The Studio Archives - North West End UK

The Land That Never Was – The Studio, Edinburgh

17Mar

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Land That Never Was – The Studio, Edinburgh

Starting life as an idea broached on a Scratch night for budding theatre makers a year ago, Liam Rees brings a fascinating true story of financial fraud to fruition to a packed house tonight. Imagine a country so bountiful in flora and fauna, set in the warm rejuvenating waters of Central America, a tropical paradise, where you would be lord of all you surveyed. This is the dream that Stirling man (Sir) Gregor McGregor sold to over 300 Scots in 1820. The country was Poyais, it had its own currency, parliament, honours system and coat of arms, all described in loving detail in an illustrated 350-page guidebook. But the book, like the story was fake, as was the currency which padded the wallets of the hopeful on their long and perilous journey. The actual destination for the unfortunate S...

30Jan

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Moments – The Studio

In the classic time-loop film Groundhog Day, tv reporter, Phil (Bill Murray) attempts over and over again to create the perfect day, a series of carefully choreographed ‘moments’, with his attractive producer Rita (Andie MacDowell), in an attempt to win her heart. Only to be thwarted, often at the last moment, hilariously, time and time again. Some fans calculate the time-loop at 12,403 days! Theatre Re bring their own, thankfully shorter, time-loop to The Studio tonight to wordlessly consider, and reconsider, the powerful bond between a father and a son, and the ‘casting off’ which marks the end of one generation and the beginning of the next. Twelve and a half years after Theatre Re, premiered their particular brand of thoughtful and thought provoking theatre at Pleasance Dome...

3Oct

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Love The Sinner – The Studio, Edinburgh

Approaching the end of a one month tour of Scotland’s finest smaller theatres, this gem of the spoken word is certainly getting to the well-polished stage. Expertly, co-produced with Vanishing Point, writer and performer Imogen Stirling simply oozes confidence and assuredness as she births every beautifully crafted line. The shame is that they whizz by at such a rate they barely have time to flower into fully formed life. Like snow on the river, white for a moment, then gone forever. Through a series of flawed characters, representing the seven deadly sins, Stirling’s prose expertly coaxes and cajoles us through the drowned streets of the river city. It has rained for days. Our unlikely hero is Sloth, who reluctantly rises from her quilted fort of bedroom stagnation only when it gets to...

8Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Please Right Back – The Studio

Please Right Back is awesome. Comics, film, animation and music are magically and seamlessly interwoven in this touching, visually addictive family tale. Join Mr E as he explains his absence through vividly imagined tall tales, swallowed whole by his loving offspring. A 1927 and Burgtheatre Vienna joint production, Please Right Back was written by Suzanne Andrade. This creation is based, loosely, on her own experience. The company, 1927, was founded in 2005 by co-artistic directors, Andrade (Writer and Director) and Paul Barritt (Film, Animation and Design). They work out of London and that not-to-be-forgotten seaside town of Margate in Kent with its sunshine, sand, funfair and ice cream cones. Known internationally for their repertoire in theatre and opera, this multi-award winni...

4Nov

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

All, Here & Now – The Studio, Edinburgh

Unearthed Dance Company perform four dances, produced by Oliver James Anwyl for Dance Horizons, directed and choreographed by Hannah Mason. The company of ten dancers comprised nine females and a solitary male. Book Worms was a delightful piece inspired by Roald Dahl’s Matilda. The dancers appear in childlike costumes of shorts and t-shirts each carrying a book in front of their face, the books being cleverly lit to illuminate the faces. They sit cross legged on the floor and individually address the audience with lines from inspirational and fantastic literature, their faces full of wonder. Of course, they’re dancers, but a little voice work in preparation would not have gone amiss because some could barely be heard. The dancing though, was spot on.&...

Keepers of the Light – The Studio, Edinburgh

12Sep

By H.S. BakerNo Comments

Scotland

Keepers of the Light – The Studio, Edinburgh

Written and directed by Izzy Gray this tells the intriguing true story of three lighthouse keepers who disappeared without trace from the Flannan Isle Lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides in 1900. When the boat bringing the relief keepers arrives at the rock eleven days later, the light is out, the clocks have stopped and there is no sign of any of the men. The captain of the relief boat searches in vain, growing ever more disturbed by the eerie emptiness. There is a single oilskin coat left hanging in the mess, seeming to indicate that one of the men left in a hurry. What catastrophe could have happened to cause all three keepers to vanish? A freak wave? Or something more sinister? Today there are no lighthouse keepers, all ...

12Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Food – The Studio

I am one of the ‘lucky’ ones chosen to be seated at a gargantuan table fully laid out with plates and glasses and cutlery, with about 30 other guests, the rest of the ‘audience’ are seated around us on three sides. Geoff Sobelle dressed as a fancy waiter struts around us, in charge of proceedings. He pretends to light a candle and pulls it on a cloth into the middle of the table. Of course, it is only a little pretend candle; no one is allowed to use a naked light in theatre land these days. In fact, as he pulls it, it falls over, so we can all see that it is a little battery powered prop, there is a ripple of laughter. Sobelle shrugs with a grin. Any so it begins. As the lights drop lower and lower and we are asked to close our eyes and are taken on a journey with Sobelle’s sonorous vo...

Manipulate: Eat Me – The Studio, Edinburgh

31Jan

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Manipulate: Eat Me – The Studio, Edinburgh

It’s difficult to describe ‘Eat Me’, as one may assume it is a play centralizing around cannibalism but not in a way in which one may expect. Eat Me follows the tale of three nameless characters described as ‘The Man’ (Ian Cameron), ‘Prey’ (Claire Eliza Willoughby) and ‘Predator’ (Isy Sharman), who come together in a very strange turn of events. Upon getting assistance from her creepy, stalker-ish neighbour, after falling over on the way home, Prey encloses that she wishes to be eaten. With not a single hint of surprise or hesitation The Man gets to work in making her dream come true. Together they explore the dark web until they come across Predator and set up a date in which Prey can become indeed food. The production is very sound heavy with a good chunk of the dialogue being pre...