Theatre
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Traverse Theatre at 50: A history of the Scottish theatre institution
17 May 2013
A historical overview of the Edinburgh theatre that became the home of new writing
You can expect a bombardment of birthday celebrations this October when the National Theatre turns 50. But before London’s luvvies go wild, there’s another new-minted quinquagenarian closer to home worth championing: Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre. Yes…
Opinion: does the Royal Lyceum's new season display a gender bias?
17 May 2013
Critic Hannah McGill takes a look at the theatre's 2013 programme and finds it lacking
Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre, Scotland’s largest producing theatre, just announced its 2013–14 programme. Artistic Director Mark Thomson is proud to have mounted ‘in tough times… a season of work that celebrates the inspiration of great thinkers…
Traverse Theatre at 50: Upcoming playwrights from Scotland to watch
17 May 2013
Upcoming writers Drew Taylor, Kris Haddow, Michael O’Neill, Molly Innes and Sylvia Dow
When the Trav called out for new playwrights to become part of the Traverse 50, they received over six hundred applications. Staging fifty short plays by way of an introduction to the winners, they selected writers from across Scotland and beyond…
The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish
17 May 2013
The theatre production, adapted from Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's book, is performed with gusto
Sitting in a dark room and keeping quiet for an hour isn’t for everyone – especially if you’re under ten. Promenade theatre solves that problem, with movement actively encouraged and the odd noise generally tolerated. So on that front, The Day I…
Lorraine McIntosh, actor in stage production of Let The Right One In - interview
17 May 2013
The erstwhile Deacon Blue singer has a love for big dogs and Bruce Springsteen
First record you ever bought ‘Cavatina’ by The Shadows. Last book you read The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem Aslam. First film you saw that really moved you Shenandoah with Jimmy Stewart. Last lie you told ‘Oh, I can’t make that night, I’m…
Siobhan Davies Dance: Every Day
15 May 2013
Solo dance act by Siobhan Davies focuses on the daily movements we take for granted
A table, a chair, an umbrella and a stool – ordinary objects we come across on a daily basis. But a new exhibition is asking us to look at those objects, and others, with fresh eyes. Not only that, but a live element will encourage visitors to…
Hector MacMillan’s 40-year-old play The Sash remains relevant
15 May 2013
Scottish revival of MacMillan's play reminds us that sectarianism still survives
This revival of Hector MacMillan’s 40-year-old play feels bittersweet. While most playwrights might revel in the enduring appeal of their work, MacMillan has recently commented that he’d be happier if the sectarianism portrayed in The Sash was no longer…
The Intergalactic Nemesis
15 May 2013
One third graphic novel, one third radio play and one third crazy! American live stage show is bound
Pitching itself as a marriage between a radio drama and gigantic comic book, The Intergalactic Nemesis inspires an air of fascination from the first look at the show’s poster. The basic premise is a script performed by three voice actors, against the…
Old Vic production of Noises Off set for UK tour
15 May 2013
The play within a play gets a scientific and funny makeover
‘It’s one of the purest farces ever written in the English language,’ is how director Lindsay Posner describes Michael Frayn’s 1982 comedy Noises Off: ‘I do see it as a truly great play.’ Posner’s new touring version of the play celebrates its thirtieth…
Theatre director Emma Callander dicusses the political side of David Greig's Dalgety
15 May 2013
The play will be the first staged work from Callander's Theatre Uncut company
Both Theatre Uncut and David MacLennan, curator of A Play, a Pie and a Pint, have their foundations in populist, political theatre. MacLennan’s history with 7:84 reflects his leftist leanings and, as Theatre Uncut’s co-artistic director Emma Callander…
Citizens Theatre conclude season with Caryl Churchill's Far Away and Seagulls
15 May 2013
Dominic Hill stages two contemporary classics
In directing a double bill of Caryl Churchill plays, who bridges the gap between the political plays of the 1970s and the personal tone of contemporary theatre, artistic director of The Citizens Theatre Dominic Hill makes a claim for Seagulls and Far…
Let the Right One In re-written for stage by Dundee Rep
10 May 2013
John Tiffany and Steven Hoggett adapt Swedish vampire romance
Their screen-to-stage adaptation of Once won eight Tony Awards in 2012. Now, John Tiffany and Steven Hoggett are giving another cult film a theatrical makeover: Swedish vampire romance Let the Right One In. Adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his own…
Blue Raincoat present The Poor Mouth
10 May 2013
Irish theatre company Blue Raincoat apply eclectic style to Flan O'Brien's absurdist language
