Anatomy Lecture Theatre Archives

8Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Troubled – Summerhall

Troubled unfolds in the Anatomy Lecture Theatre, a space that retains its old-world charm with curved tiers and a sense of stillness that feels well-suited to intimate solo work. The architecture holds the performer in an elegant kind of embrace, lending a solemn dignity to a story that’s both fragile and fragmented. Suzy Crothers brings us into the inner world of Alice – a woman navigating a complex relationship with her past, her mental health, and the ghosts of Belfast’s troubles, whilst seeking love in the debris. What elevates the piece is Crothers’ vocal dexterity. She moves fluidly between characters, especially the internal voices of Big Red and Little Red - echoes of Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams - whose interventions veer from humorous to unsettling. Various other demons voi...

The Cadaver Palaver– Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

5Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Cadaver Palaver– Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

Clad in fine tweed and leather brogues, one man band, writer, director and performer Bennett Cooper Sullivan certainly looks and sounds the part of the Victorian gentleman adventurer. In this supremely well-crafted piece, narrated by a highly skilled storyteller, we follow our rakish raconteur as he travels from the bazaars of Afghanistan, via London to the foggy streets of 19th Century Edinburgh. As Egyptomania sweeps over the UK our hero becomes embroiled following the strange disappearance of a good friend with a pile of mummies hidden in his basement. Sullivan manages an impressive turn of hand, foot and mouth along the way, bowling maidens as he goes. An impressive looping storyline has the audience leaning into this and willing our hero to get his man, and his woman! But...

Mr Chonkers – Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

5Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Mr Chonkers – Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

This unlikely named clown creation, Mr Chonkers, from American comedian, John Norris, is a Grade-A, nonsense-filled, gold-plated, home run, hit. It is just brilliantly silly and the bevvy-filled youthful audience that cram into the tiny semi-circular Anatomy Theatre auditorium are screaming with glee and pounding the wooden lecterns by the close! From the Gregorian Monk opening to the magic trick climax, the pacing, comic, timing and audience interaction are all perfectly aligned within the perfect space at the perfect time. All of his stars have lined up, as have mine! Like all great comic turns that have you laughing out loud for no apparent reason, I just wish I could record it, pull it apart, study it and understand it. But even then, Norris introduces enough variables into t...

Sisters Three – Summerhall Anatomy Lecture Theatre

18Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Sisters Three – Summerhall Anatomy Lecture Theatre

TheatreGoose’s Sisters Three is a highly accomplished piece of theatre that takes the audience on an enchanting, funny and often moving journey. The premise is relatively simple; the titular sisters from Chekov’s masterpiece, Irina, Masha and Olaga, are aware that they are in a play (don’t worry you don’t need to have read it). But when Irina wishes for the lives of any other sisters, in any other medium, the three are taken on a whirlwind journey ranging from Greek tragedy and Shakespeare to historical figures and the Sugababes. Writer and director Emma Howlett’s script manages to discuss a range of philosophical and academic questions, including the nature of happiness and freedom, and the place of women within literature, whilst remaining endlessly entertaining. Frequent movement...

Failure Project – Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

10Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Failure Project – Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

A new play by BAFTA nominee Yolanda Mercy (Quarter Life Crisis), in which Mercy plays Ade Adeyami, a young British-Nigerian playwright and actor who is still riding the wave of her first play, which has become an unexpected Fringe hit. With this success, and the realisation that she might even be able to make a living from her dream, comes an unexpected problem - a hierarchy of editors, agents and publicists who are there to help, nay manipulate, her. Ade’s second play, Day Girl, about a working-class black kid at a private school, has been commissioned, and paid for, and Ade finds she must now dance to her new masters’ tune. Before she knows it a B-list, minor celebrity influencer with no acting experience is cast in the lead instead of Ade, worst still she want to be ‘collabora...

Age is a Feeling – Anatomy Lecture Theatre Summerhall Festival

6Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Age is a Feeling – Anatomy Lecture Theatre Summerhall Festival

A gem of storytelling and insight. Haley McGee, writer and performer, delivers tenderness, wit and sensitivity to a captivated audience in the Anatomy Lecture Room at Summerhall. It is an apt setting, since she is dissecting our stages of life. The semi-circular auditorium cradles the simple set which is carefully lit (Don Carter-Brennan) to cast soft shadows as you exit pondering the imprint our lives do or do not leave behind us. Age is a Feeling questions the veracity of Time and how our internal clock fights with chronology. Directed by Adam Brace this very personal piece invites the audience to choose which episodes of life to recount, leaving out others, as happens in life. Nobody really knows us is the premise which the set (Zoë Hurwitz) creatively and cleverly represents. The no...