Festival Theatre Archives - Page 2 of 8

Blue Man Group: Bluevolution World Tour – Festival Theatre

11Oct

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Blue Man Group: Bluevolution World Tour – Festival Theatre

Where to start? Well, if you don’t like rib rattling drumming, strobe lighting and a full on multisensory happening, don’t see this show! It is an experience of epic proportions, colourful, loud, funny and stompingly engaging. The fun starts before the show begins, with public announcements being displayed on a board reminiscent of those motorway signs. Neon red letters requested us not to be annoying with our phones and announced that the flying of drones was definitely not allowed. Blue Men come in threes. They are mute, bald, blue and strangely endearing. They are curious about everything, like silent aliens they seek to connect with the unfamiliar world in which they find themselves. Essentially, I suppose the Blue Men are dru...

Dr Louise Newson – Hormones and Menopause: The Great Debate -Festival Theatre

9Oct

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Dr Louise Newson – Hormones and Menopause: The Great Debate -Festival Theatre

It started in my mid-forties. A woman, maybe a decade older than me, would look around to check for eavesdroppers, then say something like, ‘I can’t drink coffee anymore. Not since the menopause.’ Nobody had prepared them for the change of life. Nobody spoke about it. For generations, everyone was blindsided by the menopause, just like that other taboo experience, menstruation. Now approaching the big five-oh, I’m a member of the first generation in recent history to have access to information on the menopause, thanks to the courage and kindness of those who walked this path before me. Dr Louise Newson is one of those women. She’s a GP, but her medical education barely covered the menopause. The symptoms of perimenopause started in her late thirties: depression, cystitis, loss of con...

A Chorus Line – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

26Sep

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

A Chorus Line – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

A Chorus Line, originally performed in 1975, is one of the most successful musicals on all time. However, it’s reputation for highly technical choreography and of requiring a large cast of superb dancers, with equally big voices, make it one of those shows which the amateur companies tend to give an almighty body swerve, which actually makes it quite a rare beast. This fabulous touring production is a must see for all serious musos, in fact with only four Edinburgh performances it is very much a case of catch it while you can. This classic Broadway hit follows harsh Director Zach (Adam Cooper) as he puts 17 hopefuls through their paces and baring their souls in the hope of being one of the chosen 8 for the chorus of a new musical. Highlighting the brutal reality of what it takes to get ...

Rebus: A Game Called Malice – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

12Sep

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Rebus: A Game Called Malice – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Rebus, the mega-popular paperback sleuth created by Ian Rankin in an Edinburgh bedsit back in 1985, is back, but not in print. No, this time he is a walking, talking, breathing creation, brought to vital life by actor Gray O’Brien. Given that this is only the second incarnation of Rebus on stage, following Long Shadows in 2018, which Ranking co-wrote with Rona Munro, A Game Called Mallice is bound to appeal constant readers of the taciturn detective, who all inevitably have their own ideas of how he sounds, looks and moves. As a constant reader myself, I was more than a little intrigued to see if Rankin could pull this off and if O’Brien could fill the very sizeable shoes of Edinburgh’s finest DCI. The setting is an opulent and art filled Heriot Row townhouse Drawing Room, Paul and H...

24Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

After the Silence – Festival Theatre

In Brazil, the award-winning novel, Torto Arado has sold more than 800,000 copies. Spotlighting historical and contemporary slavery, injustice and inequality, this is perfect fictional material for Christiane Jatahy to blend with her journalistic techniques. The novel’s characters relate incidents from Torto Arado with the documentary history of João Pedro Teixeira, a militant peasant who was murdered in 1964 and the perpetrators never punished. Jatahy emphasises the root of fiction is in fact. Her objective always is to raise awareness and to connect the past and the present in immersive projects that include the audience. After the Silence works on several levels. The cast, Caju Bezerra, Aduni Guedes, Julaina França and Gal Pereira interact with the huge film screen, showing real ...

The Marriage of Figaro – Festival Theatre

20Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Marriage of Figaro – Festival Theatre

At a lengthy 3 and a half hours, performed in Italian with English subtitles, this was, to be honest, a somewhat daunting proposition. More used to one hour long bite-sized Fringe morsels, an opera definitely requires a long-distance mentality rather than a sprint approach. On reflection, Kirill Serebrenbbnikov’s take on Mozart’s comic opera, The Marriage of Figaro, would have been better as a half-marathon. The joy, humour and accessibility of the first act is worth five stars, but what follows is, frankly, incomprehensible, confused and humourless that seemingly almost forgets that there is an audience, drenching itself in opulence and superficial appearance to the point of self-destruction. The weirdly lavish mirrored art and the butchery of most of the cast in the second act is like...

5Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Carmen – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Bizet’s Carmen was first performed on March 3rd, 1875 at the Opéra-Comique, Paris. Now the very same company brings a modern, super-sensual version to Edinburgh from 4th – 8th August, co-produced by Opernhaus Zürich. On Opening Night in 1875, several morning papers published vitriolic letters. One claimed: "Carmen presents most unsavory characters, in such bad taste that the work might very well be ill-advised." Yet, go ahead it did, to healthy box office takings. Bizet, unfortunately, died of a heart attack at the very moment the curtain fell on the 32nd performance on June 3, 1875. Soon after it was closed in Paris, but it was soon to be a hit in Vienna and Brussels. When you go to see a world class, flamboyant and colourful opera like Carmen, you expect (and take for granted) that...

Cats: The Beyond Broadway Experience – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

29Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Scotland

Cats: The Beyond Broadway Experience – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

This production of the iconic stage musical, Cats, is brought to us by a huge cast of accomplished young performers The programme lists 31 principals and 161 ensemble members. This is a truly ambitious production, with challenging songs and movement, and the cast rise to the occasion, showcasing their impressive dance, vocal and acting skills. The show is comprised of a series of “chapters”, each introducing us to either a character, or an aspect of the community of Jellicle Cats. At the interval, some audience members told me that they were struggling to follow the story, but perhaps it is better to think of the piece as a collection of interconnected stories. As Grizelda, Kirsty Montgomery has the challenge of singing the haunting song, Memory. As well as being vocally demanding, t...

Lea Salonga – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

3Jul

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Lea Salonga – Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

A rare opportunity to see one of the greatest singers of our time, a true icon of musical theatre and a Disney princess twice over. The singing voice of warrior, Mulan and Princess Jasmine in Alladin, but perhaps best known for her role as Kim in Miss Saigon for over fifteen years, Salonga has a long list of stage and screen credits, spanning over 35 years. When Salonga took on the role of Kim in Miss Saigon in 1989, aged just 18, she went on to become the first Asian performer to win a Tony and one of the youngest to win an Olivier. In the 1990’s she played Eponine alongside, Michael Ball’s Marius in Les Misérables. The rest, as they say, is history. Most recently starring in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, in London’s West End, she has taken time out to tour the UK, for eight perfo...

27Jun

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Life of Pi – Festival Theatre

Life of Pi at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre is a treat for the senses. Based on Yann Martel's novel of the same name, the action commences in a bleak, bare hospital ward where Pi (Sonya Venugopal) is hiding under the bed. The clever use of projection (Andrzej Goulding) and sound effects (Carolyn Downing) indicate time and place. It is set pre-computerisation, so letters appear on the wall as if from a typewriter with suitable tap, tap, tap reverberations. As soon as recollections flood the stage, this grey, sterile room transforms seamlessly into a verdant, noisy zoo in India; a colourful Bazaar; and a ship’s deck without effort - as if by magic. Before you know it, the transformation has happened: we are adrift upon an ocean with no land in sight and several dangerous animals for compa...