In their annual visits to Scotland, Blue Raincoat demonstrate a rare gift for combining spectacular visual theatre and the rigorous demands of a script. The Poor Mouth, the finale of their adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s trilogy of novels, sees the…
AJ Taudevin stages Some Other Mother at Traverse
10 May 2013
Tapping into childrens' eyes and language to raise the topic of asylum seekers
AJ Taudevin's Some Other Mother, about the young daughter of an asylum seeker in a Glasgow high rise, comes from a close and personal place. An activist and worker within the city's asylum seeker community, Taudevin draws from the same material as Cora…
Rebus author Ian Rankin set to launch Lyceum’s 2013/14 programme
30 Apr 2013
The new season features works from Chris Hannan, Tony Cownie and David Haig
A play by Ian Rankin is just one of four world premieres and three new co-productions to be announced as part of the Royal Lyceum Theatre’s new season. Rebus novelist Rankin’s play will launch the season as part of a crime double bill, with Maureen…
Imaginate 2013 puts an emphasis on storytelling through movement
18 Apr 2013
Dance and physical theatre forms a large part of this year's kids' theatre festival
When you’re programming an international festival, language is always going to be important. Will the audience understand the words and dialect? Does it matter? But this year, it’s body language rather than foreign language that’s pre-occupying…
Theatremakers Damir Todorovic and Kirsty Housley discuss Mayfesto 2013
17 Apr 2013
The political theatre fest will also feature plays from Jenna Watt, Daniel Bye and the Tron Studio
Mayfesto, the Tron’s annual festival of political theatre, takes truth and identity as its focus in 2013. Programme highlights include Flâneurs, Jenna Watt’s Fringe First-winning look at urban violence; The Price of Everything, Daniel Bye’s performance…
Quiz Show
17 Apr 2013
Rob Drummond's game show-set drama is thunderingly powerful stuff
That Rob Drummond is a master of illusion will be known to anyone who has heard of his Fringe hit Bullet Catch, let alone seen it. In Quiz Show he flaunts that mastery with grace and articulacy. Here is a simple event. A quiz show called False! The…
High Society
17 Apr 2013
A clever and satisfying production of the musical best known as The Philadelphia Story
Easy on the eye and easy on the ears – despite a plot which exalts the uninhibited flaunting of wealth – this is a witty and effervescent revival of the Cole Porter favourite. High Society hits the stage running. A tightly drilled, black-and-white…
Doctor Faustus
17 Apr 2013
Dominic Hill and Colin Teevan's adaptation meshes the 16th-century poetry with modern day decadence
It turns out that there are several details the Elizabethan Christopher Marlowe left out of his play about the questing academic who sells his soul to the devil. Faustus was raised by a leopardskin-wearing slattern who fed him Haribo as he watched…
Documentary theatre production All the Sex I've Ever Had seeks anecdotal wisdom from the elderly
17 Apr 2013
'People can see one another, and perhaps their elders, in a new and different light'
‘Are you 65 and still thinking about sex?’ was the question the Canadian theatre company Mammalian Diving Reflex used to attract the very first participants for its new project. Aiming to shatter society’s preconceptions, All The Sex I’ve Ever Had…
Zinnie Harris' update of Ibsen's A Doll House puts fresh political spin on a proto-feminist classic
17 Apr 2013
'It’s all about how we look at the political couple behind the doors'
In 2009, playwright Zinnie Harris gave Henrik Ibsen’s masterful 19th century dissection of corruption and power a timely update. The acclaimed writer of The Wheel and Further than the Furthest Thing transposed the action from Norway’s financial world in…
Immersive drama DEADinburgh puts the audience at the heart of a zombie plague
17 Apr 2013
The play utilises real scientific ideas to dissect the viral outbreak
Gouts of blood and glowing zombie eyes are the hooks by which immersive theatre show DEADinburgh is getting the punters in. But Barra Collins, artistic director of LAStheatre and moving force behind the project, insists it is all about ideas. The…
Ben Tagoe lets us know The Thing About Psychopaths
17 Apr 2013
The playwright's latest is an intense play set between prison and the corporate world
Intense, is how Ben Tagoe’s latest play for Red Ladder has been described. It’s not a warm or fluffy piece of theatre, not that the Perth-born playwright is being demeaning about such work he wants you to understand. But, as you might expect for a play…
Theatre director Michael Emans set to revive Hector MacMillan's The Sash
17 Apr 2013
The play, which was first staged at the Fringe 40 years ago, addresses the dangers of sectarianism
Forty years after it was first staged on the Edinburgh Fringe, Hector MacMillan’s homespun homily about the perils of sectarianism and its grip on the past and the future remains depressingly familiar to the landscape of Scottish society. Michael Emans…
