Scotland Archives - Page 84 of 94

Something In The Water – Summerhall, Edinburgh

5Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Something In The Water – Summerhall, Edinburgh

The appropriately named Scantily Glad Theatre company presents Something In The Water, starring Grumms, a person who transforms from a normal girl into a squid monster. The show describes itself as Creature from the Black Lagoon meets The Muppets. Personally, I'd say it's like a child who hasn't seen The Shape of Water snorted a bunch of coke and then tried to explain the story using whatever they had in their bedroom. But in a very good way, unlike a child doing hardcore drugs. Both descriptions cover the important roles within the show played by plastic Barbie and Ken dolls, as representatives of what is “normal”, and the squid puppet, as the “monster”, with the sets being made from a hand-drawn picture book, a projector and a fish tank, the combination being simultaneously quite soph...

PASH – Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, Edinburgh

4Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

PASH – Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, Edinburgh

Seemingly Wholesome Productions PASH is about the bisexual, Max (Olivia McLeod). She is turning twenty-five in a week and, thanks partly to her own idealised and Hollywood-inspired notion of what A First Kiss would feel like, she hasn't had one yet. So, she embarks on a quest to change that before her big quarter-century anniversary, punctuating her chronicles with anecdotes of her friends’ (much earlier) first kisses. The show is parked somewhere between a stand-up set and a monopolylogue, the former because of the “relatable” blurring between character, performer and audience and the latter through its structure, props and use of space, sound and lighting. Because of this, it rests almost entirely on the shoulders of creator / performer Olivia McLeod, who rises to the challenge...

Jeremy Sassoon’s Mojo: Musicians of Jewish Origin – Assembly Checkpoint, Edinburgh

4Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Jeremy Sassoon’s Mojo: Musicians of Jewish Origin – Assembly Checkpoint, Edinburgh

Following a one week run in the 2021 Fringe, Jeremy Sassoon's Mojo returns this year for a full run. The show tells the story of a 100 years of Jewish songwriting in 75 minutes, from Irving Berlin to Amy Winehouse and beyond, through covers (and anecdotes) of the most iconic of these songs, with vocals and piano by Sassoon; double bass, electric bass, and vocals Nicola Farnon; and drums by Phil Johnson. To a gentile such as myself, it's an eye-opening experience. Even for the artists whose religion one already knows, this isn't necessarily the lens one is used to view them through, and when grouped together their collective impact is impressive, as Sassoon's medley of classic Christmas songs alone plainly demonstrates. The show also fits into a larger narrative, charting the evoluti...

2Aug

By Lucy McGuireNo Comments

Scotland

Footloose – King’s Theatre Glasgow

It’s time to cut loose and head to the King’s theatre to see a show that will have you up on your feet. Footloose tells the iconic story of a boy who finds himself in the town of Bomont, where it is deemed illegal to dance due to an incident years prior. Being the new guy in town, Ren (Joshua Hawkins) causes a stir within the small community with this cheeky attitude and passion for dance. This juke box musical is not the only adaption of the original Footloose film (1984) with a remake of the classic released in 2011. However, the musical manages to merge the old with the new – paying homage to the unforgettable moments from the films while bringing its own identity to the stage. The production has a range of talented performers within its ranks. Lucy Munden, making her professio...

20Jul

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

Footloose – Edinburgh Playhouse

Footloose tells the musically infused tail of wayward Ren and his journey from Chicago to rural backwater Bomont. A town tragedy involving the loss of the preacher’s son results in a town-wide ban on dancing in the bible-led town. Really? Oh yes. For newly arrived Ren and the preacher’s rebellious daughter Ren, this is devastating, especially as romance blossoms and the desire to dance ensues. But more interestingly, Ren embraces Christianity and uses a newly gifted bible to argue his cause for dancing which is a rather impressive move. Footloose is your classic jukebox musical complete with hits of the day spattered throughout the production for some dramatic and often comic effect. West-End star Darren Day relishes the spotlight as tough preacher Rev. Shaw Moore. In fact, his performa...

