Theatre and Issue 565

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

In with a bang

13 Dec 2006

It will come as no surprise to learn that for director, Adrian Noble the starting point for this stage musical was the film. The original Chitty got so much right, it’s hard to imagine anyone changing it for the better. The film had it all - love…

Review of the year

13 Dec 2006

For a good three years before its first shows opened in February of this year, the possible merits and demerits of the NTS, were hotly debated.

Hitlist

The best theatre

13 Dec 2006

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Delight at the adventures of the marvel car, its winsome passengers and their tuneful voices while you hiss the Childcatcher. Spectacle combines with comedy and music, and the addition of some well-kent Scottish faces makes for a…

Dick McWhittington

Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, until Sat 30 Dec

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch All Alice (Katrina Bryan) has ever longed for is Dick. He (Robert Jack) feels some affection for her, too, but he’s got his hands full with his mum (Graham Cramond) who, unusually, has a Pinkie Winkie - Jack’s little brother (Aaron Usher). And…

Cinderella - Perth Theatre

Cinderella

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Pity poor Baron Hardup, as feeble as a bowl of watery broth with a dicky ticker to boot, blitz-fully wedded to arch shrew Dodda Mutton, stepfather to a pair of hideous harpies who could give Lucrezia Borgia a run for her money in the…

Cinderella - King's Theatre, Edinburgh

Cinderella

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Poor old Cinders (Carolyn Gibb), she’s a decent sort of lass, but much put upon by her sisters Trinny and Susannah (Jo Freer, Julie Coombe), who suffer from a chronic inability to confront their own mauketness. Along comes a Prince who talks…

Green Whale

Green Whale

13 Dec 2006

The pitch Three Edinburgh children stow away on the ‘Big Betty’ whaling ship, hoping to raise money for their poor family. Onboard they meet Nin the merciless hunter, Crill the eccentric captain, Isabella the former Queen of Spain and a mysterious girl…

Pinocchio

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 30 Dec

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Total ASBO case Pinocchio (James-Anthony Pearson) is a pathological bullshitter, who’s perfectly willing to see Gepetto (Simon Scott), the coffin dodger who fashioned him from wood, do chokey for his ills. He’ll never turn from wood to flesh…

Peter Pan

Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, until Wed 24 Jan

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Thirty-five-year-old man Pan (Cameron-Big Brother-Stout), who definitely won’t be doing more growing, flies into the Darling sibling’s (Stephen Purdon and Laura McMonagle) window and whisks them, Nanny Clyde (Dean Parks) and Nana the dug off…

Hansel and Gretel - Dundee Rep

Hansel and Gretel

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch A kindly but impoverished woodcutter, with aspirations of becoming the next Gordon Ramsay, dwells on the edge of a forest with his hideously deformed, flatulent wife and two children, inch-thick Hansel and plucky Gretel. Keen to get hubby's…

Aladdin

King’s Theatre, Glasgow

13 Dec 2006

The pitch Rather more the story of Wishee Washee, a redundant shepherd trying to break into his mother’s laundry business, than of his brother Aladdin who falls foul of the wicked Abanazar after failing to get a magical lamp out of a cave. Amid flying…

Hansel and Gretel - The Arches

Hansel and Gretel

13 Dec 2006

The Pitch Hansel (Helen Mallon) and Gretel (Isobel Joss) are abandoned in the forest by their evil stepmother (Julie Brown), so that herself and the father (Stewart Ennis) have two less mouths to feed. However, the children prove astute when caught by…

Wullie Whittington

Tron Theatre, Glasgow

13 Dec 2006

The pitch Young Wullie Whittington is ready to take the leap from being last year’s understudy to this year’s romantic lead in the self-referential world of the Pantosphere. His chief obstacle is that his singing’s as flat as a pancake and it looks as…

Snowman, The

The Snowman

7 Dec 2006

KIDS THEATRE The EastEnders Christmas special might be a ratings winner, but for most of us The Snowman is the real symbol of festive TV. Raymond Briggs’ tale of the little boy who wakes at midnight to find his snowman has come alive, has an old…