theSpace on the Mile Archives - North West End UK

My Life Is a Sonnet – theSpace on the Mile

27Aug

By Al CarrettaNo Comments

Scotland

My Life Is a Sonnet – theSpace on the Mile

The beauty of the Edinburgh Fringe lies in the fact that you, as an audience in search of a show, can stumble upon excellence. In a cool, simply lit and arranged corner stage Eric Daniel Weiner gives us a masterclass in resolved, structured storytelling and naturalistic, understated acting. Weiner doesn’t just hold a mirror to life; he holds it with a template in the shape of a Shakespearean sonnet layer over it then proceeds to demonstrate how each part of it fits. The journey takes place over a lifetime. Our hero, Charlie Katz attends school and is taught the wonder of language by a dying English professor in a small intimate class. The problem is Katz becomes pre-occupied with the mysteries of Sally Templeton, a transfer student on a Squash scholarship who orders her life by cont...

26Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Fruit Flies – TheSpace on the Mile

Produced by Fast Snail Productions, Fruit Flies begins when Ollie’s best friend from home, Maddy, travels from Ayr to Edinburgh to stay at Ollie’s and see the Chappell Roan concert together. Problem is, Ollie’s flat mate Steph and Maddy on meeting despise each other. And to make matters worse, it turns out there are only two tickets for the concert, not three. Steph and Maddy have to fight it out and prove to Ollie that they deserve to be the chosen one. This seems like a simple enough premise, until you watch the show and are completely blindsided. It becomes completely surreal as we are taken into a liminal space full of clocks and gags. One person must be killed to sacrifice to the yassifying mirror. With a very loose plot and jokes we’ve hea...

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

12Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

Award-winning hit of last year’s Fringe, When We Were Young features at theSpace on the Mile for another year running. Consisting of the first act of a two-act play, this show sees a group of young teenagers living in Govan in the 90s caught up in the young team culture. The tone is set by group leader Mooney (played by Liam Lambie) now grown-up as he reflects on his troubled youth. When We Were Young sends a powerful message of how systemic issues impact those living in under cared for areas – how easy it is to fall into gang violence and knife crime and how it affects the community. This is such a quintessentially Scottish show, with Lambie’s writing so accurately capturing the crude and blunt essence of the ‘neds’. With sharp and quick-witted insults being...

Our Town Needs a Nandos – theSpace on the Mile

10Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Our Town Needs a Nandos – theSpace on the Mile

Up and coming Edinburgh-based theatre company Hot Mess Productions, brings their rendition of Samantha O’Rourke’s, Our Town Needs a Nandos to the Edinburgh Fringe. The play sees a group of young girls in high school work on creating a devised piece for their drama exam. In a run-down town with not much to do, this is a coming-of-age story where friendships are tested, sexuality is explored, and the girls shared experience of sexual violence is at the forefront. Each girl faces a sense of displacement, whether that be down to emigration, isolation, or repression. The cast of five work well together, clearly taking their strong bonds from the rehearsal room to the stage. Each cast member is believable as an unruly teenager finding their feet in the world, hitting ...

23Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Forget-Me-Nots – theSpace on The Mile

A couple finds themselves in some kind of liminal space with no memory of their life in the real world and no idea how to get back. Even with no recollection of their history together, they still gravitate towards each other, falling in love all over again, frozen in time together. Produced by Raiser Theatre and written and performed by Isla Hall, Forget-Me-Nots is a portrait of connection - with no distinct plot and no end in sight, like the couple, we are frozen in one moment, watching as the relationship unfolds and develops. At times the story felt a little cliché, although the dialogue and performance was believable. The two actors worked well together, creating an authentic and sweet, if quite sappy, relationship. Although Hall does refer to her partner...

19Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Stick Together – theSpace on the Mile

Showing in theSpace on the Mile at the Edinburgh Fringe, Stick Together is a grassroots musical written and co-directed by Gabby Blackie. Set in Perthshire, we follow the journey of three field hockey players who have trapped themselves in the locker room. The surrounding area is overrun with zombies and with no sign of ZPS (Zombie Protection Services) the girls are forced to stick it out until morning despite growing tensions amongst the group. As the musical unfolds, we discover that Zara (Gracie Spencer) is massively crushing on Hazel (Madeline Gilroy). But with Zara’s hot-headed, defensive attitude - mostly directed towards new-girl Keelie (Kate Santos), Zara can’t help but push Hazel away in the process. Spoiler, they do end up together after singing it ...

A Covert Affair – Venue 39 at theSpace on the Mile

18Aug

By Marcelina KruczyńskaNo Comments

Scotland

A Covert Affair – Venue 39 at theSpace on the Mile

A Covert Affair is brought to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe by Belvedere Productions. This new play written by Alex Macfarlane and co-written by Charlie Turner explores a potentially romantic connection between two agents from opposing states. A Covert Affair is a flirty and fantastic and very well constructed play. Before hitting the Fringe, A Covert Affair had its first run at a scratch night where the play’s first scene was performed. Now at the Fringe, Belvedere Productions have pulled all the stops to deliver a professional quality play. Great attention was put into the set, sound and lighting. The room was packed to the max which was great to see however only from the front row and from certain spaces off the sides could the full effect of the stage be appreciated. Noneth...

14Aug

By Susan CohenNo Comments

Scotland

Holly Street – theSpace on the Mile

This is a play produced by Long Face Theatre Company and New Celts Productions, set in a meeting room where five writers brainstorm the 35th anniversary episode of Holly Street, a soap opera. The writers plan, plot, squabble and tease until they inadvertently/magically slip into an alternate reality and in the process, they reveal to the audience who they really are behind their facades. So far, so interesting. It’s the magical whiteboard, y’see – whatever’s written on it comes true and that gradually dawns on the writers, who manage to bravely and noisily unite to confront and overcome the zombie attack out with the performance space and reach the crescendo of the piece - returning to the ‘stage’ triumphant, much to the audience’s noisy appreciation. Yep, this is a v...

6Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

When We Were Young – theSpace on the Mile

When We Were Young performs for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe this month, produced and written by Liam Lambie of Glasgow-based company, Geez a Break Productions. This play looks at the lives of one of Glasgow’s ‘Young Teams’ in the 90s—gangs made up of teenagers who grouped together based on the area they lived in. We explore the teenagers' relationships with each other, gang culture, their community, and the societal constraints they live under. The play begins in the future, with the young team’s leader, Mooney (played by Lambie), reflecting on his time as a teenager. We are then taken back in time to witness the fatal consequences that the young team brought into the characters' lives. Lambie’s writing is brilliant, with brazen and vulgar dialogue that encapsulates both ...

Frankenstein Afterglow – theSpace on the Mile

5Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Frankenstein Afterglow – theSpace on the Mile

Frankenstein: Afterglow is a neon-gothic mixture of poetry and puppetry set after Frankenstein and the Monster's final book confrontation in the Arctic. However, in this version neither died there, with the Monster instead subduing Frankenstein and bringing him back to his home in Switzerland. Set entirely within the room of Frankenstein's home in which the Monster keeps him imprisoned, the show is light on plot and strong on character, and its reverence for the book – bar a couple of twists on the material – may be an advantage for those who don't know the story well, or know and love it like a fan hearing a favourite song at a concert. Because of the subjective nature of these points, whether these two factors are criticisms or recommendations will therefore have to be left to the...