Scotland Archives - Page 99 of 128

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...

5Jun

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Pibroch – Scottish Storytelling Centre

Pibroch is a multimedia theatre production exploring parallels between the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster and our current climate crisis. Bolland’s lyrical spoken word show deplores the sanitisation of traumatic events and the tragedy of disabled self-direction as, sheep-like, we follow the rules and meekly meet our death. The Piper Alpha tragedy caused 165 deaths because safety measures on paper did not translate to reality, just as in the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984, and the Grenfell Tower in 2017: emergency services were tardy, safety standards were jeopardised and human flesh was sacrificed to balance the books and up the profit margin. Public Inquiries simply create a sanitised record and a statistical translation of guttural human anguish and suffering - wretchedness which impa...

3Jun

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Richard III – Shakespeare at Traquair

This outdoor spectacle is staged in promenade, with scenes taking place at locations around the beautiful gardens of Traquair House in the Scottish Borders. Shakespeare at Traquair has been an annual tradition since 1995, and this year, director Leah Moorhouse has chosen Richard III, the play which contains many of Shakespeare’s best insults. For me, the highlight of the show was Rhiannon King’s badass Queen Margaret. Her animalistic movements converge with her swaggering delivery to invoke a force of nature. I am not a believer in otherworldly powers, but if she cursed me, I would be properly scared. I also loved Faye Turpie-Laird’s performance as the aristocratically camp Catesby. She is compelling to watch, even when she is standing still on the periphery of the stage. ...

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

1Jun

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

The stage adaptation of this popular film is a gentle immersion into a foreign world where a group of retired Brits take a leap of faith and look for a cost-effective and adventurous way to eek out their days. I relaxed so much I forgot I was reviewing! The acting is spot on, and the fun is sprinkled evenly throughout. This cast received whoops and hollers of appreciation at the end from a less than full auditorium, indicating the niche appeal of a drama about oldies. Deborah Moggach’s 2004 novel, These Foolish Things, and the 2011 film version, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, transfers well to the stage where Colin Richmond’s multi-levelled set gives the whole a sense of space and potential for what lies behind. The flip from hotel to call centre is done with effective simplicity. Both...

Quines Cast Podcast Season Two Launch: RIOT – Traverse Theatre

27May

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Quines Cast Podcast Season Two Launch: RIOT – Traverse Theatre

Disembodied voices snap-chat earnestly. The cast is meritorious. They posit thoughts and summaries upon a serious issue, in this case, RIOT: why riots happen and the impact of rioting. But the disembodied voices are simply sound bites without flesh: skinny starters for discussion rather than a proper, in-depth discourse. If I were one of those bright, energetic, purposeful women who contributed, I’d have shivered to be reduced to a sound bite. But maybe it was ironic? Maybe I missed the point? The voices felt reminiscent of Loose Women: trite opinions aired for entertainment. Having said that, I was won over by Jessica Gaitán Johannesson. She read a piece specifically written for RIOT which was measured, thoughtful, factual and gripping. She embodied all the things that women are per...

The Stamping Ground – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

24May

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

The Stamping Ground – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

The Stamping Ground is a musical featuring the songs of Scottish Celtic rock band, Runrig. Although little known outside Scotland, Runrig were a hugely popular group with a passionate and loyal fan base from 1973 to 2018. Although the line-up changed a little over the years, Calum and Rory Macdonald remained the constants, having written all the songs featured in this musical, some of which are sung in Gaelic, the native language of their birthplace, The Isle of Skye. Written by Morna Young and directed by Luke Kernaghan, The Stamping Ground tells the story of Euan (Ali Watt) and Annie (Jenny Hulse) who make a decision to return to their highland home when life in London turns sour, and to give their teenage daughter Fiona (Caitlin Forbes) a safer and healthier life. &...

Dear Billy – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

22May

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Dear Billy – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Why is Gary McNair’s ode to master comedian, Billy Connoly, Dear Billy, excellent? It is the authentic voice of Scotland. It has perfect comic timing. Every man and woman portayed is distinct in characterisation. The words are all true - not a single piece of fiction. The idea is brilliantly simple while the execution looks simple, but is, in fact, brilliantly compiled, composed and performed - not simple at all. He makes it funny. I take my hat off to you, Mr McNair, and your team of story-gatherers. This is a fabulously funny, tender, and varied piece of theatre which had me in stitches, and I’m not a die-hard Billy Connolly fan, like some of the audience in this full-house. It is the breadth of commentary/recollections that makes this piece sparkle - stories of...

Anna Karenina – Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

18May

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

Anna Karenina – Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

Leo Tolstoy’s famous novel Anna Karenina is brought to life in a modernised adaptation written by Lesley Hart and directed by Polina Kalinina. A novel seen by many as a classic romance story is brought right up to date with modern Scottish language allowing audiences unfamiliar with the book to better understand it. One thing I admire about this play as a whole is their step away from the ‘traditional’ idea of adaptation, the urge to write almost word for word what happens. Instead, Hart has crafted a story that holds a genuine theatrical charm, capable of retaining attention throughout. The story follows the title character, Anna Karenina, played by the fantastic Lindsey Campbell, as she travels across Russia to save her brother’s (Stiva, played by Angus Miller) marriage after he has a...

Love The Sinner – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

18May

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Love The Sinner – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

The Seven Deadly Sins are sometimes known as capital vices and it’s appropriate that writer and performer Imogen Stirling chooses a fever dreamscape of Glasgow as a backdrop. She says it’s ‘Glasgow-but-not-quite’ but two key components of the play are a big river and an awful lot of rain. It’s a landscape reminiscent of Alasdair Grey’s Lanark, each sinner - it might be said - redolent of the characters in David Keenan’s ‘This Is Memorial Device’ set just down the road in Coatbridge and Airdrie. Officially North Lanark. They each employ their own strategies to deal with life’s perceived flaws, but the stars of Stirling’s second book of poetry, Sloth, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Pride, Lust and Wrath, share something in common in that they are all, apparently, isolated. It’s no surprise to learn ...