, elegant, and beautiful costumes. It was, no doubt, a deliberate choice. Creating a grating cacophonous lexicon - the use of brutal Viking words rather than those of Latin derivatives gives the opera an earthy groundedness - and caused me a headache. I wanted to lose my sense of reality for an hour or two. I was denied the option. Single syllables and short sentences (translation by David Pountney) reflect the sheer en...

Now That’s What I Call A Musical – Edinburgh Playhouse

27Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Now That’s What I Call A Musical – Edinburgh Playhouse

It’s big, bold and cheesier than a Swiss Fondue, but if you can put up with the variably dodgy Brummie accents there is a lot to enjoy in this jukebox musical based on the best musical decade there ever was – the eighties of course! The story, set in Birmingham, follows two school chums Gemma and April and their friends and family between the year 1989 and a class reunion in 2009, and music is the elixir that never grows old – as powerful and evocative twenty years on as it was when they first heard it. It is certainly an interesting and well thought out concept for a musical and on the whole, it works, helped in no small part by a brilliant set which flips very cleverly from bar to lounge to park to video shop (remember those!). The clever and at times very funny script also skips alon...

25Feb

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

The Flames – Traverse Theatre

The Flames is a performance company for people over the age of fifty. Each member of the ensemble (I counted approximately 22) tells a moving story from their own past. The theme of the stories is ikigai, a Japanese term often translated as “purpose”. Ikigai is about the things that bring value and meaning to life. Each performer speaks in turn, while the others set the scene with movement (choreographed by Aya Kobayashi), reacting with excitement or disdain to the speaker; becoming waves, or an ID parade; stamping out the rhythm of a train. They tell stories about lifelong friendships; sleeping rough in Helsinki; and uncovering family secrets. One participant tells us about the time she literally walked a mile in someone else’s shoes. She ended up with sore feet. Film footage (desig...

20Feb

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Kjetil Mulelid Trio – Traverse Bar

Returning from a trip to Oslo a few years back someone excitedly described Norway as ‘the new Scotland’; oil, fish, love of conversation fuelled, dare one admit, by a glass or two. Music was in there too and in 2025, let’s, specifically, add Jazz, though with a distinct folk/cultural bent. Just as Fergus McCreadie spirits one to the glens and lochs, this trio quickly has us gliding through the cool, clear air of the fjords. Jazz as a genre easily attracts derision from those unwilling to devote the required attention or application. There are ready-made phrases and cliches coined by a certain (brilliant!) sketch show a few moons ago but tonight’s performance, despite running things close, stayed just the right side of these. Improvisational it was, at points difficult to discern who was le...

Herak/Bulaktin Quartet Featuring Paul Towndrow – Traverse Theatre

19Feb

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Herak/Bulaktin Quartet Featuring Paul Towndrow – Traverse Theatre

I’m not especially familiar with jazz, and if I’d heard this music on the radio, I wouldn’t have got it. It turns out that jazz makes more sense when you experience a live performance, and my ears begin to tune in to its language. It reminds me of the first time I saw Shakespeare performed. The gathering feels cosy, in the informal setting of the Traverse bar. I am struck by the intense concentration of each musician when the others are playing. This is a conversation, where each participant must focus so they can respond to the others’ cues. Listening is everything. The composers, Miro Herak and Daniel Bulaktin, draw on their Slavic heritage as well as classical traditions. The opening number, Herak’s Slavic Dance, is rousing, and is followed by Ellie, a thoughtfully melodic pie...

International Shorts : On The Edge – The French Institute

17Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

International Shorts : On The Edge – The French Institute

As part of Manipulate Festival, and screened in the gorgeous interior of The French Institute, this is a series of short animated films mostly set in and around the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions focusing on the Climate Emergency and the effects on the indigenous peoples and the animals that live there. Education is the key and short films like this are just perfect for delivering bite sized thought-provoking perspectives. Kicking us off is an enjoyable 14 minute documentary from the National Film Board of Canada, Three Thousand, by Asinnajaq. This mixes animation with archival footage to explore the cinematic representation of the Inuit. The format is light-touched but the implication is clear, this is a people whose days are numbered. In The Power Grid (2018) by Clara Boden, a grai...

16Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Law of Gravity – Traverse Theatre

Spell-binding, sublime performance by the the six-strong strings of the Scottish Ensemble, accompanied by the delicate puppetry skills of a quartet from Blind Summit, made this a night to savour at Traverse 1 tonight. Classical Music can take us places in our mind, it is surely part of the joy of the experience to close our eyes and float…. Is it wise to curate, lead or interpret that trip? Blind Summit, attempted to do that tonight, but was it a help or a hinderance, an unnecessary distraction? The jury will be pretty split on this one. There was no questioning the quality of the music from Philip Glass (Symphony No. 3(1995)) and Arnold Schoenberg (Transfigured Night(1899)) superbly, and effortlessly, led by Johnathan Morton which has the audience transfixed from note one. Iro...

These things aren’t mine (film) – Traverse Theatre

16Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

These things aren’t mine (film) – Traverse Theatre

Gabbie Cook’s attempt to turn something rotten and corrosive from her childhood into something positive and creative, aided by director Barney White, finds form in this watchable short film at the subterranean Traverse 2 tonight. As part of the Manipulate festival, which has a deserved reputation for bringing the strange and downright absurd together, this abstract film follows the life of former gymnast turned circus artist Cook. High on imagery and low on dialogue it still manages to pack quite a punch, without perhaps finding the knock-out blow. As we now look back and grimace at the ick-inducing objectification of Miss-World or the sexism of Benny Hill or indeed the unchecked racism of Rigsby, we will undoubtedly look back in years to come and grimace at the dehumanising and brutal ...