Theatre
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Call Me!
15 Aug 2012
Accurate and amusing portrait of dating in the modern world
The interweaving lives and loves of three single girls and one new couple come together to create a scarily accurate portrait of dating in the modern world. Essentially split into two sections, there’s a interesting distinction between the early section…
Tenderpits
15 Aug 2012
Uncomfortable and alienating autobiographical show
A man dressed in a Where's Wally-style hat and a huge, dirty nappy serves dinner to two teddy bears. Surprisingly, this is the most accessible scene in Anthony Johnston's willfully obscure one-man show. Tenderpits is ostensibly autobiographical but…
Peter Straker’s Brel
15 Aug 2012
Belgian chanteur Brel’s life explored in song, costumes and storytelling
Jamaican born Peter Straker has been involved in British TV, music, and theatre for decades – he’s been in Doctor Who, collaborated with Freddie Mercury and starred in Hair and Phantom of the Opera amongst other things. In this latest show however, he…
2008: Macbeth
14 Aug 2012
Theatre of war re-imagined for the 21st century
The first we hear of Major Macbeth, he’s radio-ing in from his Scotland-52 helicopter saying he’s going to undertake a dangerous raid on Arab insurgents in an unnamed Middle Eastern country in defiance of his commander. The attack is successful, so we…
Caesarian Section – Essays on Suicide
14 Aug 2012
Polish company grapples with deeply human emotion elegantly and sensitively
With a title like Caesarian Section – Essays on Suicide, this production by Wroclaw-based company Theatre ZAR was never going to be a light undertaking. Yet despite it’s heavy subject matter – it is described as being about ‘suicidal compulsion and the…
Educating Ronnie
14 Aug 2012
Compelling true-life fable engagingly told
Joe Douglas’ day job may be that of professional theatre director, but his one-man show is based on a strand of his own life that’s far richer than anything he could have made up. The story dates back ten years to his gap year in Uganda. Alongside…
I Shall be Remembered – The Story of Madame de Pompadour
14 Aug 2012
All that glitters is not gold in one-dimensional take on a fascinating figure
The stage at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre has been dipped in gold. Glittering trinkets lie on gold-rimmed furniture and gold-framed paintings line the walls. This is the 18th century court of King Louis XV and the domain of his savvy…
Panning for Gold
14 Aug 2012
Well-conceived, simply staged play dealing with emotional trauma has fittingly dramatic climax
This heartfelt and heart-warming play unfolds at a support group where three young women meet with an older group leader and, over the course of a number of sessions, confront and attempt to deal with their related emotional problems. The cause of their…
The List
13 Aug 2012
Maureen Beattie delivers this bleakly poignant dramatic monologue from Stellar Quines
In 1916, American playwright Susan Glaspell wrote a one-act piece, Trifles, about two women using their intimate knowledge of the domestic sphere to hide clues right under the noses of a group of men investigating a murder. It may be nearly a century…
Through the Looking Screen
13 Aug 2012
A black tale of loneliness and log-ins
The experience of turning The Office into an operatic extravaganza for Comic Relief in 2009 clearly gave Anne Chmelewsky a taste for the comedic possibilities of a musical form normally associated with grim tragedy. But the ‘high heels and high Cs…
Desperately Seeking the Exit
13 Aug 2012
Witty and painfully honest one-man show
The birth, death and resurrection of a jukebox musical form the basis of self-confessed ‘Angloholic’ Peter Michael Marino’s new one-man show, Desperately Seeking the Exit, directed by John Clancy. Chronicling the creation, destruction and resurrection…
Flâneurs
13 Aug 2012
A walk on Edinburgh’s wild side
One can only hope that at least some of the ‘true’ events described in this one-woman show didn’t actually happen. According to young live art maker Jenna Watt, her close friend, Jeremy, was seriously assaulted in London, a large number of other friends…
Thin Ice
13 Aug 2012
Theatrical brain feast that holds the attention span
What sets Thin Ice apart is not so much its narrative – a disjointed love triangle between academics in the Arctic Circle – as its remarkable depth of thinking. Beneath the slight surface, it’s as dense and tightly packed as a glacier. What’s strange…
Educating Rita
13 Aug 2012
Polished but too safe version of the popular classic
You've probably read Educating Rita at school. If not, you've almost certainly seen the classic film, starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. Willy Russell's play is still a key component in British popular culture. A new version, then, needs to be…
Inheritance Blues
13 Aug 2012
Devised comedy based around blues cover band almost hits the mark
You don't have to dig deep to see just how talented DugOut Theatre company is. Inheritance Blues revolves around blues cover band, Hot Air Ballues, who not only create rich music together but also share some cracking chemistry. I've no doubt this…
Executive Stress/Corporate Retreat
13 Aug 2012
Interactive corporate satire is an embarrassing affair
A really great interactive show creates a new environment so convincing the audience has no choice but to get involved. Executive Stress/Corporate Retreat, which unfolds in a black box space packed with sharp-suited actors, doesn't quite manage this.
