Revival

Barry

17 Jan 2008

REVIVAL Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 22–Sat 26 Jan Feminism in its various guises has been around for many years, but Rowan Tree Theatre Company’s new production of Frederic Mohr’s one woman show Barry hints that women haven’t advanced quite as…

The Blue Room

17 Jan 2008

REVIVAL Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 22 Jan–Sat 26 Jan Mention David Hare’s adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde to even the most occasional of theatregoers, and there’ll be instant recollections of its notorious nude scenes, originally…

Molly Sweeney

1 Nov 2007

REVIVAL Dervaig Hall, Fri 9 Nov, then touring For the eponymous middle-aged woman (Cara Kelly) in Brian Friel’s play the rituals of everyday life are suddenly and irreversibly disrupted when, having been blind for her entire life, her sight is…

Meeting Joe Strummer

18 Oct 2007

REVIVAL Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Sat 27 Nov, then touring That hoary old chestnut about when political compromise becomes sell out is at the centre of this amiable little fable, at least as much as the tragic punk rebel of the title. In this…

Living Quarters

18 Oct 2007

REVIVAL Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Fri 26 Oct–Sat 17 Nov In the era of celebrity, we’ve grown accustomed to people of no particular talent becoming famous for being famous. But if these folk have begun to provoke immense and arduous torpor…

Playhouse Creatures

18 Oct 2007

REVIVAL Dundee Rep, Sat 27 Oct–Sat 10 Nov April De Angelis’ Playhouse Creatures focuses on the first women in theatre. According to actress Irene McDougall, who plays Mary Betterton, the play ‘looks at women’s struggle in a male world. There are…

Angels In America, Parts 1 & 2

Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Tue 1-Sat 12 May

23 Apr 2007

REVIVAL There’s little doubt that in the future, when the great histories of theatre post-1950 are written, Tony Kushner’s classic will take a prominent role. Reckoned by many a critic to be the greatest play of the 1990s, its cultural shockwaves…

Europe

Dundee Rep, Wed 4-Sat 7 Apr

13 Mar 2007

REVIVAL Reviving a play that is old enough to merit revisiting but too young to be called a classic carries a certain risk. What seemed timely and topical a decade ago might now seem tired and trite. The remarkable thing about David Greig’s Europe…

The Bevellers

Citizens‚ Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 3 Mar

27 Feb 2007

REVIVAL There is something direct and compelling about a good play from another era, that cuts through our nostalgia, or simple desire to remake history in our own time’s image. In Roddy McMillan’s 1973 drama of Glasgow working class life, we meet a…

Mrs Warren's Profession

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 10 Mar

27 Feb 2007

REVIVAL Easy truisms about the corruption that comes with money come as readily to the lips of those in authority today as they did in 1893, when Shaw’s classic first appeared, only to banned for for 30 years. That money should be roundly condemned…

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

29 Jan 2007

REVIVAL Judy Garland said to her daughter: ‘Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.’ The title character of Little Voice seems to have it the wrong way round; she’s unsure of herself but first rate at imitating…

Bevellers, The

The Bevellers

29 Jan 2007

REVIVAL No amount of ‘City of Culture’ or ‘Glasgow Smiles Better’ labels can conceal the stereotypical view of Scotland’s largest city. This less than perfect reputation runs deeper than sovereign-wearing bams swallying Buckie. As a follow up to…