Scotland Archives - Page 72 of 93

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

20Oct

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

Witty, cleaver and true to its original material, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is one not to be missed. A cast of 5 brilliant actresses Tori Burgess, Christina Gordon, Leah Jamieson, Hannah Jarret-Scott and Isobel McArthur (today nominated by the Evening Standard Awards in the Emerging Talent category) take on the classic tale of Pride and Prejudice warts and all. The play is taken from the point of view of the staff within the novel, those forgotten by the reader and sometimes the writer, the ones deprived of a story of their own but who play a major part in bringing the story together and making things happen. Each actress takes on many a role within the play, dressing in a white chemise and adding character pieces on top to distinguish each character, no major wig changes, no extr...

549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War – Traverse Theatre

17Oct

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War – Traverse Theatre

The 549 of the title is the number of Scots who took part in the Spanish Civil War, fighting a losing battle in the name of democracy (and, in some cases, money) against fascism, which was encroaching its way into Spain with Franco in much the same way it was everywhere else with Hitler, Mussolini, Mosley, Petain, etc. The parallels to modern nationalism are difficult to miss (particularly with our own modern European war for which many non-natives have volunteered), and the show goes into them further still with a framing device set in the modern day. We then travel back in time to the true story of the four men from Prestonpans who went to Spain to fight, George Watters, Bill Dickson, Jimmy Kempton and George Gilmour. This is clearly a personal story. The team have spent eight year...

The Cher Show: A New Musical – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

12Oct

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Cher Show: A New Musical – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

An electric, energetic and cleaver show, the Cher Show has come to Edinburgh to educate audiences on the life of musical icon Cher. The music loud and brilliantly executed, the lights bright and the costumes are absolutely dazzling. Cher has been around for what may feel like forever, an ever-constant voice through the lives of most of us living, and through the ages neither her voice, power or face has changed all that much. For such an individual voice it takes real skill to be able to impersonate and do the legend justice, the Cher Show takes the challenge of finding one skill filled actress to fill the role and multiplies it by three, separating Cher into the three main stages of her career: the naive rising star (Babe played by Millie O’Connell) , the confident woman freeing hersel...

Don’t. Make. Tea. – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

6Oct

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Don’t. Make. Tea. – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

It is a rainy night in Edinburgh. I expect to find a car parking place easily, but to my horror find the streets jammed, there is a rock concert on next door. I park three streets away and jog towards the venue. 3 minutes to spare. If I was disabled, I would be in a right pickle. Appropriate, given that the show tonight is from BOP, a leading force of disability led theatre in Scotland. Established in Glasgow in 1993, Birds of Paradise (BOP) Theatre Company became Scotland’s first touring theatre company employing disabled and non-disabled actors. The remit of the company has always been to produce accessible theatre and to highlight the challenges faced by the disabled community. I am delighted to see that the 250-seater theatre is near capacity and the demographic is refresh...

James IV: Queen of the Fight – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

5Oct

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

James IV: Queen of the Fight – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

“I’d no illusions I could match Shakespeare, but I thought someone should try and dramatise Scotland’s history,” said Rona Munro when she set out on the James series of plays. And this latest one, James IV: Queen of the Fight, brought to the stage by Raw Material and Capital Theatres in association with National Theatre of Scotland, is a cracker. The script has humour and is earthy, mixing modern language, clothes and gestures with a set which reflects the sixteenth century and costumes to match. It is framed by the acknowledgement that this is storytelling, based on historical evidence. It is a snapshot in time of James IV and Queen Margaret’s court. It is compelling and exciting in equal measure. The strong king (Daniel Cahill) fights his foes for fun yet has a tender heart and a s...

The Cher Show – The King’s Theatre, Glasgow

28Sep

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The Cher Show – The King’s Theatre, Glasgow

Standing ovations have to be earned and the team behind the Toni Award winning musical, The Cher Show, hit the sweet spot last night at The King’s Theatre, Glasgow. The clever staging (Tom Rogers) was sumptuously lit (Ben Cracknell), especially at the finale, and the costumes (Gabriella Slade) were spectacular … especially at the finale, but more than that, it was the tale of an outsider made good. We all love a story of the underdog overcoming seemingly immovable obstacles. And I don’t know anyone who isn’t in awe of some sort of genuinely gifted individual. Cher’s gift is not just her voice, but her resilience, her obstinacy and her rebellious attitude. Who cares if she’s got parts of her body that don’t match her decades on this earth? The woman has given us decades of rousing, deep,...

The Osmonds: A New Musical – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

22Sep

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Osmonds: A New Musical – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

The Osmonds is a new Musical promoting the story of 70s family band The Osmonds as told by band member Jay Osmond. Starting from the boys first gig on TV and loosely following their lives through their triumphs, failures and inevitable split. Consider this a musical for the fans, but was this really a story that needed bringing to the stage? My answer is most likely no, don’t get me wrong the show is fun, colourful and high energy but the story is told in a very vague manner giving the audience very little too emotionally cling on to, meaning when the characters reach their lows, we aren’t all that invested. This is not of course due to any fault of the cast who were brilliant but due to the writing and perhaps the choice of Jay being the story teller, taking over the show story in a ch...

The Book of Mormon – Edinburgh Playhouse

15Sep

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Book of Mormon – Edinburgh Playhouse

As Edinburgh comes down off its narcotic high of hosting the largest arts Festival in the world, and just as it starts to hunker down for the onset of Autumn and Winter, here comes a wake-up of epic proportions as ‘Mormon’ marches unashamedly into town. One of the world’s highest grossing musicals, this multi award-winning show is not to be missed, from the creators of South Park, Avenue Q and Frozen, Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone. This is a show of high pedigree and high quality that does not disappoint and is probably one of the funniest musicals you are ever likely to see. Halfway through a UK tour the cast are drilled, the music is tight, and the laughs are guaranteed! Stripped down this is a buddy road-trip musical, think Abbott and Costello meets the Lion King, that...

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical – The King’s Theatre, Glasgow

14Sep

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical – The King’s Theatre, Glasgow

Everything about Beautiful - The Carole King Musical presented by The Curve Production is top notch. The direction (Nikolai Foster) is superb with seamless transitions on a wonderfully apt set (Frankie Bradshaw) and, of course the cast, every one of them, is talented, exuberant and committed. They are multi-talented actors, singers and instrumentalists. This show is full of life. It is joyful from the very start. Carole King’s story is inspiring. Her music, and that of her contemporaries, has stood the test of time. She is one of the most successful solo acts in pop music history and the quality of this production would make her smile, I am sure. Characters mill around on stage, chatting, setting up mics etc while the audience settle down. Click your fingers and the auditorium ...

31Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Rock of Ages – King’s Theatre, Glasgow

“Amazing!” Blondie exclaimed as she dried her hands in the loo at the end of the night, while “It’s a game of two halves,” might have been uttered by the man watching football on his mobile at half-time. What he actually said was: “It’s not great. I’ve seen it before. It must be understudies.” So, there you have it. The first half was rushed and heartless. The diction was unclear. Less than half the audience were clapping along. For an audience-participation-style show that’s not great. The second half, however, brought a smile to my face and roars of appreciation from a very loyal fan-base. The final number was brilliant and had everyone on their feet. If only there had been more of that. If only they’d played to win from the start. The Page Three depiction of females as sex obje...