Theatre

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A guide to cheap deals for students in Glasgow and Edinburgh

31 Aug 2012

A quick guide on where to go for cheap films, music, travel, tech and more

We all know money can be tight as a student, so Niki Boyle and Suzanne Neilson do their homework and find you the cheapest tickets, greatest deals and biggest bargains CHEAP FILM The upsurge in movie piracy has led to a cinema industry eager to…

The best upcoming events in Scotland for 2012 and 2013

31 Aug 2012

Featuring Alien Wars, Frankie Boyle, Anna Karenina and Edinburgh's Hogmanay

Alien Wars When virtual terror experience Alien Wars opened in London, the then prime minister Tony Blair allegedly showed up, desperate for the chance to be frightened out of his wits by a man in a scary latex costume. He reportedly left the…

Musical and comedy highlights in Scotland for 2012 and 2013

31 Aug 2012

Phantom of the Opera, Medea, Ross Noble, Glasgow Girls and more

Phantom of the Opera It’s been 25 years since Lord Lloyd-Webber’s high-drama, high-camp operatic musical burst onto the stage. And now, after sell-out shows all over the globe, Phantom returns to Edinburgh’s Playhouse in September for a month-long run…

Theatre, dance and opera highlights in Scotland for autumn & winter 2012

31 Aug 2012

2012 and 2013 programmes from Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera and National Theatre of Scotland

The National Theatre of Scotland is nowhere and everywhere. Envisioned as an institution with no bricks and mortar headquarters, the NTS has used its resources to support playwrights and performers and to work with a wide range of collaborators to bring…

A guide to theatre and comedy venues in Glasgow and Edinburgh

31 Aug 2012

Comedian and performer Sian Bevan selects the best places to find the hottest on-stage talent

So you fancy a side-dish of live performance to go with that Jägerbomb? Well, you lucky trickster, Glasgow and Edinburgh are packed with places to go no matter who you’re trying to pull. Let’s start with theatres, shall we? In Glasgow the cool kids…

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Wonderland

30 Aug 20122 stars

Vanishing Point investigation into dark erotic fantasies and internet porn is a huge disappointment

Vanishing Point's latest production finds the Glasgow-based theatre company in combative form, delving into internet pornography's seedy demi-monde and confronting audiences with their own desire for erotic titillation. Despite some stylish moments…

The Idiot at the Wall

28 Aug 20123 stars

Promising debut from English/Gaelic company

Elspeth Turner’s play was inspired by Gaelic folktales and songs and there’s certainly something comfortingly old-fashioned and fable-like about the storytelling here. The familiar enough premise – the culture clash between metropolitan sophistication…

Unmythable

28 Aug 20123 stars

Infectiously energetic trio enthralls kids and adults alike in hour-long sprint through classical my

The action opens on the Argot where an overly zealous Jason, and his less competent shipmates, is on his way to fight the man-eating dragon that never sleeps and claim the golden fleece in order to prove himself to be a hero. Along the way, the…

The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs

28 Aug 20123 stars

Powerful but rather static monologue

There’s no denying the power of American monologuist Mike Daisey’s one-man show. A one-time worshipper at the altar of Apple, the writer’s desire to learn more about the human beings assembling his favourite gizmos inspired a trip to the Chinese…

Seeing Double: Figures

24 Aug 20124 stars

High concept two-pronged show is the perfect slice of Fringe fun

Seeing Double: Figures and Vision are a pair of thoroughly modern farces playing out different sides of the same story. While the Pleasance Hut and Baby Grand are rather small venues for the large audiences the shows have been drawing, their proximity…

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Les Naufragés du Fol Espoir (Aurores)

24 Aug 20125 stars

Théâtre du Soleil's debut production at the Edinburgh International Festival is a coup de théâtre

The first ever Edinburgh International Festival production by the great French company Théâtre du Soleil promised to be an unforgettable event. And so it proves. The brainchild of Théâtre du Soleil’s founder and director Ariane Mnouchkine, Les…

Grit

24 Aug 20124 stars

Powerful and quietly moving depiction of children in conflict

The new show from Scotland’s Tortoise in a Nutshell is barely three-quarters of an hour in length. Yet the journey it takes its audience on, both geographical and emotional, is extensive. The piece draws on real-life accounts by war correspondents to…

Encounters series offers insight into themes running through the Edinburgh International Festival 2012

