Theatre, Issue 673
15 articles
Sorted by popularity / date
The Hot 100 2010 - Mark Millar, Kevin Bridges and Alasdair Gray take top 3 spots
16 Dec 2010
Our annual chart of the top creatives in Scotland
The Hot 100 is a list of Scots who’ve made a sizeable creative splash in 2010. It includes musicians, artists, writers, actors, fashion designers, technological innovators, shop owners, festival directors, record label heads and one mad cyclist.
Sleeping Beauty
15 Dec 2010
Oran mor lunchtime Christmas show for adults a bit of a dog’s dinner, but plenty of fun
Penned by panto veterans David MacLennan and Dave Anderson, Oran Mor’s 2010 lunchtime Christmas show for adults is another ‘alternative’ affair, wringing its topical laughs this time out of austerity Britain. The popular tale of the pretty princess…
The Secret Garden
15 Dec 2010
Hopeful musical is a moving and witty production for modern audiences
A musical about deep-rooted grief may seem an odd choice for a Christmas show, but somehow The Secret Garden manages to inject enough love and hope to rise above the misery. An imaginative set and some truly superb vocals also help turn Frances Hodgson…
Aladdin
15 Dec 2010
SECC Christmas show stars The Krankies and John Barrowman
If you think this arena spectacular violates that unspoken rule of knowing crapness in pantomime by promising 3D graphics and a celebrity star for whom the phrase ‘it’s behind you’ unusually couldn’t be applied to his career, think again. The SECC’s…
A View from the Bridge set for Lyceum - Liam Brennan interview
3 Jan 2011
Latest Arthur Miller play adapted by John Dove for Edinburgh theatre
Since 2004’s Death of a Salesman, John Dove’s Arthur Miller productions have become something of a regular fixture at the Lyceum. His subsequent versions of All My Sons, The Price and The Man Who Had All the Luck won him plaudits and in January 2011, A…
Simon Crowther’s new comedy The Ushers aims to capture essence of 1996
3 Jan 2011
Paisley-set production directed by Raindog's Stuart Davids
The phrase ‘period drama’ is more likely to bring to mind a play set in Regency England or 18th century Paris than Paisley in the 1990s. Yet, Simon Crowther’s new comedy The Ushers, which follows a group of young characters as they deal with leaving…
Fresh Faced evening of live theatre, music, dance and film
16 Dec 2010
Tramway performance evening aimed at the under 20s
If you want something done right, do it yourself, the old saying goes. So who better to curate a night for young people, then young people themselves? Featuring live theatre, music and dance, film screenings and workshops, Fresh Faced is an exciting new…
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
15 Dec 2010
Mix of contemporary with traditional is glittery, family-oriented and fun
Mixing contemporary tunes with a traditional storyline, the King’s performance of Snow White is suitably glittery, family-oriented and fun. The cast are solid throughout. Darius Campbell (previously Danesh) provides a teeth-clenchingly sincere and…
Jack and the Beanstalk
15 Dec 2010
Andy Gray, Allan Stewart and Grant Stott reunite for perfect antidote to the bitter winter.
Following a stint in Glasgow, Andy Gray’s reunion with the King’s resident pantomime dame Allan Stewart and recurring baddie Grant Stott is one of the most anticipated events of the capital’s Christmas season. And when he appears on stage as King…
The Three Musketeers
15 Dec 2010
Chris Hannan's bawdy reinvention chaotic at times, but with a warm festive atmosphere
Alexandre Dumas’ legendary trio undergo a bawdy reinvention in Chris Hannan’s new Christmas play for the Traverse. It retains the story’s core characters – the eponymous musketeers, plus d’Artagnan and archetypal pantomime villain Cardinal Richelieu…
Beauty and the Beast
15 Dec 2010
Distinctly Scottish stage adaptation eschews typical squeaky clean panto traits
Beauty and the Beast is, as they say, a tale as old as time (and therein lies the last Angela Lansbury joke. Promise.) Refreshingly, Alan McHugh and Guy Hollands’ distinctly Scottish stage adaptation of the classic story retains the most important plot…
The best Scottish Theatre productions of 2010
15 Dec 2010
My Romantic History, Roadkill, Sweeney Todd, The Government Inspector and Promises Promises
Promises Promises Prolific Scottish playwright Douglas Maxwell hit a creative high-point at the beginning of the year with this blistering monologue told by a middle-aged, alcoholic teacher (Joanna Tope) who is provoked into violence when she…
The Snow Queen
15 Dec 2010
Lyceum Christmas production as bold and bumptious as any panto
Dear festive theatre-goer, don’t let yourself be misled this Christmas. (And no, we don’t mean about Father Christmas.) Don’t be taken in by the sleek, icy blue publicity for this year’s Lyceum Christmas production – for this show is as bold and…
Flo White
15 Dec 2010
Last year’s Tron Theatre panto Ya Beauty and the Beast was an anarchic Weegie-style rehash of a popular fairytale that proved about as mindful of a coherent plot as Cinderella is of her shoes. If a formula ain’t broken, why fix it? In Flo White, the…
Pinocchio
15 Dec 2010
Physical comedy and collaborative effort makes for excellent alternative to mainstream panto
The intimate nature of this seasonal production makes for a wholesome take on Carlo Collodi’s boy puppet tale. Seemingly one for the Santa-believing contingent of the population (I am rarely ever the tallest person in any room, but was definitely top…
