C Arts Archives - North West End UK

20Aug

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

North West

Diary of a Magician – C Arts, C Aquila

In my years on this planet, I have discovered people fall into two categories - those who love magic and those who loathe it. Magic at the Edinburgh festival falls into two categories - vibrant, exciting and interesting and pretty poor. I was delighted to find out this production at C Arts Aquila falls into the former category. It is an intriguing, exciting mix of magic some parts have never been seen before. I've been watching magic for a long time now and I continue to be beguiled and enchanted but there were tricks and turns in this piece, which I've never encountered before, which I'd never known of so was delighted to see. It’s certainly not the best venue at Edinburgh. It’s a rather damp, dark day, but the sun shines as soon as our magician comes onto stage and intrigues us...

Antonio’s Revenge – C ARTS, C-Alto studio

15Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Antonio’s Revenge – C ARTS, C-Alto studio

Antonio’s revenge starts as it means to end with plenty of bloodshed and murder. Bad guy Piero Sforza has murdered Andrugio and Feliche junior with plans to marry Andrugio’s wife and gain more power in the process but first he must take care of Andrugio’s son/ his soon to be son in law Antonio. In this Elizabethan play written by John Marston one can expect: violence, sex, revenge and some very impressive acting. The text as one can expect is like Shakespeare’s: hard to follow through word alone but the performance is so well acted and directed that these actors could be merely speaking the language of the Swedish Chef, and we would still have a clear idea as to what is going on. It’s fast paced and within the first few moments of the play we have our first death by poison and...

100% My Type On Paper – C Alto Studio, C Arts

13Aug

By Saira KunjuvalappilNo Comments

Scotland

100% My Type On Paper – C Alto Studio, C Arts

A Simple Look at Being Yourself in a Judgmental Society An excellent eye-opener, this show brilliantly dissects the pressures society imposes on individuals to conform, especially in the context of relationships. The narrative, driven by Benjamin as Clyde and Evie Meadows as Sammy, captures the essence of two people on their first date, struggling to hide their true selves in order to fit societal expectations. As they put on these artificial facades, it's impossible not to see yourself in their shoes—it's a mirror reflecting the sad truth that vulnerability is often misunderstood as weakness or foolishness. The show boldly challenges the stereotype that men are only after sex and are attracted to "naughty" girls, while women are solely interested in tall, handsome, and wealthy p...

13Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Coleridge -Taylor of Freetown – C Arts

Taylor Aluko, a former Liverpool architect, is originally from Nigeria. He is an intelligent, politically and socially conscious individual. He also has a good voice. His morning show at The Quaker House, Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown, is a bid to bring to the light the recent history of Sierra Leone’s oppressive regime. He depicts the former cowardly diplomat, George Coleridge-Taylor, whose uncle was the renowned early twentieth century composer who lived in Croydon, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. In so doing, he uses some of the latter’s music, played live by Kristin Wong and he sings powerfully to the room. The pianist is part of the staging and therefore part of the visual landscape which tells the story. Because of the technical requirements of reading music, Wong’s intense concent...

11Aug

By Susan CohenNo Comments

Scotland

At Least I’m Not Bald – C Arts, C alto

This is a show by the Ukrainian writer-performer, Valery Reva and it really is quite a show, delivered with considerable force, with real impact. Reva tells her own real life story by the use of a complex, beautifully written narrative, accompanied by subtle, effective sound and the unusually creative use of simple props. She begins to open up about her experience in an understated, matter-of-fact way – should she choose to pay exorbitant dental fees in London or travel 28 hours home to war torn Ukraine to have her teeth tended there? For her, it was a no brainer. She made the decision to undertake the long journey and ultimately headed to downtown Kiev where, after reuniting and partying with friends before having dental treatment, a routine health ...

The Faustus Project – C Arts, Alto Studio

9Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

The Faustus Project – C Arts, Alto Studio

Doctor Faustus is universally known as the man who sold his soul to the devil, and that basically sums up the play by Christopher Marlowe. Remembered as a scholar and a rebel, Marlowe's play is actually quite reactionary, very much boiling down to, between patriotic swipes at the papacy, "I want knowledge, consequences be banned! "No, don't have knowledge, you'll be damned!", "oh no I had knowledge but now I'm damned!', like the College Humour Ye Old Black Mirror sketch played straight. As such, it seems a good frame to riff off of, which Half Trick Theatre have done by casting a new actor in the main role each night with no knowledge of the show, with all the comedic opportunities for embarrassment and confusion that offers. The secret to all these shows is the cast themselves, ...

8Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Dionysa – C Arts Aquila

I am on a roll with Greek tragedies at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Wellington College Theatre Collective’s take on Euripides’ ‘The Bacchae’ is interesting. The company have loaded the play into a time machine and moved it into the 20th Century, 1920 to be exact. This play written by an Athenian playwright was set in Thebes, this remains the same, but we have a gender change, as the original play is based around Dionysus, a Greek god (also known as Bacchus to the Romans), of whom was originally a Thracian god, later adopted by the Greeks. This gender change makes Dionysus become Dionysa! The basic storyline is that Dionysa (Cressida Massey-Cook), is a god, born from a union between her father Zeus and her mortal mother Semele. Dionysa is enrage...

‘Born in the USA (Leaving Vietnam’ – C Arts (studio), Edinburgh

1Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

‘Born in the USA (Leaving Vietnam’ – C Arts (studio), Edinburgh

This engrossing one man show tells the story of Jimmy Vandenburgh, a decorated marine who finds it difficult to come to terms with life after his military service in Vietnam War, and is swayed for a while by Trump. Like many veterans, Jimmy still bears the mental scars of the War. “I died once in Vietnam, and once every day since then,” he tells us. Although it’s nearly fifty years since the USA had to admit defeat and pull out of Vietnam, America itself - like Jimmy - is still scarred by that conflict in which nearly 60,000 Americans died - a huge total, though dwarfed by more than a million Vietnamese deaths (half of them civilians). During the 1960s and 1970s, while the Vietnam War raged, America was more divided than perhaps at any time since the Civil War. But the USA is just...

The Kids With Nae Hame – C Arts, C Venues

29Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

The Kids With Nae Hame – C Arts, C Venues

This new play gives a voice to children who have been taken into ‘care’. They are ‘The Kids With Nae Hame’. The script, written by Geraldine Smith, is based on the personal experiences of the care system by some of the cast members. The company formed to present this play is called ‘It’s About Time (Scotland)’. That title encapsulates the campaigning spirit of this play. Children in care have, for a variety of reasons, been taken away from their parental homes. But sadly, in the care system they’re not necessarily getting the care and attention they need. In this play we see acts of emotional ill-treatment, even cruelty, by care workers. There seems to be a continuous battle being waged between the staff and the teenagers. The ongoing Scottish Child Abuse enquiry has hear...

18Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Draining The Swamp – C Arts

Sir Oswald Mosley was an antisemite who led the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s. His notorious Blackshirts were a byword for political thuggery. Mosley was interned during the Second World War. Yet Mosley started life as a mainstream politician. First elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative in 1918, aged only 21, he later joined Labour and in 1929 was appointed a member of Ramsay MacDonald’s Government. Mosley was spoken of as a future Prime Minister. But he resigned a year later, and in 1932 formed the British Union of Fascists. As we enter the intimate venue for this new play by D.R Hill, stern looking Blackshirts mumble greetings. We are soon welcomed by Mosley himself. It is 1961 and we’re his guests at his home in France. He’s launching the ‘new Union Movement’ ...