Theatre, Previews

Siobhan Davies Dance: Every Day

Solo dance act by Siobhan Davies focuses on the daily movements we take for granted

A table, a chair, an umbrella and a stool – ordinary objects we come across on a daily basis. But a new exhibition is asking us to look at those objects, and others, with fresh eyes. Not only that, but a live element will encourage visitors to…

Old Vic production of Noises Off set for UK tour

The play within a play gets a scientific and funny makeover

‘It’s one of the purest farces ever written in the English language,’ is how director Lindsay Posner describes Michael Frayn’s 1982 comedy Noises Off: ‘I do see it as a truly great play.’ Posner’s new touring version of the play celebrates its thirtieth…

Citizens Theatre conclude season with Caryl Churchill's Far Away and Seagulls

Dominic Hill stages two contemporary classics

In directing a double bill of Caryl Churchill plays, who bridges the gap between the political plays of the 1970s and the personal tone of contemporary theatre, artistic director of The Citizens Theatre Dominic Hill makes a claim for Seagulls and Far…

Theatre director Emma Callander dicusses the political side of David Greig's Dalgety

The play will be the first fully staged work from Theatre Uncut

Both Theatre Uncut and David MacLennan, curator of A Play, a Pie and a Pint, have their foundations in populist, political theatre. MacLennan’s history with 7:84 reflects his leftist leanings and, as Theatre Uncut’s co-artistic director Emma Callander…

Blue Raincoat present The Poor Mouth

Irish theatre company Blue Raincoat apply eclectic style to Flan O'Brien's absurdist language

In their annual visits to Scotland, Blue Raincoat demonstrate a rare gift for combining spectacular visual theatre and the rigorous demands of a script. The Poor Mouth, the finale of their adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s trilogy of novels, sees the…

AJ Taudevin stages Some Other Mother at Traverse

Tapping into childrens' eyes and language to raise the topic of asylum seekers

AJ Taudevin's Some Other Mother, about the young daughter of an asylum seeker in a Glasgow high rise, comes from a close and personal place. An activist and worker within the city's asylum seeker community, Taudevin draws from the same material as Cora…

Rebus author Ian Rankin set to launch Lyceum’s 2013/14 programme

The new season features works from Chris Hannan, Tony Cownie and David Haig

A play by Ian Rankin is just one of four world premieres and three new co-productions to be announced as part of the Royal Lyceum Theatre’s new season. Rebus novelist Rankin’s play will launch the season as part of a crime double bill, with Maureen…

Imaginate 2013 puts an emphasis on storytelling through movement

Dance and physical theatre forms a large part of this year's kids' theatre festival

When you’re programming an international festival, language is always going to be important. Will the audience understand the words and dialect? Does it matter? But this year, it’s body language rather than foreign language that’s pre-occupying…

Theatremakers Damir Todorovic and Kirsty Housley discuss Mayfesto 2013

The political theatre fest will also feature plays from Jenna Watt, Daniel Bye and the Tron Studio

Mayfesto, the Tron’s annual festival of political theatre, takes truth and identity as its focus in 2013. Programme highlights include Flâneurs, Jenna Watt’s Fringe First-winning look at urban violence; The Price of Everything, Daniel Bye’s performance…

Documentary theatre production All the Sex I've Ever Had seeks anecdotal wisdom from the elderly

'People can see one another, and perhaps their elders, in a new and different light'

‘Are you 65 and still thinking about sex?’ was the question the Canadian theatre company Mammalian Diving Reflex used to attract the very first participants for its new project. Aiming to shatter society’s preconceptions, All The Sex I’ve Ever Had…

Zinnie Harris' update of Ibsen's A Doll House puts fresh political spin on a proto-feminist classic

'It’s all about how we look at the political couple behind the doors'

In 2009, playwright Zinnie Harris gave Henrik Ibsen’s masterful 19th century dissection of corruption and power a timely update. The acclaimed writer of The Wheel and Further than the Furthest Thing transposed the action from Norway’s financial world in…

Immersive drama DEADinburgh puts the audience at the heart of a zombie plague

The play utilises real scientific ideas to dissect the viral outbreak

Gouts of blood and glowing zombie eyes are the hooks by which immersive theatre show DEADinburgh is getting the punters in. But Barra Collins, artistic director of LAStheatre and moving force behind the project, insists it is all about ideas. The…

Ben Tagoe lets us know The Thing About Psychopaths

The playwright's latest is an intense play set between prison and the corporate world

