Church Hill Theatre Archives - North West End UK

The Sleeping Beauty – Church Hill Theatre

16Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Sleeping Beauty – Church Hill Theatre

This traditional Panto is great family entertainment, including cheesy jokes, audience participation, sing alongs and all the familiar ‘panto’ tropes. Edinburgh People’s Theatre throw themselves into this retro production, and you find yourself laughing, singing and shouting out ‘behind you!’, almost in spite of yourself. It’s enough to make even a moody teen smirk! On the night I attended the massed ranks of Brownies and Guides and large family groups fairly filled up the well appointed and comfortable seats of the Church Hill Theatre and provide plenty of atmosphere and hilarious heckling in all the right places. When dame, Derek Ward, as Queen Dorothy asks if his ‘bum looks big in this’, he looks suitably hurt by the inevitable audience responses. Mandy Black’s assured directi...

16Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The Outrun – Church Hill Theatre

Amy Liptrot's 2015 memoir of a generation lost to trivia and over-consumption certainly struck a chord. A film of the book is released this year plus this co-production between Edinburgh International Festival and Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. The Outrun is beautifully staged. Milla Clarke works some artistic magic, along with a collection of talented creatives from Lewis den Hertog on video (superb), Lizzie Powell on lighting, Michael Henry and Kev Murray on music and sound. The piece is cleanly directed by Vicky Featherstone. Vicki Manderson’s chorus opening as waves is very atmospheric and intriguing. Set partially in Orkney, waves are relevant. Additionally, a wave can knock us off our feet and fighting a wave can prove fruitless. Metaphorically, the waves work for this pie...

Brief Encounter – Church Hill Theatre Edinburgh

1Apr

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

Brief Encounter – Church Hill Theatre Edinburgh

Brief Encounter started as a play called Still Life before Noel Coward translated it to the stage with his immortal screenplay. Emma Rice’s highly rated re-adaptation of Brief Encounter for the stage meets both mediums somewhere in the middle. The original screenplay is pastiched beyond belief- even if you’ve never seen it, you will have seen at least one comedy skit. Married suburban mother Laura Jesson is passing through the train station when a piece of grit gets in her eye. Saved from potential blindness by fellow train traveler, the married Dr Alec Harvey, passions are ignited. The trouble is, it’s the late 1930s, and their burning love for each other is ruinous, so here their love story pans out against a motley crew of other travelers, clientele and servers in the train station c...

<strong>Vanity Fair – Church Hill Theatre</strong>

17Nov

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Vanity Fair – Church Hill Theatre

Vanity Fair is, when it's not inspiring magazine titles, a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published serially between 1847 and 1848. It was memorably subtitled "a novel without a hero" due to its protagonist, Becky Sharp, spending its entire duration trying to better her position in life with little care for the repercussions on supposed friends, (richer) husbands or even her own child. Because of this, the story isn't "just" a period costume drama, and any adaptation has to contend with a cynical protagonist doing unlikeable things while still keeping the audience engaged, and possibly even rooting for her. This aspect, which was previously managed so masterfully by a British TV adaptation, was something the twenty-year-old Reese Witherspoon vehicle film (which cast the TV ...