Royal Lyceum Theatre Archives - North West End UK

17Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Hamlet – Royal Lyceum Theatre

An international festival ought to end in carnival fashion, and this blended version of Hamlet did just that. It was an explosion of success, rejoicing, a knees-up and warm audience participation. Teatro La Plaza from Lima, Peru, has created a feast of a show using back projection (Lucho Soldevilla), music, thoughtful lighting (Jesūs Reyes), a simple set and a fabulous cast of Downs Syndrome adults. This adaptation of Hamlet is both funny in itself and wonderful as a piece of art for showcasing the unquestionable talents of a marginalised sector of society. Written and directed by Chela De Farrari, a founder of the company, the intention is to entertain as you ask questions which help us better understand the contemporary world and, in this instance, the world of the Downs person in...

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...

4Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Penthesilea – The Royal Lyceum Theatre

This passionate fictional play set at the gates of Troy, was written in 1807 by Heinrich Von Kleist, who four years later would commit suicide with his married lover aged only thirty-four. This may be an indication of his passionate nature, and why at age thirty, he could write such a romantic, but also violent play. Part of the Edinburgh International Festival, the ITA Ensemble who are the in-house team at the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, are behind this bold production which is part rock concert, and part classical play. The director Eline Arbo, who achieved great success with ‘Weg Met Eddy Bellegueule’ winning a director’s award in 2020, is working with Thijs Van Vuure who created the music which acts as the beat for the play. Staged at the wonderful Royal Lyce...

Shirley Valentine – Royal Lyceum Theatre

15Jun

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Shirley Valentine – Royal Lyceum Theatre

It’s easy to get stuck in life's daily routine, to lose all excitement in life due to duty and obligation. Shirley is a mother whose kids have grown up and left home, a wife to a man who still requires babying and all in all a shell of her former lively self. For Shirely life's about making her husband’s dinner and talking to the kitchen wall, a life unsatisfied and without risk or excitement, that is until her friend hands her a ticket to Greece. 2 Weeks abroad without the husband or kids… or at least that was the plan, now she’s met a man and discovered the true Shirley Valentine once more. Shirley Valentine is a brilliantly written one woman play that really makes you think about life and how it shapes us. It makes you think about who you are, how you got to where you are and reminds...

31May

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Sunset Song – Royal Lyceum Theatre

Dundee Rep in a major co-production with the Royal Lyceum Theatre bring a contemporary reworking of a piece of classic Scottish fiction for the next ten days, marking the end of an East coast tour through Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness. It is not surprising that the tour has stayed in sight of the North Sea given that almost the entire dialogue is performed in the Doric language native to the North East coast of Scotland. A script that would have had my sadly departed Mother-In-Law, Isobel, chortling away and no doubt reminiscing on her Invergorden crofting roots. Much of the setting of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song would have been familiar to Isobel; the chains that bind you to the land, to family and hardship. The tears, the toil, the unending bleakness and the stoic endurance...

17Jan

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Jekyll and Hyde – Royal Lyceum Theatre

This adaptation by Gary McNair of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, is keen to point to its source's Edinburgh roots, though mostly through the programme and the lead (and only) actor's Scottish accent. Unlike some recent productions of Great Expectations or Dracula however, it stops short of relocating the story to Scotland. But even the medium of a play represents a coming home of sorts: this story began with the true tale of furniture-maker and lock-breaker Deacon Brodie, about whom Louis Stevenson first co-wrote a play entitled Deacon Brodie, or The Double Life, though it was his later retooling of the idea of duality into the novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which would find lasting success. The story is well-known (spoilers) for its crucial dual role, which lead at...

Group Portrait In A Summer Landscape – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

6Oct

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Group Portrait In A Summer Landscape – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

It is a brave playwright who describes his play as “Scottish Chekhov”, but Peter Arnott’s magnificent new play does not disappoint. It’s an exhilarating tour-de-force which deals with huge issues while zooming in on the complex human relationships of a group of privileged and talented people. It’s hugely entertaining, thought-provoking, and witty, but not always an easy watch. The first night audience was often shrieking with laughter, but sometimes stunned into shocked silence. It’s set in the summer of 2014 in the heady days leading up to the Scottish Independence Referendum. But although that’s discussed, it’s not a play about Independence. Nor is it about the climate emergency, although that issue features, too. And it’s not really about God though the Deity is important to some ...

Kidnapped – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

13Apr

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Kidnapped – Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

Based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, National Theatre of Scotland’s retelling of this boy’s own adventure novel is a fine evening’s entertainment. Branded on the fliers as a ‘swashbuckling rom-com adventure’, it does do some serious veering around from pantomime to poetic to abstract post modern, to sassy jazz cabaret with a splash of bromance. As Kim Ismay proclaims following her rousing ‘I’ve been everywhere (man)’ opening musical number, ‘this book is different’. Kidnapped follows the adventures of youth Davie Balfour, who, following the death of his father leaves the safe dullness of his Borders town to travel to Edinburgh in search of his rich uncle. We are at this point introduced to ‘the boulder’, a cleverly conceived hollowed out stage device which also houses a f...

2Apr

By Ella CatherallNo Comments

Scotland

Castle Lennox – Royal Lyceum Theatre

‘Castle Lennox’, presented by the Royal Lyceum Theatre of Edinburgh and Lung Ha Theatre Company, tells the story of Annis, a young Autistic woman who is sent to the titular Castle Lennox, a mental institution, and her interactions with both staff and fellow patients. Where this show shines is in its representation of disabled people. The show features a majority disabled cast, and all disabled characters in the show are played by disabled actors. That this show is able to provide opportunities for disabled creatives is admirable and something I hope to see more of – I’ll definitely be a closer follower of the work of the Lung Ha Theatre Company from now on. Arguably more notable is that the disabled characters in this show are well-developed, full people that exist as more than inspirat...

10Mar

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

You Bury Me – Edinburgh Royal Lyceum

‘‘to’-bor-ni’, states author Ahlam’s notes, ‘a saying in Levantine Arabic used to express affection and love. ‘May you bury me’ is a declaration that one does not want to live without a loved one (or loved thing).’ As do the characters in this story, be it each other or the city of Cairo. It’s set in 2015 as the optimism generated by the ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011 (naively reported by many major news agencies worldwide) finally evaporated, authoritarian rule reasserting itself, extinguishing the joy of a younger generation believing they might finally have the freedom to express themselves as themselves… rather than as a product of their family, religion or politics. The action hurtled along pell mell, representing the vibrancy and volatility of Cairo but an occasional drop in tempo migh...