Theatre, Issue 603

Three Harbours Arts Festival

We’re all about the community arts festivals this week, it seems. Summer is finally coming, and we can’t think of a nicer way to spend a sunny weekend than tracking down art in unusual places. So, in East Lothian, the main premise behind the Three…

Little Otik - Sandy Grierson

‘It’s a bit of wood!’ ‘That’s my baby!’ ‘It’s a bit of wood!’ ‘My BABY!’ The air in the Citizens’ Theatre is thick with the smell of peat, spread all over the stage where actors Sandy Grierson and Louisa Ludgate are rehearsing what, taken out of…

Liar

CHILDREN'S THEATRE TAG at the Citizens’ Theatre, Sat 24 May–Sat 7 June Children’s theatre is relatively uncharted territory for Davey Anderson. The young Glasgow playwright is best known for Snuff and Rupture, jet-black, heavily political pieces set…

Nominees revealed for 2008 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland

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…

Reality

REVIVAL Tron, Glasgow, Thu 29–Sat 31 May A good three decades have passed since the talking heads of the media first declared masculinity to be in crisis. If at times this idea has been overplayed, there can be little doubt that the role of men in our…

Akram Khan Dance Company and National Ballet of China: Bahok

INDIAN/CONTEMPORARY/CHINESE DANCE Tramway, Glasgow, Thu 22 & Sat 23 May Bringing different cultures together has always been one of Akram Khan’s strengths. For the past ten years, the acclaimed dancer/choreographer has created an entirely new form of…

The First to Go

NEW WRITING Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, Fri 23 & Sat 24 May then touring British audiences nearly got to see The First to Go in 2002. Actor and playwright Nabil Shaban had the commission from Battersea Arts Centre and the government had pledged £50,000…

Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival

For years, the Bank of Scotland Children’s International Theatre Festival was something of a tongue-twister. Getting the words in the right order was no mean feat – even for Festival director, Tony Reekie. ‘I always got Children’s and International…

The Drawer Boy

SCOTTISH PREMIERE Tron, Glasgow, until Sat 24 May All of us live by personal myths; stories we tell ourselves about our own past actions that justify the present. It seems easy enough to uncover these in others, but much harder to identify our own…

Painted Eggs

THEATRE St Bride’s Centre, Edinburgh, Thu 29–Sat 31 May Gay-themed theatre is a rare beast, but drama based around the experience of transsexuals is even more exceptional. This fortnight, The Luvvies, Scotland’s LGBT community theatre company, are set…

Rigmarole

DEVISED THEATRE Arches, Glasgow, Wed 28–Fri 30 May, Ah, the youth of today. They skulk around at bus stops, they commit acts of arson... they devise experimental theatre pieces structured around Pirandello farces... Phil Spencer, one member of the…

Sleuth

REVIVAL Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Mon 26–Sat 31 May Since Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth first appeared in 1970, its countless revivals and two film versions attest to its capacity to intrigue audiences. But will the much-hyped, though ultimately slightly…

Scottish Ballet's Romeo and Juliet

NARRATIVE BALLET Theatre Royal Glasgow, Wed 4–Sat 7 Jun Big narrative ballets are filled with opulent sets and long drawn-out scenes – right? Not this time. Scottish Ballet has taken a different approach to Shakespeare’s tragic love story. Gone is the…

Doctor Dolittle

MUSICAL Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Tue 20–Sat 31 May With a Hollywood pedigree that includes The Happiest Millionaire, Finian’s Rainbow and Half a Sixpence, Tommy Steele needs no lessons in how to turn in a charismatic lead performance in a musical.