Waiting for Orestes: Electra
12 Aug 2012
Visually and aurally striking adaptation of Euripides’ Electra from Tadashi Suzuki
Five men, stripped to the waist and sitting in wheelchairs, circle the stage. Moving as one, they appear like a cross between an Ancient Greek chorus and the pitiful co-dependents of a Samuel Beckett play. For the first 18 minutes of the play, they say…
Watt
12 Aug 2012
Gate Theatre's Beckett adaptation largely fails to illuminate
At the start of the Gate Theatre's stage presentation of Samuel Beckett's novel Watt, Barry McGovern, the sole performer, lopes onstage dressed in hat and coat and carrying bulging suitcases. He hangs the hat and coat on a man-sized stand, placing the…
Mess
12 Aug 2012
Catherine Horton's play about anorexia is a modest, self-conscious three-hander
A play about anorexia nervosa, written and (in part) performed by a young woman who was once very unwell with the eating disorder, might seem like one of those Fringe shows which should be avoided as resolutely as anything involving Les Dennis. However…
My Edinburgh: Greg Hemphill
12 Aug 2012
The star of An Appointment With the Wicker Man shares his favourite bits of the capital
First time I came to Edinburgh was … 1990. I won So You Think You’re Funny with The Trio Bros Troupe. I come back because … It’s awesome fun. Edinburgh’s unique selling point is … A chance to try something out. To be bold and brave and stretch…
Thread
11 Aug 2012
Poignant site-specific evocation of life and loss
After the success of last year’s Allotment, Nutshell Theatre returns with an immersive evocation of nostalgia, memory and love as the forces that bind us together in the second part of their thematic trilogy. The audience is invited to the Burntisland…
Lapin Wants Ice Cream
11 Aug 2012
Puppets on the beach à la Française
With a pre-schooler’s brain bearing a remarkable resemblance to a sponge, it’s the perfect time to introduce a foreign language to them. Tania Czajka knows this, and has created a cast of fun characters to deliver the message. Holidaying on the beach…
Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro!
10 Aug 2012
An operatic voyage around his father
The very least you would expect from a show about a son arranging for an opera to be performed in his dying father’s living room is to be moved. And in Bravo Figaro!, Mark Thomas achieves that on at least two occasions, but in surprising ways and at…
Interview: Kieran Hurley's Beats performed at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival
10 Aug 2012
Explores collective and individual identity during decade of rave culture
Kieran Hurley’s play, Beats, resurrects the 90s via one boy’s journey though the club landscape of 1994. Written, directed and performed by Hurley alongside DJ Johnny Whoop and VJ Jamie Wardrop, it’s a story of ‘chemical excess’, love, longing and…
Best in the World
10 Aug 2012
Uplifting darts drama hits the target
Only the other day Usain Bolt declared himself the ‘greatest athlete to live’. Alex Elliott might take umbrage with that. In Best in the World, he proposes another: a balding 52-year-old with a hefty circumference by the name of Phil ‘The Power…
