Scotland Archives - Page 68 of 93

Puccini’s Il trittico – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

23Mar

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Puccini’s Il trittico – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Puccini’s Il trittico is part of Scottish Opera’s 60th Anniversary programme. The company aims is “to lay the treasures of opera at the feet of the people of Scotland”. It certainly succeeds with this triple treasure of shorts. Death unites this triptych, but the mood of each showcases Puccini’s inventive mind and creative breadth: aching thwarted love (Il Tabarro); misguided penance and cruel inhumanity (Suor Angelica); the delicious absurdity of human relationships (Gianni Schicchi). If one piece doesn’t touch your sensibility, then the others must, surely. This Scottish Opera team is creative. Director, Sir David McVicar, houses Puccini’s music in stunning sets (designers Charles Edwards), costumes to delight (Hannah Clark), perfect lighting (Ben Pickersgill) and a fantastic orche...

22Mar

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

Annie – Edinburgh Playhouse

What a show! The sun may come out tomorrow, but you should go see ‘Annie’ today! It follows the story of an optimistic young orphan trying to find her way in New York’s Great Depression. Based on a 1924 comic script “little orphan Annie” by Harold Gray, the Ambassador Theatre Group really brought the performance to life with catchy songs, cheeky humour and captivating choreography. All performers had a lot of chemistry and really brought the characters to life - we all had a particular sweet spot for the kind Mr Warbucks whose kindness really moved the audience. Paul O’Grady was captivating as Miss Hannigan with sass and his own particular brand of humour. All the child actors were extremely talented and surely have a bright future ahead of them and hit all the complicated choreography. Ho...

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

16Mar

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Week 3 of a 40-week tour of the UK, the long-running musical Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, lands at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. The multi award winning globe-trotting show, first performed in 1989, has clocked up an impressive 10,000+ performances in the UK, putting it firmly in the top 10 of UK musicals and can fairly promote itself as the forerunner of the now very popular Juke Box musical. Typical of this style of musical, the script and acting play very much second fiddle to the music, which to be fair is practically non-stop. The story, what there is of it, by Alan Janes, focuses on the last 18 months, between 1957 and 1959, of Charles Hardin Holley’s, too short 22 years. The script could do with a reboot and the delivery is patchy, but gratefully, the music is never far away....

The Rocky Horror Show – Edinburgh Playhouse

14Mar

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

The Rocky Horror Show – Edinburgh Playhouse

On their way to announce their engagement to their old science teacher - no wait, this is the part of the plot that makes sense - Brad (Richard Meek) and Janet (Haley Flaherty) are forced to take refuge in a castle when their car breaks down. Inside, they find Doctor Frank'n'Furter (Stephen Webb), and their acolytes Riff Raff (Kristian Lavercombe), Columbia (Darcy Finden), Magenta (Suzie McAdam) and phantoms (Reese Budin, Fionan O'Carroll, Jessica Sole, Sefania Du Toit, Tyla Dee Nurden and Nathan Shaw), transvestites from the planet Transylvania - told you it was getting less run-of-the-mill - experimenting on human matter Eddie (Joe Allen) and Rocky (Ben Westhead) with sonic tranducers, rubber gloves, sex, and a floor-show. (And we're back to the every day stuff. Or is that just me?) R...

Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice – Festival Theatre

11Mar

By Louise BalaguerNo Comments

Scotland

Dada Masilo’s The Sacrifice – Festival Theatre

Award-winning South African choreographer Dada Masilo has embarked on a UK tour of The Sacrifice, and it is not one that you want to miss – with its last date in Newcastle on 12th April 2023, it will fly by as quickly as this performance did. Revisiting Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and inspired by Pina Bausch’s performance of the same name, the amount of influences that Dada draws upon make for a deeply compelling piece of storytelling: with a mixture of classical and contemporary dance forms, and drawing on her own cultural heritage, incorporating ‘Tswana’, the traditional dance of Botswana, into the movement, The Sacrifice is a beautiful piece about ritual, sacrifice, and healing. Featuring its own original score, performed live on stage (with the spellbinding voice of Ann ...

10Mar

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

You Bury Me – Edinburgh Royal Lyceum

‘‘to’-bor-ni’, states author Ahlam’s notes, ‘a saying in Levantine Arabic used to express affection and love. ‘May you bury me’ is a declaration that one does not want to live without a loved one (or loved thing).’ As do the characters in this story, be it each other or the city of Cairo. It’s set in 2015 as the optimism generated by the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011 (naively reported by many major news agencies worldwide) finally evaporated, authoritarian rule reasserting itself, extinguishing the joy of a younger generation believing they might finally have the freedom to express themselves as themselves… rather than as a product of their family, religion or politics. The action hurtled along pell mell, representing the vibrancy and volatility of Cairo but an occasional drop in tempo migh...

Peaky Blinders – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

2Mar

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Peaky Blinders – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Attention to detail is powerful and Rambert hits the right note from the get-go. Ushers dressed in waistcoats and peaked caps direct the audience. The request to turn off your mobile could be termed menacing. Even the coasters for your interval drink remind you the venue is under new management by order of the Peaky Blinders - the now famous fictional Shelby family, created by Steven Kinght, CBE, who claw their way up from street hoodlums to legitimate business owners in early twentieth century Birmingham. The special effects (Filipe J Carvalho), especially the burning barge are bold, unapologetic, theatrical: awesome. And so apt. Peaky Blinders wins at story-telling because it’s “in your face” yet the brushstrokes of anguish and wounds that seep from the past into the present are...

Revelations of Rab McVie – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

27Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Revelations of Rab McVie – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Every now and again you review a show which really stands out. Here is one. The Revelations of Rab McVie is advertised as an immersive journey through a psychedelic dreamscape of live painting, live music and theatre and the real buzz in the packed theatre bar before this show was ready evidence of the unique event to come. Experimental, raw, flawed, real. The irony of this five-star show is that with more performances, it can be even better. Barely rehearsed and on only the second night of its world premiere, this experimental ground-breaking show has been and gone, and it was my undoubted privilege to have witnessed its brief existence. Five strong band, The Filthy Tongues, from Edinburgh were at the top of their game, showcasing works from their new album, In These Dark Pla...

The Yeomen of the Guard – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

24Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Yeomen of the Guard – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

A massive production, with a cast of over 60, a purpose-built two-storey set, glorious costumes and a full orchestra tries, mostly successfully, to breathe life into this rarely staged comic opera, and had some real bright moments amongst Gilbert’s dark libretto. Like snow falling on a bright day, there seems barely enough time to appreciate the full extent of the massive effort expended here, by the institution that is Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society, before the so-brief run ends in just two days time. The story follows Colonel Fairfax, war hero, wrongly imprisoned and sentenced to death for sorcery. When he escapes, helped by an old war buddy, it leads to some farcical situations with young ladies and hiding in plain sight as one of the Yeomen of the Guard. Meanwhile two str...

21Feb

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Bodyguard – Edinburgh Playhouse

A show that literally starts with a bang. The Bodyguard follows Pop sensation Rachel Marron (Melody Thornton) as she receives death threats from an obsessive fan (Marios Nicolaides), to save the pop stars life her team hire Frank (Ayden Callaghan) as her personal bodyguard. Despite their dislike for one another the situation only serves to bring the two closer together providing us with a will they won’t they love story within the midst of danger. Of course, this is all accompanied by the hits of musical legend Whitney Houston. Visually this show is something to be seen, using techniques very rarely seen within musical theatre such as a heavy load of pre-recorded video projection used to give the show a much more sinister true crime atmosphere when discussing the stalker building suspen...