23 Aug 2012

2 for 1 deals on Encounters talks during the last week of 2012 EIF

The Fringe/Book/International Festivals are coming to their various ends, but there's no need to dissolve into a flood of fest regrets: there are still gems to be found, and we can help you locate them. Encounters is a series of lectures and talks…

The Rape of Lucrece

23 Aug 20124 stars

Bold interpretation of Shakespeare's poem from Edinburgh favourite Camille O'Sullivan

It’s not every performer at the Edinburgh International Festival that enters to applause and finishes to a standing ovation but, then, Camille O’Sullivan is not just any performer. Having built an impressive following over the years as a mesmerising…

Macbeth on Inchcolm Island

23 Aug 20124 stars

Production transcends limitations through spectacular and unique location

To sacrifice five hours of your evening for one festival show it has to be something pretty special. Fortunately this unusual production Of Macbeth on Inchcolm Island does not disappoint. Packed on to a coach with excited, anorak-clad festival goers you…

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Daniel Kitson: As of 1.52 GMT on Friday April 27th 2012 , This Show Has No Title

22 Aug 20124 stars

Stand-up playwright returns with meta-play monologue

A week after this new play from Daniel Kitson opened, The Telegraph ran a two-star review, describing it as ‘a sorry waste of his undoubted talent – and our time’. Kitson knew someone would do that though. At one point in his one-man play – a…

Arches LIVE 2012 presents programme of new and experimental work

22 Aug 2012

Dance, live art and theatre events at Glasgow's Arches

When she speaks to The List in anticipation of this year’s Arches Live festival, artistic director Jackie Wylie is immersed in the Edinburgh Festival, at which her theatre is presenting a couple of productions. One that comes up in conversation is…

Interview: Mike Mcshane on Mon Droit at 2012 Edinburgh Fringe

22 Aug 2012

Show draws from story of American Royal obsessive

What drew you to the story of Robert James Moore (an American who came to London because of his obsession with the Queen and ended up dying alone in St James’s Park)? The lack of details about his life contrasted with the hard facts about his death.

Tam O’Shanter

22 Aug 20124 stars

Earthy, energetic riff on Burns’ masterpiece

‘When chapman billies leave the street / And drouthy neibours, neibours meet’. It’s the best-kent pair of opening lines in Scots poetry, but if you were hoping for a straight rendition of Burns’ masterpiece, Communicado theatre company are more than…

Return of the Close Up Magician

22 Aug 20124 stars

Phenomenal close-hand tricks from a consummate performer

Close-hand magician Lewis Barlow is a likeable performer. Unlike Derren Brown and his ilk, Barlow creates a show where magic is not swamped by the overbearing personality of the performer, but rather one where magic takes the centre stage. Beginning…

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Comedian Dies in the Middle of Joke

22 Aug 20123 stars

Unusual Fringe play in which the comedian keeps on dying

It’s November 1983 and Britain is in turmoil. Ruled over by the Tories, the country is still reeling from participation in a war that no one can properly justify and the charts are full of bland drivel. Sound familiar? In a dingy London comedy club, the…

Miriam Margolyes - Dickens' Women

22 Aug 20123 stars

Appealing biographical show in the company of a true pro

Yelling with that unmistakeable voice and accompanied by the oh-so-refined tinkly piano of Benjamin Lee, Miriam Margolyes staggers onto the stage in the person of sozzled layer-out of the dead Mrs Gamp, from Martin Chuzzlewit. It’s a charming, gentle…

My Shrinking Life - Alison Peebles' MS-themed show

21 Aug 2012

Alison Peebles' first MS theatre piece will feature dancers and is directed by Belgian Lies Pauwels

Scotland has the highest levels of multiple sclerosis in the world, and one of the country’s most high profile sufferers is lauded actress, writer and director Alison Peebles. Peebles, who’s won acclaim in the past for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth and…

Planet Lem

21 Aug 20123 stars

Sci-fi spectacle is impressive to watch but lacking in story

Based on the science fiction stories of the Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, Teatr Biuro Podrozy’s new outdoor extravaganza, Planet Lem, presents the tale of a nightmarish dystopia, where machines rule people and people are completely reliant on machines…

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

21 Aug 20122 stars

Shakespeare adaptation barely scratches the surface of the play’s comic potential

In detention with Mr Goodfellow, seven secondary-school pupils are forced – as if by magic – to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream for some misdemeanour. However, the school setting is quickly dropped, forgotten for a bog-standard staging, and it starts…