Dundee Rep

Steel Magnolias

Play made famous by big-screen adaptation is slight and horribly sentimental

27 Feb 2012

You should maybe seek a second opinion on this one. Judging by the full house and the warm reception, the Rep’s decision to stage Robert Harling’s play – best known for the big-screen adaptation with Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton – demonstrates a…

Irene MacDougall to play female Prospero in Dundee Rep's The Tempest

Caliban and Ariel also adapted as female roles in new production

15 May 2012

Irene MacDougall has been a member of the Dundee Rep ensemble since its inception, but 2012 will mark her first turn in The Tempest. Like Helen Mirren in Julie Taymor’s recent film of Shakespeare’s classic, MacDougall will play Prospero as a female. The…

Sweeney Todd

28 May 2010

In too many of its retellings, the story of the demon barber of Fleet Street is a juvenile gore-fest that is all gothic thrill and little substance. Not so here. Stephen Sondheim’s majestic through-composed musical takes its cue from a stage adaptation…

Dundee Rep revives Further Than the Furthest Thing

James Brining adapts Zinnie Harris's first play

14 Mar 2012

James Brining, artistic director of Dundee Rep, has a rule of thumb about choosing plays. ‘When you have a strong sense of how to do it and how it should look,’ he says, then it’s time. And if this coincides with the members of the repertory company…

Jemima Levick on Steel Magnolias revival

The theatre director aims to retain the humour and tenderness of Robert Harling's original script

1 Feb 2012

‘I would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special,’ says Dolly Parton as brassy hairdresser Truvy in the 1989 film adaptation of Steel Magnolias. The country singer led a cast of big name Hollywood hitters that included…

Anna Karenina

Dundee Rep ensemble pull off moving and powerful version of Tolstoy's classic love story

6 Jun 2011

Despite the occasional casting oddities that arise from matching a permanent ensemble to the requirements of a text, Dundee Rep pull off a moving and powerful version of one of the pinnacles in Russian literature. Jo Clifford’s lovely 2005 adaptation of…

Dundee Rep take on Peter Schaffer's pony tale Equus

18 Feb 2010

It’s not entirely down to Daniel Radcliffe’s torso that Peter Schaffer’s 1973 work Equus is undergoing something of a renaissance, but it was certainly the prospect of naked boy wizard that reignited interest in the play. It’s the kind of interest that…

Balgay Hill - Simon Macallum

28 May 2009

Today we associate Dundee with the enterprising work of Dundee Rep’s ensemble, the world-class art at DCA and the tourist attractions of the City of Discovery. It’s a place the Victoria and Albert Museum can consider setting up a northerly outpost…

Peer Gynt

14 May 2009

Colin Teevan’s irreverent adaptation of Ibsen’s classic play returns to the scene of its original triumph with a brief run at Dundee Rep before embarking on a tour of Scottish cities over the next couple of months. This thrilling, energetic…

After the End

Gripping if uneven thriller adaptation

8 Aug 2011

The action of Dennis Kelly’s thriller takes place in a nuclear shelter in the aftermath of an explosion, but the play’s politics, we discover, are of the personal rather than global kind. The two-hander opens immediately following the atrocity. Louise…

The theatre shows to look out for at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011

Dance Marathon, Ten Plagues and Tuesdays at Tescos among highlights

9 Jun 2011

As ever the theatre programme of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe is overflowing with keen ideas, exciting stories and risk-taking. The Traverse Theatre maintains its position as the beating heart of the Fringe, with Dominic Hill’s final programme…

Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland announce 2011 shortlist

Kate Dickie, David Birrell and David Greig feature on CATS 2011 shortlist

12 May 2011

Following an all-day meeting at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, the CATS judges have revealed the hotly-anticipated shortlist for the ten categories of Scotland's leading theatre awards for 2010-11. A highlight of the Scottish theatre…

Jemima Levick and Jo Clifford adapt Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for the Dundee Rep

20 Apr 2011

Jemima Levick is what you might call a safe pair of hands – a fact borne witness to by a string of well-received shows at Dundee Rep and an armful of awards from her freelance days. Couple that reputation with a classic novel and a script by Jo Clifford…

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice - review

Dundee Rep take on Jim Cartwright's play steps out of original's shadow

8 Mar 2011

Jim Cartwright’s 1992 play about a painfully shy girl who seeks refuge in – and displays an uncanny talent for mimicking – the voices of the great musical divas loved by her father, was created as a vehicle for the unique talents of actress Jane…

New Dundee Rep production of Ibsen's A Doll's House

Jemima Levick directs new version of play by Samuel Adamson

29 Sep 2010

In an era where the term ‘banker’ has become disparaging rhyming slang, certain great classics of the theatre can be viewed with a new slant. In Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, the profession of husband and implacable patriarch Torvald implies the utmost…

Dundee Rep bring Stephen Sondheim Sweeney Todd's musical to the stage

4 May 2010

There’s little heroism to be found in a tale of murder and cannibalism, but Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at least attempts to find some rationale for the actions of the titular killer in tragedy and…

The Elves and the Shoemaker

19 Mar 2010

TAn Easter treat for children and young people, courtesy of the Dundee Rep ensemble. This adaptation of the classic Grimm Brothers’ tale, about the penniless shoemaker and his wife who discover an exquisite pair of shoes waiting for them when they wake…

The Elves and the Shoemaker

10 Mar 2010

An Easter treat for children and young people, courtesy of the Dundee Rep ensemble. This adaptation of the classic Grimm Brothers’ tale, about the penniless shoemaker and his wife who discover an exquisite pair of shoes waiting for them when they wake…

Theatre hitlist

3 Sep 2009

Arches Live! The Arches continues to push performance boundaries with a mouth-watering season of shows, many of them by non-traditional theatre-makers. Arches, Glasgow, Thu 17–Sat 26 Sep. The Cherry Orchard Dundee Rep ensemble turns its…

Beauty and the Beast

11 Dec 2008

FESTIVE FAIRYTALE Dundee Rep ensemble’s take on the ultimate love-triumphs-over-adversity fairytale is a bit of a mixed bag. The story takes a while to warm up, with an overlong preamble leaving you longing for the star to hurry up and make his…

Sunshine on Leith

13 Nov 2008

When it premiered at Dundee Rep last year, Sunshine on Leith, a musical based on the songs of The Proclaimers, proved an instant success, more than holding its own against the legions of musicals based on pop music back catalogues, such as Mamma Mia!…

The Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland awards announced

19 Jun 2008

The Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland concluded last week with Best Production, Director and Performance (male) going to the NTS/Dundee Rep production of Peer Gynt; Best Performance (female) went to Amy Manson for the Lyceum's Six Characters in…

Ann Louise Ross - Les Parents Terribles

5 Jun 2008

In the early 20th century Paris, Jean Cocteau was considered avant-garde. He was the kind of artistic butterfly who, when he wasn’t publishing volumes of poetry, giving encouragement to young (and sexually attractive) artists and hanging out with the…

Nominees revealed for 2008 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland

22 May 2008

Dundee Rep has been hailed as the frontrunner for the 2008 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS). The Rep heads the bill with 13 nominations across 9 categories, including Best Performance in both the male and female categories, Best Ensemble…

Peer Gynt

4 Oct 2007

For as long as people question their identity, pondering who they are and what role they play in the world, Peer Gynt will occupy a prominent place in the culture. It would, indeed become still more notable were all productions of Ibsen’s classic of…