Dreamboats & Petticoats – King’s Theatre Glasgow

20Jul

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Dreamboats & Petticoats – King’s Theatre Glasgow

On the hottest day ever (so far!) I hauled myself along the M8 to Glasgow to this touring show. The question was – would it, could it, bring back the good times at the King’s this week? The third instalment of Bill Kenwright’s Dreamboats and Petticoats franchise, set in the mid 1960’s and following the trials and tribulations of rock ‘n roll band, Norman and the Conquests, from youth club dive to Butlins at Bognor Regis, aka ‘bonking by the sea’. At the centre of the story is the ongoing relationship of Laura and Bobby played by Elizabeth Carter and Jacob Fowler, can their love survive a Summer apart, can Bobby resist the wall-to -wall crumpet of Butlins and will Laura escape the clutches of Frankie Howard where she is booked for the Summer season at the Palace Theatre Torquay? This ...

18Jul

By Lucy McGuireNo Comments

Scotland

Radio Ghost – An Interactive Experience

A team of covert undercover hunters infiltrate a Glasgow mall in hopes of uncovering the hidden ghosts that haunt the area. Instead, what they discover bring to light are harsh truths that hide in sight and are all too easily ignored and forgotten. Welcome to Radio Ghost. An interactive story that sees you and two other teammates join the team as three new hunters. You are tasked with finding the ghost stories of days past. Set in an everyday shopping centre with an energetic 80’s soundtrack, feel fully immersed in the hunting experience. Once the mission is underway, it is soon discovered that the ghosts and the stories they have to tell are more frightening than previously thought. Looking back at the horrors of humanity, the ghosts of previous hunters tell tales of the exploita...

Zog & The Flying Doctors – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

10Jul

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Zog & The Flying Doctors – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Another reliable bedtime tale from the Julia Donaldson canon, the one thing you’re sure of is rhythm and rhyme carrying the story along to its denouement with an unerring pulse. Our 9-year old gave this show 7/10, observed ‘the book was better’ declaring; ‘it shouldn’t have been like a musical’. It’s possible he was older than the target demographic, but he had a point. Fair, creating an hour of theatre from a book that takes fifteen minutes to read requires some embellishment. Colourful, bouncy and energetic it was but this felt bulked out and overloaded, the original ‘script’ lurking but ultimately submerged beneath the new music and material. Unfortunately, possibly due to an imbalance betwixt the music/mics volumes, the lively initial ‘re-cap’ of Zog’s dragon training (from the first, ...

13Jun

By Louise BalaguerNo Comments

Scotland

Beneath the Surface – Traverse Theatre

Originally halted by lockdown in 2020 before the play had even had its initial run, Beneath the Surface will have had to remain just so for a little while longer. From tonight’s performance, I like to think that the extra lapse of time (and come on, when do you ever get that really?) will have only given the cast and crew the opportunity to hopefully make this show the best it could be. True to its name, the play explores what lurks beneath, what feeds the pressures that young people might feel today. As 5 friends are drawn to venture into a cave as a storm hits them and they are looking for a bit of adventure during the holidays, they find themselves pushed to confront their shadows. You know, those parts of ourselves that we don’t want to dig too deep for and would rather leave buried...

Seven Minutes in Heaven – Traverse Theatre

11Jun

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Seven Minutes in Heaven – Traverse Theatre

Strange Town Youth Theatre brings us a 1-hour short play written by Edinburgh writer Shelley Middler exploring the struggles teenagers face in this current world. We get a glimpse into serious issues such as the sharing of personal pictures, the sexual pressures on young people today and discovery of sexuality, all of this is brought together in the setting of a small house party. Every cast member has a chance to showcase their skills with an overwhelming abundance of characters, demonstrating some brilliant mime work and use of freeze frames and monologues. There’s an overall story that someone has been attacked and each of the characters have moments in which they are questioned by the police in their own spotlight. This is designed to keep the audience on their toes allowing them to...