Scotland Archives - Page 64 of 93

Ballet Black: Pioneers – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

29Jun

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

Ballet Black: Pioneers – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

For over two decades Ballet Black has nurtured their small plot in the vast landscape of ballet. Grafting together innovation and passion, building on their bouquet of diversity to represent crucial change for the benefit of their art. The company continues to lay stones along the path of intelligence and meaningful entertainment with Ballet Black: Pioneers. This show is by, about and thanks to pioneers. The opening act, Then and Now, set on a minimalist background against which each dancer takes their turn to showcase technique and talent while collectively giving body to the poetry of Adrienne Rich from her collection, Dark Fields of the Republic. The minimalism drives your focus to the life on stage, where the tightrope of dance, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s violin and Rich’s wor...

24Jun

By Dave SmithNo Comments

Scotland

To The Ocean – The Greenhouse Theatre

When I think of Canary Wharf, I think of tall buildings and architecture and banks and bankers and the ‘city boys’ stereotype. I don’t immediately think of green spaces, cheap beer, wooden huts, classic literature raps (a fun performance from Julian Shakes Story during pre-show entertainment) and fringe theatre. At least I didn’t until now. The Greenhouse has taken over a little piece of Jubilee Park, Canary Wharf and turned it into a magical little space with all of the above! Not only that but it is the UK’s first zero zero-waste performance space, everything gets reused. To The Ocean is staged in the round in a little wooden hut in the park with stones and seashells laid out as set decoration and long pieces of fabric hanging above, the small space brings the audience right up ...

Titanic the Musical – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

21Jun

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Titanic the Musical – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

We all know the story of the Titanic, a tragedy on the seas brought about through malpractice, ego over practicality and safety. The name of the show alone is sure to bring in the masses, generations of people interested in the ships’ story and downfall. A whole audience entering the theatre with the expectation to cry, an expectation that I’m afraid fell short. The music of this show is without a doubt beautiful with an incredibly talented cast of vocalists and performers, each song alone could work well if not for the over use of ‘I want’ ballads in succession of each other throughout act one. It is clear the production set out with the plan of showing the multiple classes on the ship, trying to give its audience a multitude of people to build a connection with before some of their un...

20Jun

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Haribo Wedding -Traverse Theatre

Established in 2009, Edinburgh’s Strange Town Youth Theatre has developed into something of an institution for theatrical experimentation in the City and is known for pushing the boundaries of what young people are capable of. Tonight is the turn of Thursday 14 – 18 group to strut their stuff, in the third outing of Strange Town in as many days, and it is good to recognise some already familiar faces on stage. The stage is set within the three-sided intimacy of the subterranean Traverse 2. On stage is a tableau of a wedding party, complete with the recognisable bride and groom, best man and bridesmaids, set like statues, or perhaps caught momentarily on camera, fixed in time. But as the lights drop and the action starts it is clear that this is no ordinary wedding, this is a fake ...

17Jun

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Into The Woods – Edinburgh College

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, using the beginning of Rapunzel, in which the theft of some plants from a witch's garden by a desperate man (Oliver Payn) forces him into a deal with the witch, as the main link. In the musical, the couple's son, a baker (Darren Walls) and his wife (Justyne Snyder) make their own deal with the witch (Maaike Hillen) in order to have a child, a deal which will lead him to interact with characters and events from "Little Red Riding Hood" (Missy Hingley, with Andrew Lodge as the Wolf / Lucinda and Bo Gourley as Granny / Narrator), “Cinderella” (Fiona Dawson, with Joe Gill as the Prince, Heather Richardson as the Stepmother, Shannon Scott as Florinda and Aric Hanscomb Ryr...

17Jun

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Kind Complex – Traverse Theatre

Established in 2009, Edinburgh’s Strange Town Youth Theatre has developed into something of an institution for theatrical experimentation in the City and is known for pushing the boundaries of what young people are capable of. With no less than three separate plays kicking off at the Traverse this week, tonight is the turn for Tuesday night’s 14-18 year olds to show what they could do, and they certainly did not disappoint. The talented acting of this magnificent bunch, I counted twenty, combined with Isla Cowan’s thought-provoking futuristic script and Catherine Ward-Stoddart’s crisp direction, is certainly a very watchable combination. Although there is no choreographer or MD mentioned in the programme, the movement and music selection are excellent throughout, from the straight lines...

16Jun

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Over The Waves – Traverse Theatre

Established in 2009, Edinburgh’s Strange Town Youth Theatre has developed into something of an institution for theatrical experimentation in the City and is known for pushing the boundaries of what young people are capable of. And like all experiments, perhaps not every project works or turns out exactly as planned. There is a feeling, in this hour long show of a great idea which has not been fully realised, and yet should nevertheless be applauded for its vision and its scale and its courage. The stage is set within the steeply banked Traverse 1 with a central great grey monolith carved with lists of faded names, reminiscent of a war memorial. At the front apron of the stage a chalk outline of a body suggests a recent murder. Around the stage buzz five characters questioning each ot...

You Win Again, Celebrating The Music Of The Bee Gees – Edinburgh Queen’s Hall

12Jun

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

You Win Again, Celebrating The Music Of The Bee Gees – Edinburgh Queen’s Hall

This wasn’t billed as a comedy but of laughs there were plenty. The first occurred when collecting tickets, the box office charge d’affaires keeping a completely straight face while informing us it was a ‘fully seated show’. Two prospective walk-ups turned on their heels, which was a shame as the audience clearly had different ideas. Two hours later, as the band finished everyone off with a stomping version of ‘Tragedy’, the venerable hall was literally bouncing. It was, in truth, a gig, albeit with a theatre-style interval; from a mighty song-writing canon, underlined by a second half medley of songs written for icons such as Diana Ross and Dolly Parton. A pedestrian start threatened to turn cringe-worthy with some of the between-song patter but it was difficult to take ones’ eyes off ...

11Jun

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Carmen – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen, based on the novel by Prosper Mérimée, tells the story of an obsessive love affair between soldier Don José (Alik Kumar) and flirtatious factory worker Carmen (Justina Gringytė). The musical scenes are punctuated by spoken dialogue between Jose and a detective known as the Investigator (Carmen Pierracini) and begins with José confessing to the murder of Carmen. I liked Pieraccini’s strength and stillness, watching quietly as the story unfolds, examining evidence and providing a moral compass for the work. In this production, the libretto has been translated into English by Christopher Cowell. Opera can be a particularly challenging genre for a translator, but Cowell’s version flows beautifully. I enjoyed hearing the opera in English, and felt more connected to...

11Jun

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Childminder – Traverse Theatre

Written by real-life child psychiatrist Iain McClure, the titular ChildMinder (or at least one of them) is Joseph (Cal MacAninch), a man with a secret. Several in fact, and not the kind that live harmoniously with a successful and public career as a child psychiatrist. But buried things often rot and fester, and these secrets have a habit of suddenly robbing even the most pleasant moment of its security as the ground gives out from under him, until the question becomes one of life or death... Or at least that's my byline for the show. The one on the Traverse website talks about "being haunted", "didn't realise", "a modern ghost story" and an "eerie psychological thriller" which, while not entirely inaccurate, really only reflects about twenty minutes in the last quarter of this 90-minut...