Intense, is how Ben Tagoe’s latest play for Red Ladder has been described. It’s not a warm or fluffy piece of theatre, not that the Perth-born playwright is being demeaning about such work he wants you to understand. But, as you might expect for a play…

Theatre director Michael Emans set to revive Hector MacMillan's The Sash

The play, which was first staged at the Fringe 40 years ago, addresses the dangers of sectarianism

Forty years after it was first staged on the Edinburgh Fringe, Hector MacMillan’s homespun homily about the perils of sectarianism and its grip on the past and the future remains depressingly familiar to the landscape of Scottish society. Michael Emans…

New play Be Silent or Be Killed tells the true story of a terrorist encounter

The play retells an eye-witness account of the 2008 Mumbai attacks

Hide and seek of the very deadliest kind awaited Bank of Scotland employee Roger Smith in 2008 while setting up a project in Mumbai. Just after dinner on his second day in India, terrorists invaded his hotel, hunting and killing any Westerner. Roger hid…

Davey Anderson discusses the upcoming New Plays from China strand

The world premiere performances showcase the talents of three Chinese playwrights

It’s not often that Scotland gets to see a Chinese world premiere before China does, but it’s about to happen three times. Joining forces with the National Theatre of Scotland, Glasgow’s lunchtime theatre season A Play, A Pie and a Pint is presenting a…

Theatremaker Amanda Monfrooe on the award-winning Poke and Wuthering Heights double bill

The Platform 18 double bill partners Poke with the all-male Wuthering Heights, by Peter McMaster

With its prize of a fully-funded production at the Arches and the Traverse, the Arches Platform 18 Award is one of Scottish theatre’s most coveted accolades. Former recipients include Nic Green and Cora Bissett, and 2012 winners Amanda Monfrooe and…

Interview: Peggy Shaw - Queer theatre icon discusses her new show RUFF

'My shows are a spectacular take on my queerness and uniqueness'

For those who don’t know about your work yet, who is Peggy Shaw? In general, my shows are a spectacular take on my queerness and uniqueness, placed in ‘normal’ society from my own perspective. I write my shows from my body; from all parts of my body…

New production of Anna Weiss by Rekindle Theatre

Scott Cadenhead directs play exploring false memory syndrome

Ambiguity riffs and ripples around, deep inside Anna Weiss, Mike Cullen’s intense play about false memory syndrome. Last seen in Scotland at the Traverse in 1997, featuring Vicky Featherstone’s Scottish directorial debut, it won plaudits from all who…

Dreamworks' Madagascar film reborn as kid-friendly stage show

A musical version, Madagascar Live!, is coming to the SECC in March

A dancing lion, scheming penguins, a love-struck giraffe and a maniacal king lemur – there’s a lot going on in DreamWorks’ 2005 film, Madagascar. What you won’t find much of, however, is songs. But when a new stage version was being devised, a…

Spring culture preview 2013

Nick Evans: Solar Eyes Evans' forthcoming solo show features a new set of his striking amorphic white plaster sculptures. The most ambitious is a large architectural complex which mimics the geometry of an Aztec temple. Evans' fascination with motifs…

The Arthur Conan Doyle Society, Mother Goose and Cinderella - Edinburgh Christmas shows round-up

The Traverse, King's and Lyceum present their festive shows for 2012

The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society If fairytales, sing-a-longs and grown men in ballgowns are on your festive wish list, perhaps you’d better steer clear of Scotland’s New Writing Theatre this Christmas. Following on from the success of last…

Fuelfest theatre festival at Glasgow Tramway

Work from David Rosenberg, Lewis Gibson, Inua Ellams and The Simple Things in Life

Since 2004, theatre company Fuel has worked with a range of artists – from the exiled Belarus Free Theatre to Perrier Award winner Will Adamsdale – to produce challenging and exciting theatre for global audiences. And in 2012, the company has brought…

Kids' show Little Ulla aims to bring the festive spirit to under 5s

The show features narrative, puppetry, music and song, as well as actors who know how to have fun

With panto gags way over the head of your average five-year-old, early years Christmas shows have an important job to do. Happily, one of last year’s most successful festive offerings is back out on tour. The tale of a mountain goat who works as the…

Cora Bisset on Glasgow Girls: the Musical

The production tells the true story of three Drumchapel teenagers taking on the immigration system

The dramatic story of the 21st century Glasgow Girls, the teenagers from Drumchapel who, in 2005, banded together to take on the immigration system when one of their friends was threatened with deportation, is an obvious one for the stage. Cora Bissett…